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Big Nambas language

{{short description|Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu}}{{More sources|date=November 2024}}{{Infobox language

| name = Big Nambas

| nativename = V'ənen Taut

| pronunciation = {{IPA|[ˈθ̼ənɛn tautʰ]}}

| states = Vanuatu

| region = Northwest Malekula

| speakers = {{sigfig|3350|2}}

| date = 2001

| ref = e18

| familycolor = Austronesian

| fam2 = Malayo-Polynesian

| fam3 = Oceanic

| fam4 = Southern Oceanic

| fam5 = North-Central Vanuatu

| fam6 = Central Vanuatu

| fam7 = Malakula

| fam8 = Malakula Interior

| script = Latin script

| iso3 = nmb

| glotto = bign1238

| glottorefname = Big Nambas

| notice = IPA

|map = Lang Status 99-NE.svg

|mapcaption = {{center|{{small|Big Nambas is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}

}}

Big Nambas (native name V'ənen Taut) is an Oceanic language spoken by about {{sigfig|3350|2}} people ({{as of|2001|lc=on}}) in northwest Malekula, Vanuatu. Approximately nineteen villages in the Big Nambas region of the Malekula Interior use the language exclusively with no variation in dialect. It was studied in-depth over a period of about 10 years by missionary Greg. J. Fox, who published a grammar and dictionary in 1979. A Big Nambas translation of the Bible has been completed recently by Andrew Fox.

Phonology

The consonant phonemes of Big Nambas are as shown in the following table:

class=wikitable style=text-align:center

!colspan=2|

!Bilabial

!Linguolabial

!Alveolar

!Velar

colspan=2|Nasal

|{{IPA link|m}}||{{IPA link|n̼ / m̺}}||{{IPA link|n}}||

rowspan=2|Plosive

!voiced

| || ||{{IPA link|ⁿd}}||

voiceless

|{{IPA link|p}}||{{IPA link|t̼ / p̺}}||{{IPA link|t}}||{{IPA link|k}}

rowspan=2|Fricative

!voiced

|{{IPA link|β}}||{{IPA link|ð̼ / β̺}}|| ||{{IPA link|ɣ}}

voiceless

| || ||{{IPA link|s}}||

rowspan=2|Liquid

!rhotic

| || ||{{IPA link|r}}||

lateral

| || ||{{IPA link|l}}||

  • {{IPA|/p, t, k/}} are aspirated {{IPA|[pʰ, tʰ, kʰ]}} word finally. {{IPA|/t̼/}} is not noted as behaving likewise.
  • {{IPA|/m, p/}} are rounded {{IPA|[mʷ, pʷ]}} before the front vowels {{IPA|/i, e/}}
  • The voiced fricatives {{IPA|/β, ð̼, ɣ/}} are devoiced {{IPA|[ɸ, θ̼, x]}} word initially and finally.
  • {{IPA|/l/}} is realized as {{IPA|[ɬ]}} word finally or when adjacent to {{IPA|/t/}}, and as {{IPA|[ɮ]}} when adjacent to {{IPA|/n/}} word medially.

Big Nambas has a 5-vowel system with the following phonemes:

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

!

! Front

! Central

! Back

Close

| {{IPA link|i}}

|

| {{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}}

Mid

| {{IPA link|e}}

| {{IPA link|ə}}

|

Open

|

| {{IPA link|ä|a}} {{IPA link|äː|aː}}

|

Big Nambas has a complex syllable structure with a large amount of consonant clusters possible. Additionally, clusters of up to four vowels are permitted (e.g. nauei "water"). Stress in Big Nambas is phonemic, but partly predictable. The consonants /t β r l n/ all exhibit phonemic gemination when two identical ones occur between syllables. Linguolabial consonants are often marked with an apostrophe in the orthography to distinguish them from their bilabial counterparts.

Grammar

{{Expand section|date=April 2015}}

Big Nambas is a synthetic, head-marking language.

= Nouns =

Nouns in Big Nambas are capable of phrasal expansion. There are three noun classes in Big Nambas:

  1. Obligatorily possessed nouns, most commonly constituent parts of any object (body parts, tree parts, ordinals, possessive)
  2. Optionally possessed nouns, with the subclasses:
  3. Nouns taking the third singular possessives nan or nen
  4. Nouns taking the prefix ar- "all"
  5. Title nouns (names and kinship terms)
  6. Unpossessed nouns (personal and interrogative pronouns)

Big Nambas features a system of complex nouns, formed by derivation. Derived nouns can be of one of five types:

  1. Abstract nouns, formed by suffixing -ien to verb stems (e.g. tkar "be pregnant" vs. tkar-ien "pregnancy")
  2. Articled nouns, formed by prefixing na- or n- to a verb stem beginning with a vowel (i-u "it rains" vs. n-u "(the) rain")
  3. Ordinal nouns, formed by prefixing the nominalizer ni- and suffixing the possessive -a (tl "three" vs. ni-tl-a "the third of")
  4. Determinative nouns, formed by prefixing ter- to some adjective stems (p'arei "long" vs. ter-p'arei "the long one")
  5. Reverential nouns, formed by suffixing -et to some nouns (nut "place" vs. nutet "a sacred place", cf. nap' "fire" vs. nep'et "sacred fire")

Nouns in Big Nambas may be compounded by following them with a verb stem.

{{interlinear|indent=3

|dəh- uas

|tail-be yellow

|"yellow-tail (fish)"}}

References

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{cite book | last = Fox | first = G. J. | title = Big Nambas Grammar | publisher = Pacific Linguistics | year = 1979 | isbn = 0-85883-183-X }}

External links

  • [http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter7/venet/vent.html V'enen Taut recordings]
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrBnN5wTRFg Video about the language]

{{Languages of Vanuatu}}

{{Southern Oceanic languages}}

{{Austronesian languages}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Malekula languages

Category:Languages of Vanuatu