| Maskelynes | |
|---|---|
| Kuliviu, Uliveo | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Malekula |
Native speakers | (1,100 cited 2001)1 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | klv |
| Glottolog | mask1242 |
 Maskelynes is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Maskelynes (/ˈmæskəlɪns/), or Kuliviu (Uliveo), is an Oceanic language spoken on the Maskelyne Islands off south Malekula, Vanuatu.
Phonology
Maskelynes has twenty consonants and six vowel phonemes. Any vowel length is due to vowel clusters across morpheme breaks, and is not phonemic.2
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labiovelarized | ||||
| Nasal | m | mʷ | n | ŋ | |
| Plosive | unvoiced | p | pʷ | t̪ | k |
| voiced | ᵐb | ᵐbʷ | ⁿd̪ | ᵑg | |
| Fricative | β | βʷ | s | x~ɣ~ʀ | |
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||
| Rhotic | r~ɾ | ||||
- /ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑg/ are in free variation as unreleased [ᵐb̚, ⁿd̚, ᵑg̚] or unvoiced [p, t, k] word-finally or before a consonant3
- /ᵑg/ is realized as a voiceless [k] among some speakers, especially young4
- /p, pʷ, t/ are unreleased [p̚, p̚, t̚] word-finally or before a consonant (though /p/ has never been recorded before a consonant)5
- /mʷ, pʷ, ᵐbʷ, βʷ/ lose their labialization word-finally when not followed by a vowel and before /o, u/6
- /βʷ/ is [β] before voiced consonants7
- /β, βʷ/ are [ɸ] before voiceless consonants and word-finally7
- /β/ is in free variation with [ɸ] for some speakers7
- /w, j/ are vocalic [u, i] when in nucleus following /e, a, o/8
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u (u̥) | |
| Mid | ɛ | ə | o |
| Open | ɑ |
- /i/ is near-close [ɪ] between front consonants9
- /ɛ/ is close-mid [e] word-finally9
- /ə/ is [ɵ] after labiovelarized consonants or before /xu̥/9
- /əj, əw/ are realised as single phones, [i, u]8
- /u/ is realised as front [y] between front consonants, and near-close [ʊ] when proceeded or preceded by back consonants10
- /o/ is front [ø] between front consonants10
Voiceless vowel
A voiceless [u̥] occurs at the ends of words. It is uncertain if it is an allophone of /u/ or a separate phoneme11
Phonotactics
Possible syllable structures in Maskelynes: (C/S)V(S)(C)12
Orthography
| Letter | a | b | b̃ | d | e | ǝ | g | h | i | k | l | m | m̃ | n | ŋ | o | p | p̃ | r | s | t | u | w | v | ṽ | w/u | y/i |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | ɑ | ᵐb | ᵐbʷ | ⁿd̪ | ɛ | ə | ᵑɡ | x | i | k | l | m | mʷ | n | ŋ | o | p | pʷ | r | s | t̪ | u | u̥ | β | βʷ | w | j |
Grammar
Verbs
The verbs of Maskelynes are agglutinative, mostly being modified by prefixes, though the stem of a verb can stand on its own. These prefixes encode for, in order of appearance in verb: 1. tense-aspect-modes; 2. subject, person and number; 3. various modes, including realis and irrealis; 4. two tense-modes; 5. reduplication. The object of a sentence is encoded by a suffix.13
Examples of verbal agglutination:14
sa-g-e-mun-i
PROH-2SG.SUBJ-IRR-drink-3SG.OBJ
sa-g-e-mun-i
PROH-2SG.SUBJ-IRR-drink-3SG.OBJ
Don't you drink it.
go-to-madha-mun-mun-i
2SG.SUBJ-REL-IMM.PST-ITER~drink-3SG.OBJ
go-to-madha-mun-mun-i
2SG.SUBJ-REL-IMM.PST-ITER~drink-3SG.OBJ
You who just now kept drinking it
Reduplication
Reduplication in Maskelynes has various usages, and can encode for e.g. plurality, habituality, iterative aspect, etc.15
References
References
- Maskelynes at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Healey 2013, p. 7.
- Healey 2013, pp. 14–15.
- Healey 2013, p. 15.
- Healey 2013, p. 13.
- Healey 2013, p. 19.
- Healey 2013, p. 17.
- Healey 2013, pp. 18–19.
- Healey 2013, p. 20.
- Healey 2013, p. 21.
- Healey 2013, pp. 24–25.
- Healey 2013, p. 25.
- Healey 2013, Section 8.1: Verb morphology.
- Healey 2013, p. 181.
- Healey 2013, section 8.5: Reduplication.
External links
External links
Bibliography
Bibliography
- Healey, David S. (2013). A GRAMMAR OF MASKELYNES: THE LANGUAGE OF ULUVEU ISLAND, VANUATU (PDF) (PhD). University of the South Pacific. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-05-31. Retrieved 2020-05-31.