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Wuvulu Grammar and Vocabulary (PDF) Wuvulu Grammar and Vocabulary A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN Linguistics By James A. Hafford Dissertation Committee: Yuko Otsuka, Chairperson Robert Blust Lyle Campbell Alex Golub Kenneth Rehg ©2015 James A. Hafford ii Dedicated to Jim Hafford iii Acknowledgements I am thankful to the government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) for inviting me to work in PNG. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to live on Wuvulu Island with my wife and kids. In Tok Pisin (a creole spoken in PNG), the term bikman ‘big man’ can refer to a chief or leader. Two big men I would like to thank are Sir Paulias Matane, and Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare. In 1994, before ever setting foot in PNG, I had the privilege of hosting Sir Paulias in my home in Seattle. Sir Paulias is one of the founding statesmen of PNG, and has served as ambassador to the USA and UN. As Education Minister, he helped to author the vernacular education policy of PNG. Sir Paulias gave my family an open invitation to his home on New Britain, and served as a source of encouragement while we were in PNG. In 2005, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare accepted my invitation to attend the dedication of the Wuvulu New Testament. We are so grateful that he took time away from his busy schedule to fly all the way out to Wuvulu Island and speak at the ceremony. We are also thankful to the Manus Provincial Government and the Wuvulu-Aua local government. They worked together with us to successfully start and operate one of the first vernacular pre-schools in the Manus Province. We have much gratitude for all the people of Wuvulu, especially Ma’ai’u Aile, Samson Aile, Lagu Aile, Chifana Benjamin, E’enaio Namo, and the team of people who worked together with us in translation, and in the community vernacular literacy program. I have tremendous appreciation for all the Wuvulu people who helped with the practical aspects of living on the island, and for allowing us to be immersed in the language and culture. The decade we spent living on Wuvulu Island is definitely one of the most exciting adventures of our lives. I am so thankful for Manini, our Wuvulu waspapa ‘watch papa’, his wife Me’ime’i, their son Apini and his wife Anita, and all the others who helped us. We are grateful to Vinton and Audrey Goff for building the house we lived in, and for helping us get started on Wuvulu Island. I very much appreciate the elderly men’s Sabbath School class of Onne Village. The men shared their lives and stories with me. I also thank the master storytellers Pana’ai, Namo, Taigugu, Wawanai, Sumerai, Nunu, and Funaigi. They were always enthusiastic to share stories with me. iv Much thanks to my colleagues in the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) for consistently serving us in areas such as translation consulting, aviation, and medical care. My wife, Lois, and I very much appreciate the administration and staff of the Ukarumpa International Schools for their role in teaching our children. Thank you to all our Papua New Guinean and expatriate SIL colleagues located throughout PNG, especially in Ukarumpa, Wewak, Madang, Lae, and Port Morseby. Mahalo nui loa! ‘Thank you very much!’ to my dissertation committee: Dr. Yuko Otsuka (Chair), Dr. Bob Blust, Dr. Lyle Campbell, Dr. Alex Golub, and Dr. Kenneth Rehg. I have the highest degree of admiration and respect for each of you. I am especially thankful to Dr. Otsuka for her excellent consultation at every stage of the work! A huge thanks to Nora and Jen, and to the entire Linguistics Department of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa! I am grateful for all of our family, friends, and supporters on Wuvulu, at Ukarumpa, in Washington State, in the Dallas Metroplex, in the Mānoa Valley, and in Honolulu and Kaimukī. A massive Mahalo! to my buddies in Hawai‘i: Akiva, Matt, and Ramón. Thank you to my mom for her all her encouragement and support, and to my sister Jowena and my uncle Wally, for allowing me to stay in their homes during transitions to and from Hawai‘i. I praise my wife Lois for being so awesome, and I thank our ‘kids’ Cubby, Joelle, and John, for their amazing flexibility in our first four years in PNG, when we moved 24 times (counting only moves where we stayed for one month or longer)! Finally, Thank you Jesus! v Abstract This dissertation is a description of Wuvulu, an Oceanic language spoken on Wuvulu Island, the westmost member of the Admiralty Islands, located about 150 miles from the north coast of Papua New Guinea. As Admiralty languages are not well- documented, the present work provides typologically critical linguistic data that augment what is currently known of the phonological as well as morphosyntactic typology of Oceanic languages. Wuvulu exhibits features of a canonic Oceanic language such as SVO constituent order, verbal subject/object clitics, and realis/irrealis for past and future events (Ross, 2004b), yet it demonstrates several interesting innovations in its morphosyntax, particularly in the complexity and richness of its verbal morphology. The grammar is written from a functional perspective (Foley & Van Valin, 1984; Van Valin & LaPolla, 1997; Dik, 1997a/b) and discusses important features of the language, including linguistic affiliation and sociolinguistic context, in addition to phonology, morphology, and syntax. The vocabulary section consists of more than 2000 lexical items, including species of flora, fauna, and fishes. Audio files of Wuvulu narratives that served as a basis for the examples cited in the grammar and much of the vocabulary have been archived at the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) and are available online. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiv List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xv List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... xvi Part I: Grammar .................................................................................................................. 1 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Wuvulu Island ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Geography ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Meterological phenomena ............................................................................. 2 1.1.3 Demographics ............................................................................................... 3 1.2 Linguistic affiliation ........................................................................................... 4 1.3 Dialects ............................................................................................................... 6 1.4 History of contact ................................................................................................ 7 1.4.1 European discovery ....................................................................................... 7 1.4.2 Theil, Hellwig, Luschan, and the “Matty Mystery” ..................................... 7 1.4.3 Coconut plantation ........................................................................................ 8 1.4.3.1 Resettlement .......................................................................................... 8 1.4.3.2 Mortality ................................................................................................ 9 1.4.4 Church influence ........................................................................................... 9 1.4.5 The Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) ................................................. 10 1.5 Purpose and scope ............................................................................................. 10 1.6 Previous research .............................................................................................. 11 1.7 Wuvulu society ................................................................................................. 12 1.7.1 Kinship ........................................................................................................ 12 1.7.2 Sociolinguistics ........................................................................................... 13 1.8 Data and methodology ...................................................................................... 16 1.9 Contribution ...................................................................................................... 17 2 Phonology ................................................................................................................. 18 2.1 Typological overview ....................................................................................... 18 2.2 Phonemes .......................................................................................................... 19 2.2.1
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