Vinmavis language

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Vinmavis
Neve'ei
Native to Vanuatu
Region Central Malekula
Ethnicity spoken by 70% (no date)[1]
Native speakers
 500 (2007)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 vnm
Glottolog vinm1237[3]

Vinmavis, also known as Neve'ei, is an Oceanic language of central Malekula, Vanuatu.

Morphology

Pronouns

Independent pronouns

In Neve'ei, independent pronouns can function as verbal subjects, as verbal and prepositional objects, and as pronominal possessors following directly possessed nouns. Independent pronouns inflect according to person and number (singular, dual, or non-singular), but not according to case or grammatical gender. First person pronouns also distinguish between inclusive and exclusive in the dual and non-singular forms.[4]

Independent pronouns[4]

Singular

Dual

Non-singular

1st inclusive

no

getdru

get

1st exclusive

gememru

gemem

2nd

gu

gemru

gem

3rd

i

ardru

ar

Although Neve'ei has a distinction between dual and plural, the forms listed as non-singular can be used to refer to both dual and plural subjects. In these cases, even when the non-singular independent pronoun is used, the dual verbal prefix will be used.[5]

Example:[6]

gemem

bwera-vu

ran

nourour

toro

1NONSG.EXCL

1DL.IRR-go

GOAL

island

big

"We (two) will go to the mainland."

gemem

bwit-tovu

ran

nourour

toro

1NONSG.EXCL

1PL.IRR-go

GOAL

island

big

"We (all) will go to the mainland."

The pronominal forms listed as dual in the table are instead used in cases where there is a pragmatic contrast with singular or plural reference, or where two participants are acting together rather than separately.[7]

Example:[7]

ar

ar-vwelem

3NONSG

3DL.REAL-come

"They (two) came."

ardru

ar-vwelem

3DL

3DL.REAL-come

"They (two) came together."

Possessive pronouns

Neve'ei contains a set of possessive postmodifiers which are used as possessive adjuncts with indirectly possessed nouns. The possessive pronouns (used when the possessed noun is not overtly expressed) are derived from these possessive postmodifiers by adding the prefix ti-, although this may be omitted in some forms. Like the independent pronouns, these pronominal forms indicate person and number, and the non-singular forms may be used for dual referents. These pronominal forms also have an inclusive/exclusive distinction.[8]

Possessive postmodifiers[9]

Singular

Dual

Non-singular

1st inclusive

tno

tegetdru

teget

1st excusive

tegememru

tegemem

2nd

tugu

tegemru

tegem

3rd

ti

terdru

ter

Possessive pronouns[9]

Singular

Dual

Non-singular

1st inclusive

titno

(ti)tegetdru

(ti)teget

1st excusive

(ti)tegememru

(ti)tegemem

2nd

(ti)tugu

tegemru

(ti)tegem

3rd

titi

titerdru

titer

Example:[8]

gu

ke-takh

natitimwen

teget

bwe-sevakh

2SG

2SG.IRR-take

boy

1NONSG.INCL.POSS

3SG.IRR-one

"You will take one of our boys."

get

tuan

ba-khal

titi

1NONSG.INCL

INDEF

3SG.IRR-dig

3SG.POSS

"Each of us will dig his own."

Indefinite pronouns

Neve'ei also contains a set of indefinite pronouns which function as both verbals subjects and objects, with separate forms in fast and slow speech.[10]

Slow speech Fast speech
numuruan numurwan "somebody, someone"
nusutuan nusutwan "something"
nisituan nisitwan "something"
nei mang (mi) "who, whoever"
neve'ei mang (mi) "what, whatever"

Example:[11]

nisit nganga' i-leh nusutwan
thing little 3SG.REAL-see something
"The child saw something"

Person markers

In Neve'ei, subject verbal prefixes are obligatory and indicate the person and number of the subject. There are two complete sets of prefixes: one for realis mood and the other for irrealis. Unlike the pronoun systems, there is no distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person, and dual prefixes are always used with dual referents. There is no set of affixes encoding the person and number of objects. Vowels in some of these prefixes may change according to the first vowel in the verb stem; this is a process of progressive assimilation at a distance.[12]

Realis prefixes[13]

Singular

Dual

Plural

1st

nV-

er-

it-

2nd

u-

ar-

at-

3rd

i-/∅-

Irrealis prefixes[13]

Singular

Dual

Plural

1st

nVbwV-

bwVr-

bwit-

2nd

kV-

abwVr-

abwit-

3rd

bwV-

Example:[14]

bwer-ngang
1DL.IRR-laugh
"we (both) will laugh"
er-ngang
1DL.REAL-laugh
"we (both) laugh"
ar-ngang
2/3DL.REAL-laugh
"you/they (both) laugh"
abwer-ngang
2/3DL.IRR-laugh
"you/they (both) will laugh"

The third person singular realis prefix is sometimes realised as ∅- in various environments. This is more common with certain verbs, especially verbs where the stem begins with s.

Example:[15]

numur

bweradang

∅-sakh

person

real

3SG.REAL-is.not

"...not a real person."

Verbal prefixes ending in t also often lose the t before verb roots beginning with s.

Example:[15]

i-sav

1PL.REAL-dance

"We (all) dance"

References

  1. ↑ Vinmavis language at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
  2. ↑ Vinmavis at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Musgrave 2007, p. 29
  5. ↑ Musgrave 2007, p. 29-30
  6. ↑ Musgrave 2007, p.30
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Musgrave 2007, p. 30
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Musgrave 2007, p. 30-31
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Musgrave 2007, p.31
  10. ↑ Musgrave 2007, p. 32
  11. ↑ Musgrave 2007 p. 62
  12. ↑ Musgrave 2007, p. 44-45
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Musgrave 2007, p. 44
  14. ↑ Musgrave 2007, p. 46
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Musgrave 2007, p. 45

1.Vinmavis language at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)

2. Vinmavis at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

3. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Vinmavis". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

4. Musgrave, Jill (2007) A grammar of Neve'ei, Vanuatu. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics pp. 29.62

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