Abma language
| Apma | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Pentecost island |
Native speakers | 7800 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | map |
| ISO 639-3 | app |
Apma (also known as Abma) is the language of central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Apma belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family.
With an estimated 7,800 native speakers (in the year 2000), Apma is the most widely-spoken of Pentecost's native languages, and the fifth largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. In recent times Apma has spread at the expense of other indigenous languages such as Sowa and Ske. Apma is increasingly mixed with words and expressions from Bislama, Vanuatu's national language.
Dialects and range
Modern Apma has three well-defined dialects:
- Suru Mwerani, the southernmost dialect, is the most widely-spoken and well-documented dialect. It is spoken in Melsisi, Tansip, Vanrasini and surrounding villages, and in the former Sowa area between Melsisi and Ranmawot. All the examples below are in Suru Mwerani dialect unless otherwise stated.
- Suru Rabwanga (also called Suru Bo), the central dialect, is spoken in the mountainous area between Bwatnapni and Namaram. It is very similar to Suru Mwerani, and the two dialects are mixed in villages such as Bwatnapni, Enaa, Wutsunmwel and Naruwa.
- Suru Kavian is a small, endangered and very distinctive dialect, spoken in the area to the north and east of Namaram. It is hard for speakers of the other two dialects to understand.
(Mwerani and rabwanga are the words for "today" in their respective dialects, while bo and kavi are the words for "pig".)
Two other probable Apma dialects, Asuk (or Asa) in the south-west and Wolwolan (or Volvoluana) in the north, are now extinct.
Phonology
The consonants of Apma are b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng (as in English "singer"), p, r, s, t, ts (or j), bilabial v, w, and labiovelar bw and mw.
The consonants b, bw, d, g, mw, r, ts, v and w occur only at the start of a syllable. The consonant p (which is an allophone of b) generally occurs only at the end of a syllable. Clusters of consonants cannot occur within a syllable. Unlike in closely-related Raga language, words in Apma can end with a consonant.
In archaic and northern varieties of Apma, prenasalization of consonants occurs in some environments, so that b becomes mb, d becomes nd, and g becomes ngg. This feature has been lost in modern Suru Mwerani dialect.
Apma's five vowels come in short forms (a, e, i, o and u) and long forms (aa, ee, ii, oo and uu). Long vowels often occur where a consonant (typically r) has historically been lost. Vowels can occur alone or in various combinations. The combination iu has a distinctive rounded pronunciation.
Stress is normally on the penultimate syllable of a word. However, syllables that end with a consonant or a long vowel take stress in precedence to other syllables.
Grammar
Basic word order in Apma is subject verb object. Occasionally, a subject may occur out of its usual position, in which case it is marked with na:
- Bo mwe gani bwarus = The pig is eating papaya
- Mwe gani bwarus, na bo = It's eating papaya, the pig
Pronouns
Personal pronouns are distinguished by person and number. They are not distinguished by gender. The basic pronouns differ substantially between dialects:
| Person | Apma (Suru Mwerani dialect) |
Apma (Suru Rabwanga dialect) |
Apma (Suru Kavian dialect) |
English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | nana | nana | ina | "me" |
| 2nd person singular | kik | nggi | nggu | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | ni | ni | ini | "him / her / it" |
| 1st person dual (inclusive) | kuduru | kunduru | kindiri | "us" (you and me, two of us) |
| 1st person dual (exclusive) | gemaru | nggemaru | inggari | "us" (me and another) |
| 2nd person dual | gumru | nggimiru | nggumiri | "you (two)" |
| 3rd person dual | nuuru | nuuru | iniiri | "them (two)" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | kidi | kindi | kindi | "us" (you and me) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | gema | nggema | ingga | "us" (me and others) |
| 2nd person plural | gimi | nggimi | nggumi | "you" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | nii | nii | inii | "them" |
The dual or plural form of "you" is occasionally used in place of the singular form to show extreme respect.
Nouns
Nouns in Apma are generally not preceded by articles. Plurality is indicated by placing the pronoun nii ("them") or a number after the noun:
- bwihil = [the] bird
- bwihil nii = [the] birds
- bwihil katsil = three birds
Nouns may be either free, or directly-possessed. Directly-possessed nouns are suffixed to indicate whom an item belongs to. For example:
- dalek = my voice
- dalem = your voice
- dalen = his/her voice
- dalen subu = the chief's voice
- dalekte = voice (generic)
Possession may also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:
- no- for general possessions (nok watang, "my basket")
- bila- for things that are cared for, such as crops and livestock (bilada bo, "our pig")
- ka- for things to be eaten (kam tsi, "your sugarcane")
- ma- for things to be drunk (maa sileng, "their water")
- na- for associations, over which the possessor has no control (vini nak, "my home island")
The possessive suffixes are as follows:
| Person | Apma (Suru Mwerani dialect) |
Apma (Suru Rabwanga dialect) |
Apma (Suru Kavian dialect) |
English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | -k | -ngg + vowel | -ngg + vowel | "of mine" |
| 2nd person singular | -m | -m | -m | "of yours" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | -n | -n | -n | "of his/hers/its" |
| 1st person dual (inclusive) | -daru | -nd + vowel + ru | -nd + vowel + ri | "of ours" (yours and mine, two of us) |
| 1st person dual (exclusive) | -maru | -maru | -mari | "of ours" (mine and another's) |
| 2nd person dual | -mru | -muru | -miri | "of yours" (two of you) |
| 3rd person dual | -ru | -ru | -ri | "of theirs" (two of them) |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | -da | -nd + vowel | -nd + vowel | "of ours" (yours and mine) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | -ma | -ma | -ma | "of ours" (mine and others') |
| 2nd person plural | -mi | -mi | -mi | "of yours" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | (lengthened vowel) | (lengthened vowel) | (lengthened vowel) | "of theirs" |
| Generic | -kte | -k | -k | - |
In Suru Kavian dialect, vowels in certain directly-possessed nouns and possessive classifiers change according to the pattern illustrated below. This does not occur in other dialects:
| 1st person singular | nonggo bu "my knife" |
vilunggu "my hair" |
| 2nd person singular | nom bu "your knife" |
vilum "your hair" |
| 3rd person singular | nen bu "his/her knife" |
vilin "his/her hair" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) |
nende bu "our knife" |
vilindi "our hair" |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) |
noma bu "our knife" |
viluma "our hair" |
| 2nd person singular | nomi bu "your knife" |
vilumi "your hair" |
| 3rd person singular | nee bu "their knife" |
vilii "their hair" |
A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -an:
- wel = to dance (verb)
- welan = a dance (noun)
Modifiers generally come after a noun:
- vet = stone
- vet tewep = small stone
- vet kavet = four stones
Verbs
Many verbs in Apma have distinct transitive and intransitive forms. (These distinctions have been lost to some extent in Suru Kavian dialect.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:
| Intransitive | Transitive |
|---|---|
| gan "to eat" |
gani "to eat something" |
| min "to drink" |
-mni "to drink something" |
| rong "to hear" |
rongo "to hear something" |
| solsol "to do the sewing" |
-slo "to sew something" |
| lehlehvik "to do the washing" |
lehvi "to wash something" |
| diptsipmik "to perform a burial" |
dipmi "to bury something" |
In Suru Mwerani dialect, and to a lesser extent Suru Rabwanga, vowels have been lost from a number of verb roots, producing bound verbs which begin with a pair of consonants (such as -mni and -slo above). Since clusters of consonants within a syllable are prohibited in Apma, these verb roots can never appear without a prefix attached. Speakers usually cite these verbs with the prefix mwa- attached (mwamni, mwaslo) and do not identify them as words when unprefixed.
In addition to verbs denoting actions, Apma has a large number use of stative verbs that describe an item. For example, there is a verb "to be red" (meme) and a verb "to be good" (gabis). Apma uses stative verbs in many of the situations where adjectives would be used in English.
Unlike neighbouring Raga language, Apma has a copular verb, (v)i or bi, although it is used sparingly.
Verbs in Apma are usually preceded by a subject pronoun and by a marker indicating the tense, aspect and mood of the action.
The subject pronouns are as follows:
| Person | Apma | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | na- | "I" |
| 2nd person singular | ko- | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | - | "he" / "she" / "it" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | ta- | "we" (you and I) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | kaa(ma)- | "we" (others and I) |
| 2nd person plural | ka- (ko...i in Suru Kavian dialect) |
"you" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | ra- | "they" |
Apma has five sets of tense/aspect/mood markers:
| Tense / Aspect / Mood | Used for | Marker (full form) | Marker (short form) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective | Actions in the present tense Temporary or changing states A 'default' marker when the tense/aspect/mood has already been set |
mwa-, mwe-, mwi-, mwo-, mu- | -m |
| Perfective | Actions in the past tense Fixed states |
te- | -t |
| Potential | Things that may happen in the future | mwan(e)- (nee- in northern and archaic Apma) |
-n (replaced with a long vowel in northern and archaic Apma) |
| Prospective | Things that are about to happen | nema- | -ma |
| Hypothetical | Things that have not happened and probably won't | bat(e)- | -bat |
The full forms of these markers are used in the 3rd person singular, when there is no subject pronoun:
- mwe leli = he does it
- te leli = he did it
- mwan leli = he will do it
Elswhere, short forms of these markers are suffixed to the subject pronoun:
- nam leli = I do it
- nat leli = I did it
- nan leli = I will do it
The imperfective marker alters to some extent to match the sound of the verb it is attached to. It is usually absent altogether when the verb begins with b or m. (In Suru Kavian dialect, it is absent when the verb begins with any consonant other than r.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:
- mwi sip = he goes down
- mwo rop = he runs
- mu rus = he moves
- ban = he goes
Dual (two-person) forms consist of the plural forms with ru (or ri in Suru Kavian) inserted after the tense/aspect/mood marker:
- ram leli = they do it
- ramru leli = the two of them do it
There is a pattern of verb-consonant mutation whereby v at the start of a verb changes to b, and w changes to bw. This mutation occurs in imperfective aspect, in the presence of the additive marker m(u), and sometimes in potential mood:
- nat van = I went
- na ban = I am going
- nan ban or nan van = I will go
In northern and archaic varieties of Apma, there is also mutation of k to g, and of t to d.
Negative sentences are indicated with the two-part marker ba...nga "not", or a variant, which encloses the verb and any direct object:
- natba leli nga = I didn't do it
The passive voice can be formed by attaching the suffix -an to the verb:
- te lelian = it was done
In the imperative, verbs are preceded simply by the 2nd person subject pronoun ko or karu "you":
- Ko leli! = Do it! (to one person)
- Karu leli! = Do it! (to two people, or politely to a group)
- Ka leli! = Do it! (plural, considered impolite and usually heard only with children)
Other particles that can occur in a verb phrase include:
- a minimizing marker ga(m), "just"
- a partitive marker te, "partly" or "at all"
- an additive marker m(u), "furthermore"
The direct object, if one is present, immediately follows the verb. When the object is inanimate and already known, it need not be stated explicitly:
- nat gita kik = I saw you
- nat gita = I saw [it]
Verbs in Apma can be linked together in a variety of serial verb constructions.
Sample phrases
| English | Apma (Suru Mwerani dialect) |
Apma (Suru Rabwanga dialect) |
Apma (Suru Kavian dialect) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where are you going? | Ko ban ibeh? | Ko ban ibeh? | Ko ban al beh? |
| I'm going to... | Na ban... | Na mban... | Na mban... |
| Where have you come from? | Ko tepma ibeh? | Ko tepma ibeh? | Kot vama al beh? |
| I've come from... | Na tepma... | Na tepma... | Nat vama... |
| Where is it? | Mwidi ibeh? | Mwindi ibeh? | Si al beh? |
| It's here | Mwidi dokah | Mwindi dokah | Si inda |
| What's your name? | Ham ah itan? | Ham ah idan? | Am ah idan? |
| My name is... | Hak ah... | Hangga ah... | Angga ah... |
| Where are you from? | Kik atsi at ibeh? | ngGi atsi at ibeh? | ngGu asi at beh? |
| I am from... | Nana atsi at... | Nana atsi at... | Ina asi at... |
| How much? / How many? | Kavih? | Kavih? | Kaivih? |
| one | bwaleh | bwaleh | bwaleh |
| two | karu | karu | kairi |
| three | katsil | katsil | kaitil |
| four | kavet | kavet | kaivas |
| five | kalim | kalim | kailim |
| Thank you | Ko biah | Ko bivah | Ko mudak |
| It's just fine | Te gabis nge | Te kabis nge | Te kabis nga |
Documentation
Notes on the grammar and vocabulary of Apma language were first made by Catholic missionaries at Melsisi in the early 20th century.
Cindy Schneider of the University of New England completed a description of the Suru Mwerani dialect of Apma language in 2008. Following Schneider's work, Pascal Temwakon and Andrew Gray produced Bongmehee, an illustrated dictionary of the language.
The other two dialects of Apma remain poorly documented.
References
- Crowley, Terry. 2000. The language situation in Vanuatu. Current Issues in Language Planning. Vol 1, No 1.
- Gray, Andrew. In press. The Languages of Pentecost Island.
- Lynch, John and Crowley, Terry. 2001. Languages of Vanuatu: A New Survey and Bibliography.
- Schneider, Cynthia. In press. A Grammar of Abma language. Pacific Linguistics.
- Temwakon, Pascal and Gray, Andrew. 2008. Bongmehee.
- Tryon, Darrell, 1976. New Hebrides Languages: An Internal Classification: Series C - No. 50. Pacific Linguistics.