Sakao language
Sakao | |
---|---|
Wanohe, Nkep, Nekep | |
Native to | Vanuatu |
Region | Big Bay, Espiritu Santo Island |
Native speakers | 4,000 (2001)[1] |
Dialects |
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | sku |
Glottolog | saka1289 |
Sakao is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Sakao (also Nkep or Nekep) is an Oceanic language spoken on the northeast horn of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
Name
Sakao is the name of the language as used by foreigners and linguists. It is named after
The speakers of Sakao refer to their own language using various names, depending on the variety considered.
Dialects
Sakao has undergone considerable phonological change and innovations, which make it utterly unintelligible to its closely related neighbours of Espiritu Santo. Evidence from the two dialects, however, shows that the innovation happened recently, perhaps within the last millennium. Thus for instance, comparing the following words with their cognates in its close relative Tolomako:
Sakao | Tolomako | |
---|---|---|
"louse" | nøð | na ɣutu |
"chicken" | nɔð | na toa |
"four" | jɛð | βati |
"to blow" | hy | suβi |
The main
Thus for instance Port-Olry has /œmœɣœɛ/ "fog, mist" where Hog-Harbour has /nmɣœ/.
Unless otherwise indicated, examples given here are in the Northern, Port-Olry, dialect.
Phonology
Front Unrounded |
Front Rounded |
Back Rounded | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | y | u |
Close-mid | e | ø | o |
Open-mid | ɛ | œ | ɔ |
Open | a | ɒ |
In addition, Sakao has a close vowel /ɨ/ that is unspecified for being rounded or unrounded, front or back, and is always unstressed. It also has the two diphthongs /œɛ, ɒɔ/, whereas Tolomako has none.
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n |
ŋ | ||
Plosive | p | t |
k | ||
Fricative | β | ð | s | ɣ | h |
Approximant | w | l |
j | ||
Tap
|
ɾ | ||||
Trill | r̥ |
In addition, Sakao consonants may be long or short: /œβe/ "drum", /œββe/ "bed"
It is not clear if Sakao even has syllables; that is, whether trying to divide Sakao words into meaningful syllables is even possible. If it is, Sakao syllables would appear to be V (a vowel or diphthong) surrounded by any number of consonants: V /i/ "thou", CCVCCCC (?) /mhɛrtpr/ "having sung and stopped singing thou kept silent" [m- 2nd pers., hɛrt "to sing", -p
Grammar
Number
Like
Substantives are not inflected for number, except kinship terms which distinguish singular and plural: ðjœɣ "my mother/aunt," rðjœɣ "my aunts;" walðyɣ "my child," raalðyɣ "my children." Likewise all demonstratives (pronouns, adjectives, even locatives): wa "this one," warɨr "these ones;" aðœŋœn mam "this person," aðœŋœn mamɨr "these persons;" ðað "here," ðaðɨr "in several places around here."
Deixis
Sakao has seven degrees of deixis.
Nouns
Sakao has inalienably possessed nouns, many of which are irregularly inflected:
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Here "mouth" is variably œsɨŋœ-, ɔsɨŋɔ-, œsœŋ- and "hair" variably uly-, ulœ-, nøl-.
Syntax
Sakao has a suffix -ɨn that increases the
mɨ-jil-ɨn
3SG-hits-TR
a-ra
ART-pig
a-mas
ART-club
"S/he hits (kills) the pig with a club"
This could also be mɨjilɨn amas ara.
The Sakao strategy involves
mɨ-jil-ra-p-ɨn
3SG-hit-pig-PFV-TR
a-mas
ART-club
"S/he hits (kills) the pig with a club"
Sakao polysynthesis can also involve compound verbs, each with its own instrument or object:
mɔ-sɔn-nɛs-hɔβ-r-ɨn
3SG-shoots-fish-follows-CONT-TR
a-ða
ART-bow
ɛ-ðɛ
ART-sea
"S/he kept on walking along the shore shooting fish with a bow."
Here aða "the bow" is the instrumental argument of sɔn "to shoot", and ɛðɛ "the sea" is the direct object of hoβ "to follow", which since they are combined into a single verb, are marked as
- Tolomako language, for parallels to the above in a closely related but grammatically simpler language
References
- ^ Sakao at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- hdl:1885/130469.
- Guy, Jacques Bernard Michel (1977). "On the origins of the Sakao vowel system (New Hebrides)". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 86 (1): 97–103. JSTOR 20705229.
External links
- ELAR archive of N'kep dialect of Sakao (north Vanuatu): Structure and variation
- ) that include Sakao language materials