Nakanai language
| Nakanai | |
|---|---|
| Lakalai | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
Native speakers | (13,000 cited 1981)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nak |
| Glottolog | naka1262 |
Nakanai is spoken by the Nakanai tribe in West New Britain, a province of Papua New Guinea. It is an Austronesian language, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup. Otherwise known as Nakonai, it also has dialects in the form of Losa, Bileki, Vere, Ubae, and Maututu.
The name Nakanai is natively pronounced Lakalai, as the alveolar nasal [n] has disappeared from the phonemic inventory of the language and has been replaced by [l].
The name given to the Nakanai people by the indigenous people, before the Tolai name of Nakanai was adopted, was either Muku or Muu. Those were derogatory words, and in Nakanai mean 'to screw up the nose in distaste', and 'humming sound made by masked men', respectively.[2]
History
Due to links between Nakanai and Eastern Oceanic languages, it is believed that its language family speakers arrived from the east of Papua New Guinea.[2]
New Britain had experienced regular contact and settlement from 1840 to 1883, but the lack of coverage and useful records of the Nakanai region had the region deemed terra incognita.
Speakers
Nakanai is spoken by people living in the West New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea. They live in around 45 villages in the coastal and hinterland regions of Cape Hoskins, Commodore Bay, Cape Reilnitz, Bangula Bay, and Cape Koas.[3]
The dialects that make up the Nakanai language are Bileki, Ubae, Vele, Loso, and Maututu, respectively from the west-most to the east-most of the Nakanai-speaking areas.[4]
Of all the dialects spoken, Bileki has the most native speakers due to being in a more densely populated area. It is common for speakers of other dialects to understand, or even speak, Bileki, but the reverse is not as common. There are 19 Bileki-speaking villages centered around Cape Hoskins and Commodore Bay. It also has a number of names, including Beleki and Central Nakanai. South-East of the Bileki area are the Ubae speakers, located in the Ubae and Gusi villages.[5] Vele speakers are centered on the coastal and adjacent regions of Bangula Bay, in particular, the villages of Tarobi, Pasusu, Sisimi, Gaekeke, Kai and Kaiamo.[6] Loso (or Auka) is a dialect of Nakanai spoken in the Silanga region, inland of Lasibu Anchorage. The villages are Kotoo Babata and Loa, all resettled at Silanga; Um, Bagela, Bibisi and Sipa, all resettled at or near Uasilau; and Movai, Sabol, Saiko, and a portion of Sipa, which are still situated on traditional land in the bush.[7] The villages of the Maututu dialect are Matililiu, Gomu, Apulpul, Baikakea, Bubuu, Mataururu, Kiava and Evase, all grouped on the eastern coast of the Nakanai area, between Toiru River and Cape Koas. These are all United Church Villages and have been influenced therefore by Tolai-speaking missionaries and Nassa shell traders, plus contact with Melamela to the east, Bileki and Vele to the west, and the inland languages Longeinga, Wasi and Kol.[8]
Grammar
Sociolinguistic choices
The noun article is obligatory when referring to an object, and when addressing an object, the noun article is never used.
Avoiding the use of names in speech is a way of showing esteem, whether one is talking about a person in reference or when addressing them. To use a person's name without good reason is seen as a form of disrespect. Instead, kinship terms are preferred. Esteem, in face–to–face conversations, is also displayed by referring to the addressee in the third person.[2]
Syntax
Thematic roles
In terms of case relations, "Nakanai role structure operates morphologically as follows: there are six contrastive cases, Actor, which appears as the immediately pre-verbal NP; Patient, which appears in the unmarked instance as the immediately post-verbal NP; Source; which is the NP immediately preceded by the post-verbal ablative particle le; Beneficiary, which is encoded by inalienable possession suffixation of the verb; Instrument, signaled by ablative particle le, but appearing discontinuously from it, the Patient-NP obligatorily intervening; and Goal encoded by the preposition te. "Additionally, directional verbs in chained sequence such as tavu (towards) and taro (away from) encode goal and source relationship respectively. relationships of Direction, Range, Location and comitative are encoded by prepositionally-coreferential topic deletion."[9]
Fundamental division of Nakanai cases in case relations:
- Nuclear roles filling positions of referential prominence: actor, beneficiary, patient
- Nuclear roles filling positions of non-referential prominence: goal, instrument, source
- Peripheral roles (necessarily referentially non-prominent: location, direction, range, comitative
Actor
The actor is typically the animate entity credited for the action in a sentence. In Nakanai, the action includes the source, the undergoer and the experiencer of, "a caused or spontaneous process, or mental state or event." The actor noun phrase will precede the verb in the language.[9]
Patient
The patient is affected by the action or state identified by the verb in a sentence. They receive this external action or exhibit a state identified by a verb.
E
ART
Baba
Baba
kue(-a)
strike-3ps
e
ART
Bubu
Bubu
Baba struck Bubu
E
ART
Baba
Baba
kama-kokora
bad
Baba is bad
In transitive clauses, the patient noun phrase is encoded by suffixation of the verb with a third-person singular affix -a. The accusative marking is optional for noun phrases with given information.
E
ART
Baba
Baba
kue(-a)
strike-3ps
la
ART
paia
dog
Baba struck the dog
Egite
they(PL)
barautu
cut
isahari
some
egite
they(PL)
siapani
Japan
they cut some Japanese soldiers
Japanese soldiers represent the new information.
The beneficiary or source noun phrases must precede the patient in a sentence, the two not being in the same sentence.
E
ART
Baba
Baba
abi-a-le
give-3ps-3psi/ART
tila-la
mother-3psi
la
ART
bua
areca nut
Baba gave his mother areca nuts
"The patient case appears in the nominal slot immediately following the verb, and potentially preceded by accusative suffix -a on the verb. This is the statistically most frequent occurrence of Patient."[9]
Beneficiary
These represent the animate beneficiary of the action or state identified by a verb. They are an inalienable possession marking agreeing with the beneficiary in number and person inclusiveness.[9]
E
Baba
vitaho-a-le
Bubu
ART baba escort-3ps-3psi/ART Bubu
Occurs mostly in ditransitive clauses, where it must occur in the nominal slot immediately following the verb:
E
ART
Baba
Baba
abi-a-le
give-3ps-3psi/ART
Bubu
Bubu
la
ART
bua
areca nut
Baba gave Bubu areca nuts
Instrument
For intransitive clauses they may represent: the inanimate force
E
ART
baba
baba
lea
sick
le
AB
bubuli
measlee
baba is sick with measles Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
the independent non-volitional cause, animate
E
ART
baba
Baba
sagege
happy
le
ABL
loli
lollies
baba is happy with the lollies
inanimate
E
ART
baba
baba
ge
IRR
iloburuko
worry
le
ABL
amiteu
ART
us
baba will be worried about us Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 6 word(s) in line 1, 7 word(s) in line 2 (help);
For transitive clauses, "[the] instrument is the case of the object accessory or tool involved in performing the action of the verb." They are always inanimate. With an actor, it appears as the last noun phrase in the clause, marked with post-verbal ablative particle le. Without an actor, it may appear as the clause topic. "it is not a plausible analysis to regard le marking Instrument-NP as signalling Instrument outranked by another role (Patient), like English with, since this alternative does not explain the invariant ordering of the instrumental clause."[9]
Sources
In ditransitive clauses, the source "represents the animate origin of an action in which a patient is moved away from source-entity by [an] actor"
e
ART
baba
baba
abi
get
taro
away
le
ABL
bubu
bubu
la
ART
bua
areca nut
Baba took away from Bubu the areca nut
source marked by ablative particle le, appears post-verbally in first nominal slot."[9]
Goal
Goals are encoded by the free particle te. It is the case of the entity toward which the action is directed. It includes: destination, purpose, place, extent, or reason or topic of conversation. It is usually the last noun phrase in the clause.[9]
E
ART
baba
baba
sae
board
te
PREP
sipi
ship
baba boarded the/a ship
Location
[E
ART
Baba
Baba
pou]
sit
[o-io
at-there
(te)
PREP
la
ART
hohoi].
bush
Baba stayed in the bush.
[E
ART
Baba
Baba
sae]
climb
[so-ata
to-up
(te)
PREP
la
ART
kari]
truck.
Baba climbed up onto the truck.
"Location may be optionally encoded by preposition te in addition to the coverb encoding Locative. Preposition te indicates that the embedded locative clause contains a nuclear case, viz. goal.
Depending on involvement of motion or whether the verb is transitive or not, there may be coreferential actor or patient deletion.
[E
ART
Baba
Baba
paha
carve
la
ART
uaga]
canoe
[o-io
at-there
la
ART
hohoi]
bush
Baba carved a canoe in the bush.
[E
ART
Baba
Baba
tigitaro
pour.out
la
ART
lalu]
water
[so-talo
to-down
la
ART
magasa]
ground
Baba poured out the water onto the ground.
Coreferential topic deletion of actor noun phrase is not obligatory in the presence of motion verbs with the root go- 'to proceed'. "[9]
Range
Range is encoded as the goal of the direction verb kara 'until/as far as', appearing as the main verb, or in a chained sequence with another verb. "It indicates a relationship of spatial extent or temporal duration:"
[Egite
they(PL)
go-io]
go-there
[pou
sit
kara
until
(te)la
PREP
logo.]
ART
night
They then remained until nightfall Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 6 word(s) in line 1, 7 word(s) in line 2 (help);
"This clause shows two instances of coreferential topic deletion in clauses in chained sequence. The obligatory coreferential topic deletion of the actor noun phrase potentially appearing with kara is illustrated in the second embedded clause. Note too that the preposition in this clause is optional."[9]
Orthography
Nakanai has five vowels, ⟨a, e, i, o, u⟩, and has the consonants ⟨p, b, t, d, k, g, s, h, r, l, n, ng⟩.[2]
Phonology
Nakanai syllables may be of the shape V or CV, with no codas or consonant clusters to be found anywhere in the language.
Phonology of the Nakanai language:[9]
| Labial | Alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | d | g | ||
| Nasal | m | (n) | |||
| Rhotic | r | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Fricative | β | s | h | ||
| Glide | (w) | (j) | |||
/i, u/ in initial position are heard as glides [j, w]. [n] is mostly replaced by /l/ and is only heard across other dialects.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Low | a |
Phonological rules
| Orthography | Feature |
|---|---|
| w | /u/ |
| y | /i/ |
| v | [β] |
| r | flap/trill |
| /t/ | [ts] before i |
| i after t | infrequent sound |
| u after m | infrequent sound |
| h | not usually articulated |
Younger Bileki speakers, typically younger than 30 years old, tend to drop the /h/ sound from their speech. The Methodist parts of Nakanai also drop the /h/ sound as a result of Kuanuan language influence.
| Word | Dropped /h/ | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| la havi | la avi | fire |
| saho | sao | water |
The presence of English, Pidgin and Tolai brought in the change of /l/ to /n/ in areas where this change has occurred.[2]
Phonological differences
The dialects of Nakanai mainly differ in the sounds that they use.
Bileki
For the most popular dialect, Bileki, their /g/s are /d/s, /k/s are /ʔ/s, /l/s are /n/s for a number of words, and /r/s are /s/s.
Bileki also shares phonological similarities with another language in the New Britain area, Melamela, which is located east of the Maututu-speaking regions. Phonological differences lie in the different rendition of certain phonemes.
| Bileki phoneme | Melamela phoneme |
|---|---|
| /g/ | /d/ |
| /k/ | /ʔ/ |
| /l/ | /n/ |
| /r/ | /s/ |
Ubae
In Ubae, the Bileki habit of dropping the /h/ sound from their speech has caused the la noun marker to turn into l- for words starting with a vowel. For example:
| Sentence | Gloss |
|---|---|
| l-ivu-la | his/her hair |
| l-ase-la | his/her mouth |
/k/ is present in Ubae speech, /l/ and /s/ are sometimes alternated in basic words, and the /l/ and /r/ change from their Vele neighbors is not present.
Vele
Like the Bileki dialect, the /h/ sound has been dropped from Vele speech. The /l/ is rendered as the /r/ sound, and the /k/ as the /ʔ/. Their noun marker la drops the /l/, transforming it to just a. Vele also has had contact with Bileki-speaking Methodist pastors, and thus the Methodist villages, Kaiamo and Sulu, speak a dialect that is moving closer to Bileki.
Loso/Auka
Similar to Bileki, the /h/ sound is missing. They also use the /n/ sound in place of /l/. Similar to Vele, the noun marker la is simplified to just a. Despite neighboring Vele, their /k/ sounds do not change to /ʔ/.
Maututu
Maututu's phonemic inventory shares a strong resemblance with Bileki's.[2]
Vocabulary
Speakers exposed to English borrow English lexical items, as well as mix in words from Pidgin into their speech. The practice is frowned upon, despite being widely practiced.
| English | Borrowed |
|---|---|
| married | marid |
| greedy | gridi |
Religion plays a part in the vocabulary used in the Nakanai-speaking regions. About 61.74% of speakers are Catholic, while the rest are Methodists of the United Church. The Catholic areas keep older Nakanai words that were replaced in other parts. Methodist areas borrow words from the Kuanuan language.
There are distinct kinship terms and their use depends on whether the person is being referred to or being addressed.[2]
| Reference | Address | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| e tamisa-gu | lavogu | my cross-cousin |
| e tubu-gu | pupu | my grandparent |
| e iva-gu | laiva | my brother-in-law |
Nakanai has, over time, experienced lexical innovation. One driving force behind lexical innovation in the language is to be able to "discuss matters without outsiders understanding key words." An example:
| Sentence | Gloss | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| e maisu-mata | noun-marker straight nose | 'White person' |
Lexical innovation also comes in the form of borrowing terms from the surrounding languages, mainly Tolai, Pidgin and English, to cover foreign objects. An example:
| e moro | le uaga | e sipi (from Pidgin) | 'ship' |
Before the borrowing of lexical terms, they would make do with creative reactions to new objects that arrived to New Britain from foreign sources.
| Reactionary term (literal translation) | Current term | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| koko-robo (excrete covering) | rositi | rusted, rusty |
| la gala-muli-guaru (crawl-along-road) | la kari | truck, vehicle |
Along with adding new terms, they have also expanded existing ones to match new experiences introduced by foreigners.
| Term | Original meaning | Expanded meaning |
|---|---|---|
| gigi | 'count' | 'read, receive, education' |
| kaka | 'ask' | 'pray' |
There are also unnecessary[editorializing] borrowings in the forms of functional term and calques:
| Word (origin) | Word (Nakanai) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| oraet (Pidgin) | ioge | 'so, well' |
| ma (Tolai) | me | 'and' |
| Expression (literal) | Meaning (original expression) |
|---|---|
| karutu gegeru ('Shaken badly') | accuse (Pidgin sutim long tok) |
| hatamalei ('Man!') | Pidgin olaman |
Ubae
Ubae, compared to its neighbor Vele, has numerous lexical differences from Bileki, taking from other Eastern Nakanai dialects. For example, consider the words la voto: this means 'dog'. Voto, or 'dog', is found in the Eastern Nakanai dialects; however, Ubae still uses the Bileki article la instead of e, which is found in other Eastern Nakanai dialects.[2]
Lexicon
| Word | Category | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| ali | transitive verb | give |
| agi | adverb | too much |
| alaura | adverb | long ago |
| ale mave | adverb | which |
| ali | transitive verb | which |
| baa | noun | area, space |
| baha | transitive verb | send a person or a spoken message |
| balava | intransitive verb | get something for nothing |
| baratu | transitive verb | cut |
| belo | noun | return |
| beua | intransitive verb | return |
| bisi | intransitive verb | small, young, insignificant |
| bisnis | noun | business |
| bokis | noun | box |
| bolo | noun | pig |
| bububu | adverb | pointlessly |
| bulahu | adverb | for no reason |
| buli | transitive verb | roll |
| didiman | noun | agricultural officer |
| gabu | transitive verb | think about |
| gabutatala | transitive verb | think about |
| gabutatalala | noun | thinking |
| gale | noun | area, region |
| gali | intransitive verb | advance, merge |
| galili | adverb | around |
| galolo | adverb | constantly, tediously |
| gauru | noun | path, road |
| gigi | transitive verb | count, read |
| gilemuli | transitive verb | tell a story |
| gima | noun | appointed place |
| go-LOC | intransitive verb | go to stated location |
| golo | adverb | deceivingly, temporarily |
| gulutu | noun | cooking |
| gutu | transitive verb | cook |
| hagavi | intransitive verb | near |
| harare | noun | banks of river |
| harepala | intransitive verb | open one's mouth |
| haro | noun | sun, day |
| (ha)ta(vi)vile | noun | women |
| hele | intransitive verb | flee, run desperately |
| hihilo | - | reduplication of hilo |
| hiliti | intransitive verb | stand up |
| hilo | transitive verb | see |
| igo | transitive verb | do, make |
| igotataho | transitive verb | show off |
| igovavai | intransitive verb | snigger |
| igogolu | noun | work |
| ilali-la | noun | eating |
| -ilo | locative suffix | in, inside, inland |
| -io | locative suffix | there |
| isa- | noun | name |
| kabili | intransitive verb | in the middle |
| kaka | transitive verb | ask, request |
| kaluvu | transitive verb | finish |
| kamada | noun | carpenter |
| kamu | transitive verb | grasp |
| kapu | transitive verb | pulp |
Notes
- ^ Nakanai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Johnston (1980)
- ^ Johnston (1980), pp. 1
- ^ Johnston (1980), pp. 14
- ^ Johnston (1980), pp. 14–16
- ^ Johnston (1980), pp. 16
- ^ Johnston (1980), pp. 17
- ^ Johnston (1980), pp. 17–18
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Johnston (1978)
References
- Chowning, Ann; Goodenough, Ward H. (2016). A Dictionary of the Lakalai (Nakanai) Language of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. hdl:1885/107217. ISBN 9781922185310.
- Johnston, Raymond L. (1978). Nakanai Syntax (PhD thesis). Australian National University. doi:10.25911/5D763637B41D4. hdl:1885/10920.
- Johnston, Raymond L. (1980). Nakanai of New Britain: The Grammar of an Oceanic Language Series. Pacific Linguistics Series B-70. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-B70. hdl:1885/148444.
- Spaelti, Philip (1997). Dimensions of Variation in Multi-Pattern Reduplication (PhD thesis). University of California, Santa Cruz. doi:10.7282/T3NV9H3K.