Grammar of Maskelynes, Uluveu Island, Vanuatu

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Grammar of Maskelynes, Uluveu Island, Vanuatu A GRAMMAR OF MASKELYNES: THE LANGUAGE OF ULUVEU ISLAND, VANUATU by David Stephen Healey A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Copyright © David Stephen Healey 2013 School of Language, Arts and Media Faculty of Arts, Law and Education The University of the South Pacific July, 2013 A grammar of Maskelynes Dedication Dedication Imagenan, møtþihan o møtþemun o natideh møtþigole, len natit ýisi møtþigole, mitigole høn nøvanuan gail løþisal suh nøyalyalan siGot. Thus whether you eat or whether you drink, or anything you might do, in everything you do, do it in order that people will praise the greatness of God. 1 Cor 10:31 i A grammar of Maskelynes Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the assistance given in discussions with John Lynch, Robert Early and Catriona Malau (formerly Hyslop) of the Pacific Languages Unit of the University of the South Pacific in Port Vila, and with my colleagues in the Vanuatu Group of SIL, especially Jeff Batcock, Jeremiah Chung, Ross McKerras, and Greg and Beth Ann Carlson. I also greatly appreciate the discussions and review of data by my parents, Alan and Phyllis Healey. I am very grateful to the Maskelyne people, especially those of Pelog (Pellonk) Village, who taught us their language. My family and I are truly members of the extended family there even though our work sometimes prevents us from fulfilling all that being family entails. I am particularly indebted to Edly Wakon who spent many long hours discussing and correcting my spoken and written language. During our translation work, Edly, John Weslee Josiah, Joel Ponani, Henry Christie, Jack Nombong, Caleb Malau and Malterrie Stanley were happy to go off on tangents and discuss language. I am greatly indebted to Enrel Simon (now deceased) for many insights into both the “kastom” of the past and the culture being lived out today. Patrick Simeon and Sethric Shadrach helped me to finally unravel a pattern to stress. Joseph Jack cleared up the many anomalies I found in my noun phrase analysis and verb analysis, as did Masing Nalo Stevens. And the “old men” of all three villages were happy to correct my speech and understanding. But in the end, any mistakes are strictly my own responsibility. During my time of study Terry Crowley died, John Lynch retired and the staffing of the Pacific Languages Unit was significantly reduced. I greatly regret these circumstances since it meant that my own contact with people having such a rich variety of experience was of necessity diminished, and I am the poorer for it. ii A grammar of Maskelynes Abstract Abstract This is a grammatical description of Maskelynes, a language whose homeland is Uluveu Island, the most densly inhabited of the Maskelyne Islands, which are located off southeast Malakula, Vanuatu. An Oceanic language, Maskelynes is spoken by 1300-1400 people as their first language. This is the first substantial description of Maskelynes, and is based on data collected during work with the language for over ten years. After an introduction to the people and their language, the language is described from phonetics and phonology to complex sentences in roughly three parts. The first part of the description discusses nominals and nominal phrases as well as interrogatives, demonstratives, relators, prepositions and verbal prepositions. The second part of the description discusses verbs in some detail as well as verb phrases and the remaining small word classes such as adverbs, quantifiers, tense aspect mode particles, focus particles, the plural particle, conjunctions and interjections. The third part discusses clauses and verb combining within clauses. The verb combining strategies include compounding, nuclear and core serial verb constructions, subordination and coordination. Maskelynes has features in common with many other Vanuatu languages. It has SV/AVO clause constituent order, a nominative-accusative marking pattern, exhibits head-marking, and wide-spread use of reduplication and serial verb constructions. Pronouns mark dual and plural distinctions as well as inclusive and exclusive for first person. There is also a distinction between nouns that are unable to be possessed, those that are directly possessed and those that are indirectly possessed. Nevertheless a number of features are unusual. Two forms of dissimilation are used extensively; stress appears to be assigned by vowel quality; part-whole nouns allow for a wide variety of noun-noun compounds; and relativisation is by prefixation on the verb. iii A grammar of Maskelynes Abbreviations Abbreviations The following abbreviations were used in glossing Maskelynes morphemes: 1, 2, 3 first, second, third person Ø zero morpheme A transitive subject ACMP accompaniment AUG augmentative BEN benefactive C consonant (phonology) CAUS causative CMPZ complementiser COMP completive COND conditional CONJ conjunction CONT continuous COP copula CSV core serial verb d dual DAT dative DIM diminutive DIR direction DST distributive DTZ detransitiviser/valency decrease DUB dubitative DUR durative e exclusive f feminine FOC focus FUT future GEN genitive GL goal HYP hypothetical i inclusive IMM immediate INCMP incompletive INST instrument INTNS intensifier IR irrealis LOC locative m masculine MB mother’s brother MLT multiplicative MNS means MOD modifier MT material NEG negative NP nominal phrase iv A grammar of Maskelynes Abbreviations NSV nuclear serial verb NZ nominaliser, common noun marker O object1 OBG obligatory p plural PAST past PHB prohibitive POSP possessive phrase POSR possessor POT potential PP prepositional phrase PRD product PRED predicate, predicate marker PRES present PURP purpose PW part-whole PZ personaliser, person noun marker QNT quantity R realis REAS reason RED reduplication REL relator REP repetitive RP relator phrase RST result RZ relativiser s singular S subject; semivowel (phonology) ST stimulus SEEN seen/first person witnessed SVC serial verb construction T time TAM tense/aspect/mode TZ transitiviser/valency increase V verb; vowel (phonology) VP verb phrase Y/N yes or no Other abbreviations are: cf. compare with/contrast with k.o. kind of p.c. personal communication POc Proto Oceanic PMP Proto Malayo-Polynesian PNCV Proto North Central Vanuatu s.o. someone (person or personification) s.t. something or someone 1 3sO refers to both the third person singular object, and more generally a third person singular non-subject argument. v A grammar of Maskelynes Abbreviations w/ with Symbols used in examples and glosses: ( ) brackets optional items or explanatory material [ ] brackets a particular process or structure under discussion . separates words of a multi-word gloss and also signals continuation of a gloss of a single morpheme2 * marks examples as unallowable, also marks protoforms bold is used in examples to draw attention to items under discussion Symbols for the phonology section: [ ] encloses the surface pronunciations transcribed in IPA symbols and also encloses distinctive features { } encloses alternatives // encloses the phonemic representation / in the environment of what follows # marks a word boundary + marks a morpheme boundary; indicates presence of a feature √ indicates presence of a feature – indicates absence of a feature ~ between sounds or forms of a word, indicates free variation . separates syllables 2 The subject person number morpheme is always glossed as one series of numbers and letters without being separated by periods, thus: first person dual exclusive subject is 1deS rather than 1.d.e.S. vi A grammar of Maskelynes Table of Contents Table of Contents Dedication ..................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... ii Abstract ....................................................................................................................... iii Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... vii Index of Tables ......................................................................................................... xvii Index of Maps ........................................................................................................... xix 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 History, geography and demography of the Maskelynes ............................... 1 1.2 History of the Maskelynes language ............................................................... 3 1.3 Previous research and publications ................................................................. 5 1.4 Present study ................................................................................................... 6 1.4.1 Overview of Maskelynes grammar .......................................................... 6 1.4.1.1 Typology ............................................................................................... 7 1.4.1.2 Phonology and orthography .................................................................. 7 1.4.1.3 Word classes ......................................................................................... 8 1.4.1.4 Phrase types .........................................................................................
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