East Ambae language

East Ambae (also known as Omba, Oba, Aoba, Waluigi, Lolovoli, Northeast Aoba, and Northeast Ambae) is an Oceanic language spoken on Ambae, Vanuatu. The data in this article will concern itself with the Lolovoli dialect of the North-East Ambae language.

East Ambae
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Ambae
Native speakers	5,000 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic Vanuatu Northern Vanuatu East Vanuatu East Ambae
Language codes
ISO 639-3	omb
Glottolog	east2443

Phonology

North-East Ambae distinguishes 5 vowels and 16 consonants, shown in the tables below.

Consonants[2]

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Voiceless Stop		t	k
Prenasalised Voiced Stop	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ
Nasal	m	n	ŋ	mʷ
Fricative	β	s			h
Tap/Trill		r
Lateral Approximant		l
Glide				w

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Morphosyntax

Pronominals

In Ambae there are four different pronominal forms, one set of free forms, independent pronouns and three sets of bound forms, subject proclitics, object enclitics and possessive suffixes. All sets of pronominals distinguish between singular, dual and plural and between inclusive and exclusive in the first person. Independent pronouns are preceded by the personal article when the head of a noun phrase.

Independent pronouns

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		gideru	gide
1EXCL	neu	gamaru	gamai
2	niko	gimiru	gimiu
3	ngie	garue	ngire

Subject proclitics

The subject proclitic is the first part of a verb phrase and can attach to an aspect, mood, negative particle or verb head.[3] Dual forms cliticise to the marker ru. In Lolovoli, no= is applied when cliticised in 1st person exclusive singular.

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		da=ru	da=
1EXCL	na=, no=	ga=ru	ga=
2	go=	ne=ru	ne=
3	Ø, na=, vi=	ra=ru	ra=

Examples:

Go=ni	inu	rongo	na	malogu
2SGS=IRR	drink	feel	ACC	kava
"You will taste the Kava"

Da=hivo	da=si~siu
1NSG.INS=go.down	1NSG.INS=REDUP~fish
"Let's go down and fish."

Object enclitics

Object enclitics occur when attached to the predicate head or last adverb in a verb phrase. These only occur in singular forms and all 3rd person forms.[4]

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		gideru	gide
1EXCL	=eu	gamaru	gamai
2	=go	gimiru	gimiu
3	=a =e	=ra, =re	=ra, =re

Examples:

Ra=u	hui	i	gide
3NSG=TEL	ask	PERS	1NSG.IN
"They asked us."

Go=mese	wehe	i	netu-ku
2SGS=DEHOR	hit	PERS	child-1SGP
"Don't hit my children."

Possessive suffixes

Possessive suffixes are attached to the head noun in a direct possessive construction, or a relational classifier in an indirect possessive construction.[4]

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		-da=ru	-da, -de
1EXCL	-ku	-ma=ru	-mai
2	-mu	-me=ru	-miu
3	-na, -ne	=ra, =re	=ra, =re

Examples:

Nago-mu	u	memea
face-2SGP	TEL	red
"Your face is red."

no-ku	bue
CL.GEN-1SGP	knife
"my knife"

Negation

In North-East Ambae negative construction formation differs depending on firstly, whether the unit is verbal or nonverbal, and then based on what clause structure is being employed. Instances of verbal negation are obligatorily a double negative construction, using preverbal and postverbal particles. Nonverbal structures are formed with a different particle, the placement of which varies depending on the other components in the structure.

Verbal negation

Constructions of verbal negation in East Ambae are formed through a bipartite process, as there must be two specific negative particles present. The preverbal particle is ‘hi’, and the postverbal particle is ‘tea’. This is demonstrated in the example below. In these clauses, the subject marker is attached to the preverbal particle as a clitic. The subject proclitic attaches to the preverbal negative particles ‘hi’ (1) or to the irrealis particle ‘ni’ (2). Irrealis mood is how a speaker marks something as not known to have happened to them, as they are forming the utterance.[5]

The word order of a negative verbal phrase is Verb Phrase → Subject = ni (hi) HEAD tea.[5]

Example 1[5]

Na=hi.	gato	tea
1SGS=NEG	speak	NEG
I didn’t speak.

Example 2[5]

Bataha	da=ni	hi	mwaso	tea.
I.think	NSG.INS=IRR	NEG	live	NEG
I think we won’t live.

Neither the realis mood or telic aspect particles can be used within a negative verbal clause.[5]

Verbal negative clauses in the past tense are formed by using an unmarked subject marker. Clauses with an unmarked subject marker express present or past reference to time, or instead, are indicative of the habitual aspect.[5] Example 3 shows how the pronoun ‘ga’ combined with the negative preverbal particle ‘hi’ forms the past tense negative displayed in the sentence.

Example 3[6]

Ga=hi	vei	rarai	na	no-mai	avi	tea.
1NSG.EXS=NEG	make	ready	ACC	CL-GEN-1NSG.EXP	firewood	NEG
We hadn’t prepared our firewood.

Nonverbal negation

In nonverbal clauses, negative mood is expressed by the negative particle ‘hate’. ‘Hate’ can doubly function as a negative predicate that can only take a complement clause as its argument.[7] There is no grammatical means to mark TAM (Tense, Aspect, Mood) in nonverbal clauses, therefore, tense may only be understood from the semantic context of the clause. [8] Below is an example of a nonverbal negative clause.

Example 4[9]

Hate	vo	no-mu,	ngie	no-ku.
NEG	say	CL.GEN-2SGP	3SG	CL.GEN-1SGP
It's not yours, it's mine.

Negative existential clauses

To form a negative existential clause, the negative particle ‘hate’ is placed after the Noun Phrase. In order to investigate negative clause structure, it is important to contrast the formation process of affirmative clause structure. Minimally, a positive existential clause, contains a single constituent of the Noun Phrase, and this is a predicate. When this single Noun Phrase form is formed, the predication that follows is that referent in that Noun Phrase exists. In the corresponding negative existential clauses, what is predicated is that that referent of the subject Noun Phrase does not exist. It is worth noting that there are no existential verbs in East Ambae, and that all existential clauses are subsequently nonverbal.[10]

Formation of the negative existential clause involves the Noun Phrase becoming the subject and the negative particle becoming the predicate.[10] This is shown in the example below.

Example 5 [11]

Tuei	bana	[bongi	maraga]NP	[hate,] PRED
before	because	day	get.up	NEG
ngie	[bongi	gai-lime,] NP	[bongi	sangavulu']NP
but	day	NUM-five	ten	day
Because before there was no Ascension Day, but there was a (special feast on the) fifth day, and there was a (special feast on the) tenth day.

In positive existential clauses, modification of the head noun or a fronted topic must be present to construct these clauses. In contrast, for negative existential clauses, there is no clause initial topic slot and the subject Noun Phrase can be solely constituted by the head noun.[11] This construction is demonstrated in the below example.

Example 6[11]

[Lulumu-gi]NP	[hate.]PRED
taste.good-AL	NEG
There was no good taste.

Negative possessive clauses

Formation of a negative possessive clause necessitates that the negative particle ‘hate’ is after the relevant noun phrase. This form is very similar to that of the negative existential clause. Modification of the head noun has no bearing on the positioning of the topic clause, which remains in the initial position.[8]

Example 7[8]

(Ngire)	luqa	-ra hate.
3NSG	clothes-3NSGP	NEG
They have no clothes./They don 't have any clothes.

Negative equational clauses

Formation of all negative equational clauses necessitates that the negative particle be placed between the subject and predicate noun phrases.[12] This is demonstrated here:

Example 8[12]

Ngie	hate	a	tangaloi-ni	ga-garu	garea.
3SG	NEG	NOM	person-CONST	REDUP-swim	good
S/he is not a good swimmer.

Example 9[12]

Maresu	ngihie	hate	no-ku	buluana.
child	that	NEG	CL.GEN-1SGP	friend
That child isn’t my friend.

In these examples, the negative particle 'hate' occurs before the subject noun phrases 'he/she is' and 'that child' respectively. There are two subtypes of equational clauses: classificatory and identificational. Classificatory clauses depict the class membership of an entity,[13] example 7 is a negative classificatory equational clause as it posits the subject 's/he' in the class of bad swimmers. Identificational clauses are similar to classificatory ones but they also assert the identity of the object.[14] Example 8 is an identificational negative equational clause, as it asserts the object's (my friend) identity (that child).

Negative equational clauses can have a subject noun phrase that is ellipsed within the clause.[9] For example.

Example 10[9]

Hate	takure	viro-viro,	ngie	takure	vatu-vetu.
NEG	sago.palm	sew-REDUP	but	sago.palm	weave-REDUP
It wasn 't (a house) sewn with sago palm, but (a house) woven with sago palm. (Lit. It was not sewn sago palm, but woven sago palm. )

In the example, the subject noun phrase ‘a house’ is omitted in the clause.

If a speaker needs to indicate that an entity is pointedly not a member of a certain class, then the negative particle ‘hate’ can be used as a predicate and takes a complement clause headed by ‘vo’ (say). The English literal translation of ‘vo’ is “it is not that..” This alternate negative structure can also be used in some verbal clauses to express the same emphasis again.[9] Below is an example of this alternative formation.

Example 11[9]

Hate	vo	gineu	lague,	gineu	biti.
NEG	say	thing	big	thing	small
It's not that it's a big thing, it's just a small thing.

Negative prepositional clauses

In the negative prepositional clause formation, the negative marker is placed before the prepositional phrase predicate and occurs after the subject noun phrase.[15] For example:

Example 12[15]

Ngie	hate	tau	Australia
3SG	NEG	from	Australia
S/he is not from Australia.

Negative prepositional clauses are capable of a degree of ambiguity. This is due to negative prepositional clauses commonly having the same structure as existential clauses with prepositional phrase adjuncts.[15] In the below example, it can be seen that the unmodified noun (tangaloi) can be placed as the subject noun phrase in an existential clause.

Example 13[15]

Tangaloi	hate	lolo	vale.
person	NEG	in	house
a) The person is not in the house.
b) There is no-one in the house.

Negative Complement-taking Predicate (CTP) ‘hate’

A construction employed to signal that the event predicated in the complement clause does/did/will not happen is formed with the negative particle ‘hate’ preceding the particle ‘vo’. With ‘vo’ “introducing”[16] the ‘hate’ particle.

This form alters the semantic layer of the negative clause form, conveying an additional pragmatic layer. It has an implication that the speaker would have expected the predication of the complement clause to be truthful, when it is not. The pragmatic layer in this construction is not found in other simple negative forms. ‘Hate’ then functions as a predicate that can take a complement of verbal or nonverbal clause, take a complement clause as its argument or act as the predicate to express that something does not exist through the noun phrase in a nonverbal existential clause. ‘Hate’ cannot be employed in a verb phrase that has been imbued with subject or aspect/mood, despite functioning as a predicate. [16]

Example 14[16]

Hate	[vo	na=ni	bete=a	lawe=go.]
NEG	say	1SGS=IRR	give=3sGO	DAT=2SGO
I'm not going to give it to you. (Lit. It's not that I'm going to give you. )

Example 15[17]

... hate	[vo	neu	tamte-gi,]	neu	tangaloi	vurugegi	taligu.
NEG	say	1SG	spirit-AL	1SG	person	proper	again
I'm not a spirit, I 'm a real person again. (Lit. It's not that I 'm a spirit ... )

Example 13 is a verbal clause representing a predicate which will not happen, for instance: the speaker is not going to give the subject 'it' to the object/addressee 'you'. Example 14 is a nonverbal clause, also representing a predicate that does/did/will not happen.

Across the world's languages it is generally rare for there to be a negative predicate that can take a complement clause as its argument, but this is not uncommon amongst the Oceanic language family. [16]

Possession

East Ambae has four different possessive constructions, these are the distinctions between direct and indirect possession, and simplex and complex possession (Hyslop, 2001, p. 165).[18]

If the possessor is marked on the possessed noun, this is a direct possessive construction, whereas if the possessor is marked on a relational classifier rather than the possessee, this is an indirect possessive construction. Additionally, a simplex construction, where the possessor is pronominal, a possessive suffix occurs on the possessee or the relevant classifier, while a complex construction is one in which the possessor is represented by a nominal (Hyslop, 2001, p. 166).[18]

The table below illustrates the four different possessive constructions.

	Direct	Indirect
Simplex	possessee-poss.suffix netu-ku child-1SGP my child	classifier-poss.suffix possessee me-mu malogu CL:DRINK-2SGP kava your kava
Complex	possessee-i possessor netu-i Margaret child-CONST Margaret Margaret's child	possessee classifier-i possessor malogu me-i retahigi kava CL:DRINK-CONST chief the chief's kava

According to Hyslop (2001, p. 167), while it is a morphosyntactic difference between direct and indirect possessive constructions, it is a semantically motivated distinction. In a direct possessive construction, nouns that function as the possessee can be said to be inalienably possessed, which refers to a permanent and inherent connection between the possessor and possessee that is indissoluble. Indirect possessive construction refers to alienable possession, a relationship between two referents of a less permanent and inherent type than inalienable possession, of an item that is to be 'possessed' in the conventional sense (Hyslop, 2001, p. 176).[18]

Inalienable possession

There are two distinct categories in East Ambae that nominals taking part in inalienable possession can belong to, these being those reflecting an intimate relationship to the possessor, and part-whole and positional relation expressions (Hyslop, 2001, p. 168).[18] Those that reflect an intimate relationship to the possessor, the 'self' can be divided into four sub-categories: kin relations, body parts and associated body products, natural behaviour and personal attributes, and intimate personal property (Hyslop, 2001, p. 169).[18] These sub categories are explored below.

Kin

A direct possessive construction is used in all expressions of relationships between kin (Hyslop, 2001, p. 169).

hava-da	dolegi
family-1NSG.INP	all
all of our family

tama-i	netu-i	Roselyn
father-CONST	child-CONST	Roselyn
Roselyn's husband

tue-i	re	maresu
same.sex.sib-CONST	PL	child
the (female) children's sister(s) or the (male) children's brother(s) or the children's brother(s) and sister(s)

Body parts and products

Any body part of a person or animal is referred to using the direct possessive construction (Hyslop, 2001, p. 170).[18]

vulu-ku

hair-1SGP

my hair

vulu-i	Kenneth
hair-CONST	Kenneth
Kenneth's hair

vulu-i	toa
feather-CONST	chicken
(all/the) chicken's feathers

In addition, any bodily features or fluids/secretions (such as tattoos and a person or animal's odour) that could be considered part of, or an extension of the body are inalienably possessed (Hyslop, 2001, p. 170).[18]

Go=ni	leo	huri	na	bona-i	bigi	mate
2SGS=IRR	see	PURP	ACC	smell-CONsT	meat	dead
You must look out for the smell of rotting meat

Tatai-ne	ra=u	garea
tattoo-3SGP	3NSGS=TEL	good
Her tattoos are nice

Gutu-mu	lu-mu?
louse-2SGP	on-2SGP
Do you have lice?

Behaviour and personal attributes

Natural behaviours, physical attributes, emotions, and mental processes (such as sleep, age, anger, and thought) enter into a direct possessive construction as personal attributes such as these are seen as an inalienable aspect of the concept of the self (Hyslop, 2001, p. 171).[18]

Maturu-ku	mo	vanai
sleep-1SGP	REAL	come
I am sleepy (Lit. My sleep is coming)

Higao-mu	gai-vihe?
year-2SGP	NUM-how.many
How old are you? (Lit. Your years are how many?)

Mero-na	u	lague
anger-3SGP	TEL	big
She is very angry (Lit. Her anger is big)

Domi-mu	ra=u	hesi
thought-2SGP	3NSGS=TEL	bad
You have wicked thoughts! (Lit. Your thoughts are bad!)

Intimate personal property

This class of objects can be possessed or 'owned' in the traditional sense, however, in the East Ambae culture, these objects are so closely associated with a person's existence that they are considered inalienable objects, and when referred to, it is using the direct possessive construction. These objects that are considered 'intimate' include things such as a person's pillow, as well as a person's clothes, which are seen as an extension of the body. This can also be said for an animal's cave or bird's nest (Hyslop, 2001, p. 172 & 173).[18]

lumwe-ku

pillow-1SGP

my pillow

Go=ni	gevu-gi	na	bari-mu
2SGS=IRR	clothes-APPL	ACC	skirt-2SGP
You will dress in your skirt

mwagoni-re

nest-3NGSP

their nest

Part-whole relations

Part-whole relationships are expressed in a direct possessive construction as it is used to describe parts of objects and plants that are divisible into recognised parts in the same way as body part relations are expressed. The part is the 'possessed' head noun and the whole is the 'possessor' (Hyslop, 2001, p. 174).[18]

rau-i	gai
leaf-CONST	tree
leaf (leaves) of a tree

qetu-qetu-i	vale-na
wall-REDUP-CONST	house-3SGP
the walls of his house

This relationship is also used to refer to pieces of a whole. This is done by using the anticausativeised form of a verb, describing the way the object was divided, such as vise 'split', or kore 'break' (as seen in the examples below), and by taking the construct suffix, the form is marked as being a nominal (Hyslop, 2001, p. 175).[18]

ma-vise-i	qeta
ANTI-split-CONST	taro
a piece of taro

ma-kore-i	avi
ANTI-break-CONST	firewood
a piece of firewood

Positional relations

Positional relations are a small subclass of bound relational location nouns and function as the possessee noun in a direct possessive construct, used to define the position of one object in relation to another, such as ulu- 'above' and mawiri- 'left, as shown below (Hyslop, 2001, p. 175).[18]

Dodo	maeto	lo	ulu-de
cloud	black	LOC	above-1NSG.INP
There were black clouds above us

Danuta	mo	toga	lo	mawiri-ku
Danuta	REAL	sit	LOC	left-1SGP
Danuta was sitting on my left

Alienable possession

Four different relational classifiers are used to express indirect possession, the use of a particular relational classifier is dependent on the possessive relationship between the possessed object and the possessor, rather than any characteristic of the possessee (Hyslop, 2001, p. 176).[18]

The four relational classifiers are:

• ga- 'food possession'
• me- 'drink possession'
• bula- 'natural or valued object possession'
• no- 'general possession'

Relational classifier ga-

This classifier indicates that the referent of the possessee noun is a food item. This can be used for any edible item including food that has already been eaten, food that has been prepared and ready to eat, unprepared or uncooked food, and so on. Usually, the ga- relational classifier is used only to refer to food that is ready to be eaten, so an animal yet to be slaughtered or plant yet to be harvested would be referred to using the bula- classifier (Hyslop, 2001, p. 177).[18]

Kenneth	u	geni	na	ga-na	loli	beno
Kenneth	TEL	eat	ACC	CL.food-3SGP	lolly	already
Kenneth has already eaten her lollies

Ga-da	hinaga	u	manoga
CL.food-1NSG.INP	food	TEL	cooked
Our food is cooked

Only one relation expressed by ga- does not relate to food possession, and that is illness, despite perhaps expecting it to be categorised inalienably as a body part or product one can never describe one's illness using a direct possessive construct (Hyslop, 2001, p. 177).[18]

ga-ra	sege-ana
CL.FOOD-3NSGP	sick-NR
their illness(es)

Relational classifier me-

This classifier indicates that the referent of the possessee noun is something for the possessor to drink, this can be the possession drinkable items such as ti 'tea' or wai 'water', as well as some plants classified as drinkable rather than edible, such as tovu 'sugarcane' and lamani 'lemon' and medicine, whether it is in liquid or tablet form as even then you swallow it with water (Hyslop, 2001, p. 178).[18]

me-ku	tovu
CL.drink-1SGP	sugarcane
my sugarcane

Go=bitu	na	lamani	me-i	Lulu
2SGS=pick	ACC	lemon	CL.DRINK-CONST	Lulu
Pick some lemons for Lulu to drink

Go=dono	na	me-mu	panadol
2SGP=swallow	ACC	CL.DRINK-2SGP	panadol
Swallow your panadol

Relational classifier bula-

The bula- classifier mainly refers to the relationship between 'natural entities' and their possessor, such as the ownership of crops and animals (Hyslop, 2001, p. 178).[18]

Bula-na	boe	mo	gani	na	bula-da	toa	tamwere
CL.NAT-3SGP	pig	REAL	eat	ACC	CL.NAT-1NSG.INP	chicken	always
His pig is always eating our chickens

Nu	rivu	na	bule-ku	qeta
1SGS:TEL	plant	ACC	CL.NAT-1SGP	taro
I planted my taro

Go=dono	na	me-mu	panadol
2SGP=swallow	ACC	CL.DRINK-2SGP	panadol
Swallow your panadol

Ngie	u	voli	na	bule-ku	toli-gi
3SG	TEL	buy	ACC	CL.NAT-1SGP	seed-AL
She bought me some seeds (to plant)

This category has been broadened to include some items introduced by Europeans that could be said to have some lifelike characteristics (Hyslop, 2001, p. 179).[18] An example of these items are listed below.

• redio 'radio'
• taragi 'car, automobile'
• hanwaj 'watch'
• tep 'tape recorder'

Another category includes items of adornment as they are not inalienably possessed as clothing is (Hyslop, 2001, p. 179).[18] Examples include:

• iaring 'earrings'
• lala 'bracelet'

Relational classifier no-

The no- classifier is considered a general classifier, or the default category, for a range of possessive relationships that are not related to any of the other categories of possessive relationships previously mentioned (Hyslop, 2001, p. 180)[18] Possessive relationships included in this category are: traditional ownership of objects, activities such as work, the possessor's relationship with people who are not kin, and natural behaviours and mental processes that are not part of a direct possessive construction (Hyslop, 2001, p. 180).[18]

Ngire	no-ra	bubusi	hate
3NSG	CL.GEN-3NSGP	gun	NEG
They didn't have guns

No-da	hala	mo	dadari
CL.GEN-1NSG.INP	visitor	REAL	arrive
Our visitor has arrived

Gai-siwo	ra=u	vei	no-na	tabana-gi
NUM-nine	3NSGS=TEL	do	CL.GEN-3SGP	work-NR
Nine (of them) did his work

...mo	bulu-tegi	na	no-ra	domi-ana...
REAL	join-APPL	ACC	CL.GEN-3NSGP	think-NR
...they joined together their thoughts...

Abbreviations[19]

-              Separates morphemes

.              Separates clitics

=             Separates words in multi-word gloss or meanings in a semantically complex morpheme

1              1^st person

2              2^nd person

3               3^rd person

ACC        Accusative case article

AL           Alienable suffix

CL.GEN   General possession classifier

CONST     Construct suffix

DAT         Dative preposition

EX            Exclusive

IN             Inclusive

INST        Instrumental preposition

IRR          Irrealis mood particle

NEG         Negative particle

NOM        Nominative case article

NP            Noun Phrase

NSG         Non-singular

NUM        Numeral marker

O              Object enclitic

P               Possessive suffix

PL             Plural human article

PP             Prepositional phrase

REAL       Realis mood particle

REDUP    Reduplication

S               Subject proclitic

SG            Singular

VP            Verb Phrase

Footnotes

1. East Ambae at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hyslop 2001, p.28
3. Hyslop 2001, p.95
4. Hyslop 2001, p.96
5. Hyslop 2001, p.259.
6. Hyslop 2001, p.260.
7. Hyslop 2001, p.99.
8. Hyslop 2001, p.370.
9. Hyslop 2001, p.380.
10. Hyslop 2001, p.367.
11. Hyslop 2001, p.368.
12. Hyslop 2001, p.379.
13. Hyslop 2001, p.376.
14. Hyslop 2001, p.378.
15. Hyslop 2001, p.383.
16. Hyslop 2001, p.405.
17. Hyslop 2001, p.406.
18. Hyslop 2001, pp.165–180.
19. Hyslop 2001, p.xxiv-xxv.

References

• Ivens, W. G. (1940). "A Grammar of the Language of Lobaha, Lepers' Island, New Hebrides, Melanesia". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 10 (2): 345–363. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00087553.
• Hyslop, Catriona. (2001). The Lolovoli Dialect of the North-East Ambae Language, Vanuatu (PDF). Pacific Linguistics 515. Canberra: Australian National University.

External links

• Database of audio recordings in Ambae East - basic Catholic prayers