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Bislama Reference Grammar Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 31 Bislama Reference Grammar Terry Crowley University of Hawai'i Press Honolulu ? 2004 University of Hawaii Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 09 08 07 06 05 04 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crowley, Terry. Bislama reference grammar / Terry Crowley. ? p. cm. (Oceanic linguistics special publication ;no. 31) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8248-2880-1 (alk. paper) 1. Bislama language?Grammar. I. Title. II. Series. PM7895.B4C73 2004 42T.99595?dc22 2004044096 Camera-ready copy for this book was prepared under the supervision of the series editor. University of Hawai'i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Printed by IBT Global CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.x PREFACE.xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.xiii MAPS.xiv 1:BACKGROUND TO BISLAMA.1 1.1 Bislama: An Independent Language.1 1.2 Bislama inVanuatu Society.3 1.3 Historical Background.4 1.4 The Vocabulary of Bislama.5 1.5 Varieties of Bislama.7 1.6What Kind of Grammar is This?.9 2: PRONUNCIATIONAND SPELLING.11 2.1 Consonants.11 2.2 Vowels.15 2.3 Expanded Sound Systems.16 2.4 Spelling.18 2.5 Stress.21 2.6 Intonation.22 2.7 Syllables.23 3: PARTS OF SPEECH.24 3.1 Nouns.25 3.2 Pronouns.26 3.3 Prepositions.27 3.4 Verbs.28 3.5 Noun Modifiers.28 3.5.1 Number Markers.29 3.5.2 Adjectives.29 3.6 Adverbs.30 3.7 Other Modifiers.31 3.8 Interrogatives.31 3.9 Complex Sentence Markers.32 3.10 Interjections and Vocatives.32 3.11Words with Several Functions.33 4: NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES.37 4.1 Nouns.37 4.1.1 Simple and Complex Nouns.37 4.1.2 Compounding.38 4.1.2.1 Adjective + Noun.38 4.1.2.2 Noun 4- Postmodifier.39 4.1.2.3 Verb + Noun.39 4.1.2.4 Noun + Noun.39 4.1.3 Reduplication.40 4.1.4 Affixation.41 v CONTENTS 4.1.4.1 The Suffix -wan.42 4.1.4.2 The Prefix eks-.43 4.1.4.3 Emerging Suffixes?.44 4.2 Pronouns.45 4.3 Noun Phrases.50 4.3.1 Quantifiers + Nouns.50 4.3.2 Pronouns + Quantifiers.56 4.3.3 Adjectives.59 4.3.3.1 Reduplication.59 4.3.3.2 The Suffix -fala.60 4.3.3.3 Compounding.63 4.3.4 Noun Postmodifiers.64 4.3.5 Demonstratives.64 4.3.6 Nouns Modified by Sentences. 65 4.4 Noun Phrases Linked by blong.67 4.4.1 Possession.68 4.4.2 Other Functions of blong.69 4.5 Coordinate Noun Phrases.70 5:VERBS AND VERB PHRASES.72 5.1 Verbs.72 5.1.1 Reduplication.72 5.1.2 Compounds.76 5.1.3 Affixation. 77 5.1.3.1 Transitive Suffix.77 5.1.3.2 Directional Suffixes.82 5.1.3.2.1 -Daon.83 5.1.3.2.2 -Aot. 83 5.1.3.2.3 -Raon. 83 5.1.3.2.4 -Bak.83 5.1.3.2.5 -Ap. 84 5.2 Complex Verbs.85 5.3 Verb Phrases.88 5.3.1 Imperatives, Prohibitives, and Hortatives. 89 5.3.2 The Forms i and oli. 92 5.3.3 Tense.92 5.3.4 Negative Markers.95 5.3.5 Auxiliaries.96 5.3.5.1 Mas.97 5.3.5.2 Bin.97 5.3.5.3 Jos.98 5.3.5.4 Stap.98 5.3.5.5 Save.99 53.5.6 Wantem.100 53.5.7 Sud.:.100 53.5.8 Kanduit.101 5.3.5.9 Kam and Go.101 5.3.5.10 Stil.102 vi CONTENTS 5.3.6 Post-Verbal Modifiers.102 5.3.7 Modifiers of Manner.105 6: SIMPLE SENTENCES.108 6.1 Statements. 108 6.1.1 Predicate Sentences and Predicate Markers.109 6.1.2 Non-Predicate Sentences.113 6.1.2.1 Presentative Sentences.114 6.1.2.2 Equational Sentences.115 6.1.2.3 'Ought to' Constructions.116 6.1.3 Constituent Order.117 6.1.3.1 Transitive and Intransitive Constructions.117 6.1.3.1.1 Meteorological Expressions.118 6.1.3.1.2 General States.118 6.1.3.1.3 The Existential Verb gat.119 6.1.3.1.4 Negation of Incomplete Sentences.120 6.1.3.1.5 Actions without Causers.120 6.1.3.2 Verb + Noun Constructions.122 6.1.4 Double Object Constructions.125 6.1.5 Prepositional Phrases.127 6.1.5.1 Basic Prepositions.127 6.1.5.1.1 Blong.127 6.1.5.1.2From.128 6.1.5.1.3 Wetem.128 6.1.5.1.4 Wetaot(em).129 6.1.5.1.5 Olsem.129 6.1.5.1.6 Long.130 6.1.5.2 Verbal Prepositions.133 6.1.5.2.1 Kasem.133 6.1.5.2.2 Bitim.134 6.1.5.2.3 Ronem.134 6.1.5.2.4 Agensem.135 6.1.5.2.5 Raonem.135 6.1.5.2.6 Folem.135 6.1.5.2.7 Tokbaot.136 6.1.5.2.8 Yusum.136 6.1.5.3 Position of Prepositional Phrases.137 6.1.5.4 Complex Prepositions.137 6.1.6 Adverbs.139 6.1.6.1 Adverbs of Place.139 6.1.6.2 Adverbs of Time.140 6.1.6.3 Adverbs of Manner.141 6.1.6.4 Miscellaneous Adverbs.142 6.1.6.5 Placement of Adverbs and Post-Verbal Modifiers.146 6.2 Questions.147 6.2.1 Yes-No Questions.147 6.2.2 Content Questions.150 6.2.2.1 Wanem.150 vu CONTENTS 6.22.2 Se.151 6.2.2.3 Huia.151 6.2.2.4 Hamas.153 6.2.2.5 Hameni.153 6.2.2.6 Wijwan.154 6.2.2.7 Waswe.154 6.2.2.8 Watfo.155 6.2.2.9 Wataem.155 6.2.2.10 We.155 6.2.2.11 Wehem.156 6.2.2.12 From.157 6.2.2.13 From wanem.157 6.2.2.14 Olsem wanem.158 6.3 Fronted Noun Phrases. 159 7: COMPLEXSENTENCES.166 7.1 Serial Verbs.166 7.1.1 Directional Verbs.167 7.1.2 Manner Constructions. 170 7.1.3 Causative Constructions.171 7.1.4 Sequential Actions.172 7.2 Coordination.172 7.2.1 Mo.172 7.2.2 Be.174 7.2.3 (N)o.175 7.3 Subordination. 175 7.3.1 Juxtaposition.176 7.3.2 Subordinator Constructions.177 7.3.2.1 Simple Subordinators.178 7.3.2.1.1 Blong and Long.178 7.3.2.1.2 Se.182 7.3.2.1.3 We.184 7.3.2.1.4 Nogud.186 7.3.2.2 Complex Subordinators.187 7.3.2.2.1 From.187 13.2.2.2Kasem.187 7.3.2.2.3 Olsem.187 7.3.2.2.4 Taem.188 13.2.2.5 Tetaem.188 13.2.2.6 Sapos.189 7.3.2.2.7 Nomata, Nevamaen, Nating, and/ven.189 7.3.2.2.8 Afta andBifo. 190 7.3.2.2.9 Question Words as Subordinators. 191 7.4 Sentences inDiscourse.192 7.4.1 The Sequencing of Events.192 7.4.2 Cause and Effect.195 7.4.3 Contrary to Expectation.196 7.4.4 The Pragmatic Particle ia.196 viii CONTENTS APPENDIX:PREVIOUS STUDIES OF BISLAMAGRAMMAR.199 REFERENCES.201 INDEX.203 ix LIST OF TABLES 2.1 Consonants. 12 2.2 English and French Consonants in Bislama.12 2.3 Vowels.16 2.4 English and French Vowels in Bislama.17 3.1 Stronger andWeaker Interjections.34 4.1 Pronouns.46 5.1 Reduplicated Intransitive Verbs.75 5.2 Transitive Verbs with -ap.86 5.3 Transitive Main Verbs Used inVerb Complexes.87 5.4 Intransitive Main Verbs Used in Verb Complexes.88 x PREFACE This volume has been more than a quarter of a century in the making. Since I first arrived as a linguistic fieldworker in Vanuatu in 1976?then known as the New Hebrides?Bislama has become a major part of my linguistic repertoire, not only during my periods of residence in Vanuatu (1976-78, 1983-90) but also when interacting with Ni-Vanuatu during my time in Papua New Guinea (1979-83) and New Zealand (1991-2004), as well as during my frequent?and often lengthy? return visits to Vanuatu. It is the language through which I have made many friends from all different parts of the country. I initially had no intention whatsoever of writing a volume such as this. In the beginning, I saw Bislama as just a tool that I was using to gain access to the Paamese language, which was my primary research interest at the time. Later, I used Bislama as a means for investigating other languages in the country, from the islands of Erromango and Malakula. However, as soon as I started establishing friendships through Bislama, the language became rather more than just a tool, and eventually it became a major research interest, along with my interests in other Va? nuatu languages. I produced a dictionary of Bislama to coincide with the tenth an? niversary of Vanuatu's accession to independence (Crowley 1990a).
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  • A Reanalysis of *L-Loss in Paamese and Southeast Ambrym

    A Reanalysis of *L-Loss in Paamese and Southeast Ambrym

    Morphological Conditions on Regular Sound Change? A Reanalysis of *l-loss in Paamese and Southeast Ambrym Juliette Blevins John Lynch Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology University of the South Pacific Northern Paamese and Southeast Ambrym, two languages of Central Vanuatu, share a set of sound changes involving vocalization and loss of *l. One subpart of this sound change results in loss of *l word-initially before non-high vowels. An interesting aspect of this sound change is that it appears to apply in all word classes except verbs. Indeed, Crowley (1997) suggests that Northern Paamese *l-loss is a clear case of sound change with grammatical conditioning. In this paper we suggest that phonological and morphological aspects of verbal inflectional paradigms have given rise to the apparent exceptionality of *l-loss in these two languages. Phonological factors result in continuation of /l/, while the structure of inflectional paradigms has given rise to analogical restoration of initial /l/ in all verbs where it is expected to be lost. Under this analysis, initial *l-loss can be seen to have applied without exception, and without grammatical conditioning. 1. Introduction. Phonetically-based sound change is strongly associated with the Neogrammarian tradition of the late 19th century. In this tradition, sound change was modeled as systematic, exceptionless, proto- typically regular. For the Neogrammarians, the regularity of sound change was definitional and operational: "Those changes that were sweeping and observed after several centuries to be essentially exceptionless qualified for the term Lautgesetz (sound law), while changes that seemed to affect only particular words or groups of words did not so qualify" (Rankin 2003:185).