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Uneapa language

{{Short description|Oceanic language}}{{More sources|date=February 2025}}{{distinguish|Balinese language}}

{{Infobox language

|name= Uneapa

|altname= Bali

|nativename= {{lang|bbn|Uniapa}}

|states=Papua New Guinea

|region=Bali Island, West New Britain

|speakers=10,000

|date=1998

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Austronesian

|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3=Oceanic

|fam4=Meso-Melanesian

|fam5=Bali–Vitu

|iso3=bbn

|glotto=unea1237

|glottorefname=Uneapa

}}

Uneapa (often called "Bali", natively {{lang|bbn|Uniapa}}) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 10,000 people on the small island of Bali (Uneapa), north of West New Britain in Papua New Guinea. It is perhaps a dialect of neighboring Vitu. Uneapa is one of the most conservative Oceanic languages, having retained most of Proto-Oceanic's final consonants with an echo vowel, such as {{lang|mis|*Rumaq}} 'house' > {{lang|bbn|rumaka}} and {{lang|mis|*saqat}} 'bad' > {{lang|bbn|zaɣata}}.

A sketch grammar of this language was published in 2002 by Malcolm Ross.

Name

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The name Uneapa is a variation of the native name {{lang|bbn|Uniapa}} for the island. In Vitu, the same island is called {{lang|wiv|Unea}}. Both names can come from a proto-form {{lang|mis|*Uniap}} or {{lang|mis|*Uneap}}, reflecting the addition of an echo vowel in Uneapa and the regular loss of final consonants in Vitu.

The alternative name Bali, used by foreigners, comes from the term {{lang|bbn|bali}} meaning 'to be not'. It is not related etymologically to the more popular Indonesian island called Bali, which is home to a distantly related language called Balinese.

Classification

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Uneapa, together with neighboring Vitu, forms a subgroup within the Meso-Melanesian cluster of the Oceanic languages. The two are sometimes considered to be a single language, called Bali-Vitu. However, there are some differences, particularly in their phonemic inventories, retention of final consonants (which is lost in Vitu), pronoun systems, and word choices. In general, Uneapa tends to be more conservative than Vitu in most respects.

Phonology

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Phonemically, Uneapa has five vowels and fourteen consonants.

{{col-begin|width=auto}}

{{col-break}}

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

|+ Uneapa vowels

!

!front
unrounded

!back
rounded

close

| {{IPA link|i}}

| {{IPA link|u}}

mid

| {{IPA link|e}}

| {{IPA link|o}}

open

| colspan=2| {{IPA link|a}}

{{col-break|gap=1em}}

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

|+ Uneapa consonants

!colspan=2|

!labial

!alveolar

!velar

colspan=2| nasal

| {{IPA link|m}} {{angbr|m}}

| {{IPA link|n}} {{angbr|n}}

| {{IPA link|ŋ}} {{angbr|ng}}

rowspan=2| plosive

! voiceless

| {{IPA link|p}} {{angbr|p}}

| {{IPA link|t}} {{angbr|t}}{{efn|{{IPA|/t/}} can sometimes be affricated as {{IPAblink|t͡s}} before {{IPA|/i/}}.}}

| {{IPA link|k}} {{angbr|k}}

voiced

| {{IPA link|b}} {{angbr|b}}{{efn|Prenasalied {{IPAblink|ᵐb}} when word-medial.}}

| {{IPA link|d}} {{angbr|d}}{{efn|Prenasalied {{IPAblink|ⁿd}} when word-medial.}}

| {{IPA link|g}} {{angbr|g}}{{efn|Prenasalied {{IPAblink|ᵑg}} when word-medial.}}

colspan=2| fricative

| {{IPA link|β}} {{angbr|v}}{{efn|Can be realized as {{IPAblink|w}}, especially before {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/o/}} or {{IPA|/u/}}.}}

| {{IPA link|z}} {{angbr|z}}{{efn|Can be realized as {{IPAblink|ɹ}}.}}

| {{IPA link|ɣ}} {{angbr|h}}{{efn|Can be realized as {{IPAblink|h}}.}}

colspan=2| trill

|

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

|

colspan=2| approximant

|

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

|

{{notelist}}

{{col-end}}

Uneapa has a simple phonotactic structure, either V, CV, VV, CVV. Stress is located at the penultimate syllable. Optionally, clitic-final vowels may be lost, such as underlying {{lang|bbn|balitaza}} 'is not' becoming {{lang|bbn|baltaza}}.

Example sentence

The following sentence illustrates the conservatism of Uneapa relative to Proto-Oceanic.{{Cite book |last=Ross |first=Malcolm |title=The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic: The Culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society |publisher=Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University |year=1998 |editor-last=Ross |editor-first=M. |volume=1: Material Culture |pages=15–36 |chapter=Proto-Oceanic phonology and morphology |doi=10.15144/PL-C152.15 |id=C-152 |access-date=14 February 2022 |editor-last2=Pawley |editor-first2=A. |editor-last3=Osmond |editor-first3=M. |chapter-url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/253922/1/PL-C152.15.pdf |doi-access=free}}

Uneapa:

{{interlinear|lang=bbn|indent=2

|a rumaka zaɣata

|ART house bad

|'a bad house'

}}

Proto-Oceanic:

{{interlinear|lang=mis|indent=2

|*a Rumaq saqat

|ART house bad

|'a bad house'

}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite book | last = Lynch | first = John | author-link = John Lynch (linguist) |author2=Malcolm Ross |author2-link=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |author3=Terry Crowley |author3-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) | year = 2002 | title = The Oceanic languages | location = Richmond, Surrey | publisher = Curzon | isbn = 978-0-7007-1128-4 | oclc = 48929366 }}

External links

  • Paradisec has a collection of Malcolm Ross's materials ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/search?language_code=bbn MR1]) that include Uneapa language materials.

{{Meso-Melanesian languages}}

{{Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages}}

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}

Category:Meso-Melanesian languages

Category:Languages of West New Britain Province