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An Austronesian Language of the West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea

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Grammar of Kove: an Austronesian language of the West New Britain province, Papua New Guinea 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 DECEMBER 2013 By Hiroko Sato Dissertation Committee: Robert Blust, Chairperson Lyle Campbell Alex Golub Yuko Otsuka Kenneth Rehg Dedicated to Elizabeth Mete ii Acknowledgements First, my thanks go to Stephen Keu. It was Stephen who introduced me to the Kove language, while he was a student at Chiba University. And it was Stephen who arranged for me to stay and work in Kove, as well as introducing me to his late sister Elizabeth Mete, who became my first language consultant, and his brother-in-law, Luke Mara, who became my primary language consultant after Elizabeth died. Meeting with Stephen changed my life and led me to work in the field of linguistics as my academic career. Without his support, my research on the Kove language would not have been accomplished. Many people have contributed to my work over the years. I am grateful to the Kove community, especially the people of both Kapo and Nutanovua village. They always welcomed me and treated me as a member of their community. I was able to feel that I had a “home” in Kove. I am particularly grateful to my language consultants, John Enos, Edward Meli, Felix Mondo, and John Bole, and especially to my first language consultant, the late Elizabeth Mete, and my primary language consultant, Luke Mara. Elizabeth was the one who introduced me to the excitement of fieldwork and to the uniqueness of the Kove language. It was also Elizabeth who first brought me to the Kove area as my “mother”. It was very hard for me to accept her death. I wish I could have shown her what I achieved in my work on the Kove language. While Elizabeth was my first language consultant, the majority of my work on the language has been done with Luke. At a time when most people are losing their competence in the Kove language, as well as the traditional ways of life and culture, Luke is one of those few who still iii preserve much of this knowledge. In addition, Luke was always patient, helpful, reliable, responsible and careful. I could not have wished for a better consultant. I also want to thank my many friends and acquaintances in Papua New Guinea, who have supported my stay in their beautiful country. They include Stephen Keu’s family. During my stay in Kimbe town, West New Britain Province, Stephen and his wife, Susan Keu, always provided me with warm hospitality, great generosity and endless support. They have treated me as their daughter. Even during my fieldwork in Kove, they were always concerned about me. I have always appreciated their care. Also, their children, Stacey, Quintan, Samantha and Sonia, always accompanied me on trips and treated me as their sister. I enjoyed my time with them. I feel that I have a second family in Papua New Guinea. I can never properly acknowledge my debt to the Keu family. I also wish to express my gratitude to Luke Mara’s family during my fieldwork in Kove: Luke Mara, his wife, Agues Mara, their children and their extended family. They always provided a welcoming house where I could concentrate on my work. My long-term work in Papua New Guinea helped me make many good friends, including Annie, Alphonse Kambu, Miti, Monica, Petty Vogae, Raymond Vogae, Raymond Asaio, Kalapo Asaio, all the people of Lumu Sika in Kapo village, and many others. I enjoyed their company very much. The time I spent with these people is a treasure and will never be forgotten. I am grateful to the West New Britain Provincial Government and the National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea for permission to work within their jurisdiction. My field research on the Kove language was funded by several grants. I am grateful for the support provided by the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (EDLP; SG0053), the National Science Foundation (NSF:1053199), the Kawakami Sadako iv Award, the University of Hawai‘i Department of Linguistics Endowment Fund, the Arts and Sciences Student Research Award, the University of Hawai‘i Graduate Student Organization, and the Dai Ho Chun Fund’s graduate fellowship. As with my fieldwork, my linguistic analysis has benefited from the help of many scholars. First, I am grateful to Dr. Midori Osumi, who laid a foundation for my research in Oceanic linguistics. Dr. Ann Chowning shared her experiences in Kove. She also kindly shared her research materials. I also would like to thank Dr. Victoria Anderson, Dr. Patricia Donegan, Dr. Peter Lincoln, and Dr. Malcolm Ross for their help. My thanks also go to the Linguistics Department of the University of Hawai‘i and the department’s faculty. They have always supported and cared for me, not only with respect to my academic work but also in terms of my life in Hawai‘i. They have provided a great environment where I was able to learn a lot and be trained to become a professional researcher. Throughout my study in Hawai‘i, I was able to meet such great friends. I am indebted to my friends for their support and kindness. I am particularly grateful to Laurie Durand and Tyler Heston, and especially to Emily Albarillo for a friendship that I treasure. It is one of the most valuable and memorable experiences in my life. I thank the committee for their comments and advice on this dissertation as well as my research. I also thank Dr. Grace, who previously served as a committee member. My deepest thanks and respects go to Dr. Robert Blust, who has always given endless support since I arrived in Hawai‘i. It was Dr. Blust who I came to Hawai‘i to study with. It was Dr. Blust who has trained and led me to become an independent researcher. It was also Dr. Blust who taught me the excitement and enjoyment both of linguistics itself, and of v the study of Austronesian languages. He has always shared his time, inspired and encouraged me, and provided his thorough and critical feedback. I am very grateful for the extensive time, help and encouragement that I received from him. Without his help, I would not have completed my work on the Kove language. I will always be grateful to him. Finally, I deeply thank my family in Japan, especially my grandmother, Keiko Kitahira, for her support and encouragement to my research. vi Abstract This dissertation is a descriptive grammar of Kove, an Austronesian language spoken in the West New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea. Kove is primarily spoken in 18 villages, including some on the small islands north of New Britain. There are about 9,000 people living in the area, but many are not fluent speakers of Kove. The dissertation presents an analysis of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Kove. The analysis is based on elicitation and texts in a corpus, which were collected during six field trips between 2001 to 2011. The grammar takes a functional approach, and illustrates how each component works with other elements and what kind of functions each component has. Kove grammar includes many typologically interesting aspects; in particular, the articles, possessive constructions, system of possessive nominalization, mechanisms for valency change, plural markers, and serial verb constructions involve grammatical elements of special interest. Given that very little documentation of Kove and related languages currently exists, the data and analysis in this dissertation will benefit both academic scholars and the Kove community. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiv List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xvi List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... xvii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 The Kove area ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The Kove community. .............................................................................................. 2 1.3 Kove culture .............................................................................................................. 4 1.3.1 Kove people and culture .................................................................................... 5 1.3.2 Kove identity ...................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Kove language .......................................................................................................... 9 1.4.1 Dialects .............................................................................................................. 9 1.4.2 Genetic relationship ......................................................................................... 11 1.4.2.1 Languages in West New Britain ............................................................... 11 1.4.2.2 The Kove language ..................................................................................
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