“Vaeakau-Taumako language”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Vaeakau-Taumako (formerly known as Pileni) is a Polynesian language spoken in some of the Reef Islands as well as in the Taumako Islands (also known as the Duff Islands) in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands.

The language is spoken throughout the Taumako Islands, while in the Reef Islands, it is spoken on Aua, Matema, Nifiloli, Nupani, Nukapu, and Pileni. Speakers are thought{{by whom|date=July 2015}} to be descendants of people from Tuvalu.

The language has traditionally been considered one of the Futunic group of Polynesian languages, but a 2008 study exclusively based on lexical evidence concluded that this membership is weakly supported.^[1]

Phonology

Vowels

Vaeakau-Taumako does not vary from the standard Polynesian and Austronesian vowel system, featuring five vowels that can be used either in a long or short form. Short vowels found in word-final syllables are frequently devoiced or dropped, but long vowels in the same position are always stressed. There is little allophonic variation between vowel pronunciations.^[2]

Vowel sequences in Vaeakau-Taumako are typically not treated as diphthongs, as they are not fully reduplicated, as shown in the word "holauhola". This is despite the vowels in the original word being pronounced like a diphthong.^[2]

Consonants

The Vaeakau-Taumako language has one of the most complex consonant system of the Polynesian languages, with 19 distinct phonemes, plus a large amount of variation across dialects. /b/ and /d/ are found primarily in loan words, rather being native to the language.^[3]

Aspirated sounds are characteristic of the language, and are typically strong and audible. However, the use of aspirated sounds varies across dialects, enough that it is difficult to identify a consistent pattern aside from noting they always occur at the start of stressed syllables.^[4]

Morphology

Pronouns

Vaeakau-Taumako pronouns distinguish between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person pronouns. There are some inclusive and exclusive distinctions, and variations for singular, dual and plural in all cases. There are no gender distinctions. There is variation in the pronoun system for the dialects of Vaeakau-Taumako which can become quite complex, so for simplicity, only the general forms are recorded here.^[5]

Independent personal pronouns

There are two distinctive base sets of independent personal pronouns in Vaeakau-Taumako. The standard forms are used for formal occasions and recorded text, while the colloquial forms are typically found in informal, everyday conversation.^[6]

Bound subject pronouns

The language also features bound subject pronouns which act as clitics to the tense-aspect-mood marker of the verb of the constituent. They are not obligatory to use. The presence of the "u" has free variation by the choice of the speaker, but they are typically less prevalent in the colloquial forms.^[7]

Hortative pronouns

The dual, plural and 2nd person singular have specific pronouns used in imperative and hortative sentences.^[8]

Emphatic corefential pronouns

When the subject and direct object of a sentence are the same thing, repetition of the independent pronoun in place of both argument positions is typically used. However, there is a set of emphatic coreferential pronouns used for the direct object to refer to someone or a group of people acting alone.^[9]

The general pronoun nga

The word nga functions as a pronoun with specific use. It is a third person pronoun, but lacks specification for number, and is used to refer to both singular and plural referents. It typically is an anaphoric reference to a previously mentioned referent.^[10]

Possession

Control

While it is common for Polynesian languages to distinguish between alienability and inalienability with a and o possessives, this is not the case for Vaeakau-Taumako. This distinction exists, however it instead marks control – not of the possessed item itself, but of the possessive relationship.^[11]

A-possessives

Relationships that can be initiated or terminated freely, such as items that can be bought, sold or given away at will are marked with the a-possessive.^[11]

O-possessives

Relationships that are outside of the possessor's personal control, such as body parts and kinship relationships are marked with o-possessives.^[11]

Alienability and inalienability

Instead of a- and o- possessives, alienability and inalienability in Vaeakau-Taumako are distinguished by the use of either prenominal or postnominal possessive pronouns.^[12]

Prenominal possessive pronouns

Prenominal possessive pronouns occur directly preceding the possessed nouns, and are typically used for inalienable relationships, such as kinship terms and body parts.^[13] Prenominal possessive pronouns distinguish between singular, dual and plural of the possessor. The singular possessive forms make an additional distinction between singular and plural of the possessed entity, and encode the a- or o-possessive directly. The dual and plural possessor forms are combined with the possessive prepositions a and o to express this distinction, or they may occur without a preposition.^[12]

Postnominal possessive pronouns

The postnominal possessive pronoun succeeds the possessed noun, and are used to mark alienable relationships, such as owned items. They make no distinction between singular and plural of the possessed item, instead the distinction is usually made through the choice of article preceding the possessed noun. Like with prenominal possessive pronouns, the postnominal possessives are based on the possessive prepositions a and o, plus a pronominal form indicating person and number of the possessor. In the singular form, this is the same set of suffixes found on the prenominal possessives, whereas in the dual and plural form, a distinct set of person and number forms are found. In the third and first person, these forms are identical to the independent personal pronouns, except for the lack of aspiration on the initial consonant.^[14]

Possessive Suffixes

The possessive suffixes -ku (1st person), -u (2nd person) and -na (3rd person) apply to a restricted set of kinship nouns: tama/mha ‘father’, hina ‘mother’, thoka ‘same-sex sibling’, thupu ‘grandparent’, and mokupu ‘grandchild’. These nouns cannot occur without possessive marking, they require either a possessive suffix or, in the dual and plural, a postnominal possessive pronoun.^[15] An alternative construction is for these nouns to take the 3rd person possessive suffix -na in combination with a prenominal possessive pronoun or possessive prepositional phrase. The form in -na must in such cases be understood as a neutral or unmarked form, since it may combine with a pronoun of any person and number; but a form in -na without any further possessive marking is unambiguously 3rd person.^[16] Nouns other than those previously mentioned do not take possessive suffixes, but instead combine with possessive pronouns.^[17]

Negation

Vaeako-Taumako displays negation in prohibitions (prohibitive, irrealis, imperfective, admonitive), statements (verbal and non verbal) polar questions and noun phrases. Negation morphemes behave similarly to verbs in many respects although they do not take tense-aspect-mood markers or form independent predicates.^[18] However, there are instances of their taking complement clauses and for this reason negation morphemes might be considered a sub-class of verb.^[19]

Prohibition

Prohibitive clauses may be divided into two. Prohibitive auā, (equal to the English 'don’t') and Admonitive na. Prohibitives pattern themselves in similar ways and are most frequently positioned cause initially. Admonitives behave and distribute slightly differently as will be illustrated below.

Negated clauses appear with only a small range of tense-aspect-mood markers. Prohibitive clauses often display no tense-aspect-mood marker at all, if they do, the markers are either na irrealis or me prescriptive. Negated declarative clauses typically occur with either perfective ne or imperfective no, with other options only marginally represented in collected data.^[20]

Prohibitive auā

However, auā behaves like a verb in that it may take clausal complements, which are then often either nominalised or the irrealis marker na is present (see table 1.1.3).^[23]

A correlation exists between singular 2nd person subject and a nominalised clause although this correlation is not absolute.^[24]

Contrasting this, the 2nd person dual or plural subjects attract the irrealis marker na to create a prohibitive clause.

Within data sets of Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011), as implied by the imperative nature of the morpheme, auā will tend to appear with 2nd person subjects as above, although both 1st and 3rd subjects are also found.

‘She is not allowed to look at my face, ‘and I cannot look at her face.’ ^[28]

auā-ala

auā - oki

Irrealis na and Imperfective no

Irrealis na and imperfective no adheres to a common pattern of appearing in 2nd person in dual or plural within prohibitive clause structure.

Instances of 3rd person are less frequent and tend to include the imperfective no in postposition to morpheme auā.

Admonitive na

However na also has a second function, it acts to point out the consequences of disobeying the order. In this role the na often appears without me, creating a clause without tense-aspect-mood marking.^[36]

Statements

Verbal Clause Negation

Verbal negation is made up of three morphemes which act independently and may be understood as the English equivalents to siai ‘not’, sikiai ‘not yet’,and hiekh ‘not at all’.^[38]

siai ‘not, no’

According to Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) the colloquial pronunciation of siai is hiai, however the standard written form is siai.

Siai comes after preverbal arguments but is placed before the tense-aspect-mood particle and following clitic pronoun.

As in the case of auā modifying particles, which are traditionally found after verbs, may appear following siai. An example of this is loa which is an emphatic marker.

A further example is the addition of po which generally serves to connect a complement clause.

sikiai, hikiai ‘not yet’

hiekhī/hiekhiē ‘not at all’

This is the emphatic form of the negator. It follows the same distribution as both sia and sikiai and is often accompanied by the post-nuclear modifier loa.^[44]

As with siai hiekhī appears in conjunction with complementiser po, although with lower frequency.^[46]

Non-verbal Clause Negation

Questions

Polar Questions

Polar questions are commonly formed in three ways. A declarative clause with a rise in intonation to mark the interrogative which requires the binary, ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, much as they are in English may be used. The second alternative is the addition of the verbal negator (o) siai ‘(or) not’ and the third is the addition of verbal negator sikiai (not yet) if the interrogative has a temporal element.^[49]

Noun Phrase Negation

Negated Existence

Non-specific article e can be used to express 'negated existence' unless the noun has a possessive marker in which case e is absent.^[53]

References

1. ^Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
2. ^¹p.28
3. ^p.34-35
4. ^p.36
5. ^p.98
6. ^p.99-100
7. ^p.103-104
8. ^p.105
9. ^p.106
10. ^p.106-107
11. ^¹²p.109
12. ^¹p.111
13. ^p.112
14. ^p.115
15. ^p.147
16. ^p.148
17. ^p.149.
18. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011). A grammar of Vaeakau-Taumako. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.p.397
19. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.385
20. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.386
21. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.386
22. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.386
23. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.386
24. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.387
25. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.388
26. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.388
27. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.387
28. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.387
29. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.386
30. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.386
31. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.387
32. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.388
33. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.388
34. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.389
35. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.389
36. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.390
37. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.390
38. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.390
39. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.391
40. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.392
41. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.393
42. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.394
43. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.394
44. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.395
45. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.395
46. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.395
47. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.395
48. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.396
49. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.398
50. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.398
51. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.399
52. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.398
53. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.166
54. ^Næss, A., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2011) p.167