South Efate language

South Efate
Fate, Erakor
Native to Northeast Vanuatu
Region Efate Island
Native speakers
 6,000 (2001)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 erk
Glottolog sout2856[2]

The South Efate language is a Nuclear Southern Oceanic language of the Malayo-Polynesian language family, spoken on the island of Efate in central Vanuatu. As of 2005, there are approximately 6,000 speakers who live in coastal villages from Pango to Eton. The language's grammar has been studied by Nick Thieberger, who is working on a book of stories and a dictionary of the language.[3]

South Efate is closely related to Nguna and to Lelepa. Based on shared features with southern Vanuatu languages (including echo–subject marking, and the free and preposed 1st-singular-possessive morphemes), Lynch (2001) suggests it could form part of a southern Vanuatu subgroup that includes New Caledonia.

Phonology

The South Efate language has a total of 20 phonemes consisting of 15 consonant and 5 vowel sounds.[4]


Consonants[5]

Labiovelar Labiodental Labial Palatal Alveolar Velar
Stop k͡͡p(p̃) p t k
Fricative f s
Nasal ŋ͡m(m̃) m n ŋ̩(g̃)
Lateral l
Trill r
Pre-nasalized trill ndr (nr)
Semivowel w j(y)

Vowels[6]

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

As seen in the above chart, South Efate's vowel phoneme inventory is that of a five-vowel system; this is one of the most commonly seen vowel inventories in any given language in the world and also especially evident in many Oceanic languages. The distinction between short and long vowels is non-existent in the South Efate language. [7]

Numerals

The system of numerals in South Efate is base-5 (quinary). Numbers two through five are distinct numerals that are then seen repeated in slight variation for the numbers seven to ten. The pattern of the numerals can be seen in the table below.[8]

Cardinal English
i-skei one
i-nru; nran; nru two
i-tol three
i-pat four
i-lim five
i-lates six
i-laru seven
i-latol eight
i-lfot nine
ralim iskei ten

[9]

Ralim iskei can be used as an example to see the method for displaying numbers ten and above in South Efate; the numeral for ten ralim is followed by its multiplier, which in this case is iskei for one. The term for and atmat is added after the multiplier with an additional numeral to form a number such as thirty seven: [10]

     ralim + itol + atmat + ilaru
     ten     +   three  +    and    +   seven
     Thirty-seven[11]

Morphology

Adnominal Possession

There are two ways of marking adnominal possession in South Efate: through the use of a possessive pronoun (indirect possession), or directly on the noun (direct possession). Indirect possession is used for general possession, while direct possession is used for nouns that are closely associated items (e.g., body parts or products, kinship terms, etc.).[12]

Indirect/general possession

Indirect possession is morphosyntactically represented through the use of the possessive markers ni (of) or knen (of it), or of the presence of a possessive pronoun such as nakte (my/mine).[12]

When possession is marked by a possessive pronoun, the pronouns follow the possessed NP:

     Nasum̃tap   pur   nigmam      nen   i=tarpek.
     church     big   1p.exPOS    REL   3sg.RS=fall down
     It was our church that fell down.[13]

ni possession: the preposition ni only occurs when the possessum is a noun. The NP follows the form of ‘possessed ni possessor’.

     I=pi      nawesien  ni   Atua.
     3sgRS=be  work      of   God
     It is God’s work.[13]

knen possession: This form is used as an inanimate referent, and often indicates a previously mentioned participant in the discourse. It is positioned following the referent noun.

     Natrauswen   karu   i=pitlak     nalag   knen.
     story        next   3sgRS=have   song    of.it
     The next story, it has its song.[14]

Direct possession

Direct possession is used for inalienably possessed nouns. This is similar to other languages of Vanuatu that denote inalienable nouns as those that refer to relationships of part-whole association such as kinship terms, body parts or products, and associated parts (such as leaf/stem).[15] These nouns take directly suffixed possession markers, however they can also occur without possessive marking when the possessor is encoded by a noun. The directly possessed (DP) suffix only attaches to the class of directly possessed nouns. For sg and 3p forms, an unpredictable vowel (V) may be inserted to aid DP suffixation.[14]

     Go   ra=paos-ki-n        ki,     “Gag     tm-a-m          go     rait-o-m         wa?"
     and  3d.RS=ask-TR-3sgO   PREP    2sgPOS   father-V-2sgDP  and    mother-V-3sgDP   where
     And they asked, “Where are your father and mother?”[16]

If the directly possessed noun has no possessive suffix, the referent is presumed unknown or disembodied. Lack of possession also occurs when possession is encoded by the possessed noun preceding the possessor. As in the following example, the directly possessed noun rait (mother) is preceded by the noun tesa (child).

     Go    rait    tesa    ke=fo           tae    toleg      preg     tete   namrun   ses.
     and   mother  child   3sgIRR=PSP:IR   able   stand.up   make     some   thing    small
     And the child’s mother can stand up and do some small things.[17]

Access to resources

Thieberger's field recordings have been archived with Paradisec. A summary of the collection of material in South Efate can be found here.

A listing of all material available via the Open Language Archives Community for South Efate can be found here.

Notes

  1. ↑ South Efate at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "South Efate". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ South Efate — English dictionary
  4. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 45. ISBN 9780824830618.
  5. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780824830618.
  6. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780824830618.
  7. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824830618.
  8. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824830618.
  9. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824830618.
  10. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824830618.
  11. ↑ Thieberger, Nick (2006). A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824830618.
  12. 1 2 Thieberger, p.127.
  13. 1 2 Thieberger, p.128.
  14. 1 2 Thieberger, p.129.
  15. ↑ Payne, 1997
  16. ↑ Thieberger, p.130.
  17. ↑ Thieberger, pg.131

References

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