North Ambrym Language

North Ambrym is a language of Ambrym Island, Vanuatu.

Dialects

Today there are two main dialects of North Ambrym, levelled from a previous five or six due to population movements towards the coast. The Western dialect (spoken in Lonhali district) is better documented than the North-Eastern dialect (spoken in Wowan district).Franjieh, Michael (2012) ''Possessive Classifiers in North Ambrym, a Language of Vanuatu: Explorations in Semantic Classification''. PhD thesis. University of London: School of Oriental and African Studies.

Phonology

Consonants

* /r/ can have an allophone of ̚in free variation in word-final position.

Vowels

* Sounds /i, e/ are heard as �, ɛin closed syllables.

Grammar

Noun Phrases

There are two classes of nouns – free nouns that occur independently or bound nouns that require a possessor, either a pronominal suffix or a possessor noun phrase. Some nouns alternate between free and bound classes.

Nouns can also be derived from verbs using two clitics: instruments are derived with ''a='' and abstract nouns are derived with ''=an''.

Free pronouns distinguish between singular, dual, paucal and plural numbers, and distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person.

Non-singular pronouns in third person pronouns can be used to quantify nominals, and paucal and plural third person pronouns can be used to quantify over proper names, signifying a group containing that person.

Nominal modifiers (such as adjectives, possessor nominals, quantifiers, numerals, relative clauses) generally follow the head nominal. There are four deictic demonstratives (two proximal, one medial and one distal) which must be introduced by either the subordinate clause marker ''ge'' or the topic marker ''nge''. The numeral ''hu'' 'one' can appear directly after the head nominal to indicate as specific indefinite, and non-specific indefinites are marked ''te hu'' and only occur in negative or irrealis clauses. ''Te hu'' can also function as a pronominal meaning 'no-one'.

Noun phrases can be coordinated with the verb ''kirine'' 'be with' or the third person dual free pronoun ''nyero'', or with disjunctive ''o'' which is also used to coordinate clauses.

Verb phrases

The verbal complex can contain the following elements, with optional elements in brackets:

In addition the subject indexing particle can take tense prefixes and tense or mood suffixes.

Verbs can be transitive or intransitive.

Dynamic intransitive verbs can take preposition phrases as oblique arguments and a subset can have their valency changed by the applicative suffix ''Ci-''. Stative/inchoative intransitive verbs select a patient subject, and are interpreted as stative or inchoative depending on the aspect marking. When marked with the non-recent past tense marker, these are interpreted as perfective stative verbs, while the recent past marker is interpreted as imperfective and inchoative. A subset of stative/inchoative verbs can be transitivised with the transitive suffix ''-ne'', which also makes the subject the agent. ''m''-initial stative/inchoative verbs begin with /m/ and are derived from the Proto-Oceanic stative verb prefix ''*ma-'', though only one has a non-stative equivalent remaining.

While there is a small group of morphologically simple transitive verbs, a large group are derived from semitransitive verbs with the transitive suffix ''-ne''. Semitransitive verbs have a transitive meaning and a derived transitive form but only allow restricted objects.

Non-verbal predicates are also possible in topic-comment constructions, and have to include the topic marker ''nge''.

Possession

In North Ambrym there are two main possessive constructions – direct and indirect possession. Direct possession patterns predominantly with inalienable possession where the relationship between possessor and possessed is more permanent, such as kinship terms, body parts and parts of wholes. Indirect possession patterns predominantly with alienable possession where the relationship between possessor and possessed is less permanent, and more easily removed from the possessor.

Direct Possession

Direct possessive constructions are so called as a pronominal possessor can be directly suffixed to the possessed noun:^:219

When the possessor is a personal noun, such as a proper name, the possessor is juxtaposed to the directly possessed noun:^:219

When the possessor is a common noun, the possessed noun is suffixed by a linking morpheme known as a construct suffix, which is then followed by the possessor noun:Franjieh, Michael (2015) The construct suffix in North Ambrym. In A. François; S. Lacrampe, M. Franjieh, S. Schnell (eds.) The Languages of Vanuatu: Unity and Diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia, 5. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics Open Access. Pp.91-116.^:102

Direct possessive constructions cover the following semantic relationships:^:225-231

* Kinship terms, such as ''rahen'' ‘his/her mother’ and ''taalan'' ‘his/her brother’.
* External body parts, such as ''woulun'' ‘his/her hair’ and ''veran'' ‘his/her hand’.
* Non-human external body parts, such as ''lengate'' ‘its scales’ and ''byúte'' ‘its wing’.
* Some body by-products, such as ''mihun'' ‘his/her urine’ and ''túlúte'' ‘its egg’.
* Intrinsic and intimate possessions, such as ''tolon'' ‘his/her voice’ and ''towon'' ‘his penis-sheath’.
* Parts of wholes, such as ''kilite'' ‘its meat’, ''tangvate'' ‘its broken piece’.

Indirect Possession

In indirect possessive constructions a pronominal possessor is not able to suffix directly to the possessed noun, but instead attaches to one of a set of possessive classifiers:^:232

When the possessor is a lexical noun phrase, there is a word order change, with the possessed noun occurring before the possessive classifier. When the possessor is a personal noun, such as a proper name, the possessor phrase follows the possessive classifier, with no intervening morphology:^:232

When the possessor is a common noun, the possessive classifier noun is suffixed by the linking construct suffix, which is then followed by the possessor noun:^:96

There are five different possessive classifiers in North Ambrym that are used with different types of possessions:^:239-243; Franjieh, Michael (2016) Indirect Possessive Hosts in North Ambrym: Evidence for Gender. Oceanic Linguistics 55:87-115^:97

* The ''ye-/a-'' classifier covers the semantic domains of food, such as ''meyee'' ‘food’; animals, such as ''bwehel'' ‘bird’; tools, such as ''ayi'' ‘machete’; units of time, such as ''huwo'' ‘year’; fruit (and the trees that bear them), such as ''beta'' ‘breadfruit’; and some kinship terms, such as ''ina'' ‘paternal auntie’.
* The ''mwe-/ma-'' classifier covers liquids, such as ''we'' ‘water’; containers of liquids, such as ''bwelaye'' ‘container (i.e. cup/bottle)’; buildings, such as ''im'' ‘house’; holes, such as ''tuye'' ‘tree hollow’; and mats, such as ''hul'' ‘mat’.
* The ''bo-'' classifier covers fire related items, such as ''fyang'' ‘fire’ and ''yem'' ‘firewood’.
* The ''to-'' classifier covers different types of baskets, such as ''arrbol'' ‘basket’.
* The ''mwene-/mwena-'' classifier is the general or residual classifier and covers items not included with the other classifiers. This includes items such as derived nominals ''mese''=an ‘sickness’; and some kinship terms, such as ''metahal'' ‘sister’.

Overlap

Overlap or fluidity is when a possessed noun can occur in different possessive constructions.Lynch, John (1973) Verbal aspects of possession in Melanesian languages. Oceanic Linguistics 12:69-102Lichtenberk, Frantisek (2009) Attributive possessive constructions in Oceanic. In William B. McGregor (ed.) The expression of possession, 249–92. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter Lichtenberk, Frantisek (2009). In many Oceanic languages, nouns that are directly possessed can be indirectly possessed, and nouns that are indirectly possessed by one classifier can occur with different classifiers, depending upon the interaction between the possessor and possessed. However in North Ambrym, directly possessed nouns are unable to occur in indirect possessive constructions. Furthermore, there is a lack of overlap or fluidity between nouns that occur in indirect possession.Franjieh, Michael (2017) North Ambrym possessive classifiers from the perspective of canonical gender. In S. Fedden, J. Audring and G. Corbett (eds.) Non-canonical gender systems. Oxford: OUP. For example, the noun ''we'' ‘water’ only occurs with the classifier for liquids, ''mwe-/ma-'', and never with the general or residual classifier, ''mwene-/mwena-'':^:95

Grammatical:

Ungrammatical:

This more rigid collocatation between noun and classifier has been described as non-canonical grammatical gender, as rigid assignment between a noun and a gender marker is a feature of grammatical gender rather than of classifiers. The North Ambrym classifier system is a potential emergent stage towards th
development of a grammatical gender system.

References

CST:construct suffix

External links

* PARADISEC archive o
North Ambrym recordings
* ELAR archived materials fo
North Ambrym
*ESRC funded project o
Optimal Categorisation
at the University of Surrey, which includes the North Ambrym language

Penama languages
Languages of Vanuatu

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