Tawala language

Tawala is an Oceanic language of the Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. It is spoken by 20,000 people who live in hamlets and small villages on the East Cape peninsula, on the shores of Milne Bay and on areas of the islands of Sideia and Basilaki. There are approximately 40 main centres of population each speaking the same dialect, although through the process of colonisation some centres have gained more prominence than others.[2]

Tawala
Kehelala
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Milne Bay Province
Native speakers	20,000 (2000 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic Papuan Tip Nuclear Papuan Tip North Mainland – D'Entrecasteaux Taupota Tawala
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tbo
Glottolog	tawa1275

Phonology

Tawala has a moderately small consonant inventory of 15 consonants, an average vowel quality inventory of five vowels, and an also average consonant-vowel ratio of 3.[3]

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p  b	t  d		k  ɡ	Ɂ
Labialised Plosive	pw  bw			kw  ɡw
Nasal	m	n
Labialised Nasal	mw
Fricative		s			h
Approximant		j	l	ɰ

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Syntax

Negation

In Tawala, negation is most commonly shown through the negative particle ega, which always appears before the predicate of a clause.[6] When the initial vowel is lengthened, forming eega, the negative particle is taken as the predicate of an existential clause,[7] or as an interjection/response to indicate ‘no’.[8]

Ex. (1) Negation using ega[9]

(1)	ega	a	tano	po	puwaka
	NEG	POSS.3SG	garden	and	pigs
	"He has no garden or pigs."

Ex. (2) Negative existential predicate, eega[7]

(2)	Eega
	NEG
	"(it is) not (so)."

Ex. (3) Negative response, eega[8]

(3)	eega
	NEG
	"No."

The negative particle can also take the future tense marker apo as a prefix to form a negative adverb apega. This construction combines with the irrealis and potential mood across both verbal and non-verbal clauses.[6]

Ex. (4) Negative non-verbal clause in irrealis mood[10]

(4)	apega	gadiwewe
	FUT.NEG	rain
	"(it will) not rain."

Ex. (5) Negative verbal clause in irrealis mood[6]

(5)	apega	toleha-na	a-ta-dewa-ya
	FUT.NEG	feast-DEF	1SG-IRR-make-3SG
	"I will not provide the feast."

Intensified negation

Negation can be intensified by adopting the condition marker wai- as a suffix to the negative particle ega;[11] However this construction appears to be limited to the use of response or interjection.[8]

Ex. (6) Intensified negation[8]

(6)	ega	wai
	NEG	CON
	"no way/definitely not."

Negation of non-verbal clauses

As Tawala allows for both verbal and non-verbal clauses, the negative particle will never occur within a clause level noun phrase.[9] For example, if the negative particle were placed between a noun and an adjective, then both would be considered constituents of the clause, with the adjective fulfilling the function of the predicate. The following example illustrates this kind of construction.

Ex. (7) Negation of descriptive clause [9]

(7)	bada	ega	dewadewa-na
	man	NEG	good-3SG
	"the man is not good."

Negation of non-verbal clauses: Existential clauses

Existential clauses are common non-verbal clauses which occur within spoken Tawala, though they only occasionally occur within extended discourse. In Tawala, an existential clause consists of a nominal predicate and can often be negated by the addition of the negative particle that precedes the predicate.[7]

Ex. (8) Negation of existential clause[7]

(8)	ega	wipoya	po	ega	wayau
	NEG	hot	and	NEG	cold
	"(it is) not hot and (it is) not cold."

Most negative existential clauses cannot be made positive by simply removing the negative particle, a stative clause would be required instead.[7] The below example illustrates this asymmetry. Ex. (9) Asymmetry of positive and negative existential clauses[7]

(9)	ega	wipoya	>	I-wipoya/*wipoya
	NEG	hot		3SG-hot
	"(it is) not hot."			"(it is) hot."

Negative existential clauses are constructed in the irrealis mood when the negative adverb precedes the existential nominal predicate,[10] as shown in example (4).

As mentioned earlier, the negative particle can be taken as the predicate of an existential clause. This construction is used when asking polar questions.[12] The second clause in the following example illustrates its use.

Ex. (10) Negative existential predicate in polar question[12]

(10)	he-ne-nei	imahi	bo	eega?
	3PL.PRES-DUR-come	properly	or	NEG
	"Are they coming properly or not?"

Negation of non-verbal clauses: Descriptive clauses

Descriptive non-verbal clauses, where an adjective acts as the predicate of the clause, are not often constructed in the negative. In the instances where this does occur, it implies that the negative condition is permanent.[13]

Ex. (11) Negation of descriptive clause[13]

(11)	gamogamo	ega	lupalupa-na
	animal	NEG	flying-3SG
	"The animal does not fly."

Negation of non-verbal clauses: Possessive clauses

As Tawala always places the negative before the predicate and never within a noun phrase, if a negative particle is found between two nouns, it indicates a possessive clause.[14] Compare the example below, which combines an equative and possessive clause.

Ex. (12) Negation of possessive clause[15]

(12)	ega	Limi	natu-na	babana	Limi	ega	natu-na
	NEG	Limi	child-3SG	because	Limi	NEG	child-3SG
	"(That) is not Limi's child because Limi has no child."

Negation of verbal clauses

Negation of verbal clauses in Tawala follow the same rules applied to non-verbal clauses: for clauses in the past or present tense, the negative particle precedes the predicate, while the negative tense adverb precedes the predicate for clauses in the future tense. These clauses will either carry the irrealis, potential or hypothetical mood.[16][17]

Ex. (13) Negative durative irrealis[18]

(13)	ega	lawa	i-ta-hagu-hagu-hi
	NEG	person	3SG-IRR-DUR-help-3PL
	"He doesn't help people."

Ex. (14) Past irrealis[16]

(14)	ega	wam	i-ta-nei
	NEG	boat	3SG-IRR-come
	"The boat didn't come."

Ex. (15) Hypothetical[17]

(15)	inapa	ega	u-na-ne-nae	apo	hi-na-pani-m
	HYP	NEG	2SG-POT-DUR-go	FUT	3PL-POT-tie-2SG
	"If you don't go they will imprison you."

Ex. (16) Negative durative potential[17]

(16)	ega	u-na-tu-tou
	NEG	2SG-POT-DUR-cry
	"You don't need to cry."

Ex. (17) Future potential[17]

(17)	apega	hi-na-nei
	FUT.NEG	3PL-POT-come
	"They won't come."

Negation of verbal clauses: Prohibitions

Prohibitive constructions within Tawala are constructed by placing the negative tense adverb before a verbal predicate,[17] as illustrated in the example below.

Ex (18). Prohibitive command[17]

(18)	apega	u-na-nae
	FUT.NEG	2SG-POT-go
	"You must not go."

Morphology

Pronouns

Tawala distinguishes three persons: first, second and third. There are only two grammatical numbers, singular and plural although first person plural makes a distinction between inclusive and exclusive.[19]
Although there are five classes of pronouns in Tawala only the independent pronouns class should be considered as pronouns proper as they are the only class consisting of free forms. The remaining four classes occur with independent pronouns in a phrase.<refEzard (1997), p. 72</ref>

Independent Pronouns

Person	Number
	Singular	Plural
1INC	tau	tauta
1EXCL		tauyai
2	tam	taumi
3	tauna	tauhi

Subject Prefix and Object Enclitic

Subject prefixes and object enclitics attach to a verb to mark person and number of both subject and object respectively.

	1SG	2SG	3SG	1PL.INC	1PL.EXC	2PL	3PL
Object Enclitic	-u/we	-m	-ni/ya	-ta	-yai	-mi	-hi
Subject Prefix	a-	u-	i-	ta-	to-	o-	hi-

Example: The following examples demonstrate the use of some of the above personal pronouns in context.

Tauhi	hai	mae	hi-nonogo-ge-ni.
they	their	stay	3PL-prepare-TRV-3SG
"They prepared their residence."

Possession

Tawala distinguishes alienable and inalienable possession.

Possessive Pronouns

Alienable possession is constructed by a free-standing possessive pronoun that marks the person and number of the possessor.

Person	Number
	Singular	Plural
1INC	u	ata
1EXCL		i
2	om	omi
3	a	hai

Example: The following examples demonstrate the use of some of the above personal pronouns in context.

Lawa	hai	tano	hi-dewa-hi.
person	POSS.3PL	garden	3PL-make-3PL
"The people made their gardens."

Pronominal Enclitics

Inalienable possession is constructed by attaching a pronominal enclitic to the possessed noun.

Person	Number
	Singular	Plural
1INC	-u/we	-ta
1EXCL		-yai
2	-m	-mi
3	-na	-hi

Example: The following example demonstrates the use of some of the above personal pronouns in context.

polo	ae-na
pig	leg-POSS.3SG
"The pig's leg."

References

1. Tawala at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Ezard (1997), p. 6
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2010-06-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), chapters 1-3
4. Ezard (1997), p. 29
5. Ezard (1997), p. 32
6. Ezard (1997), p. 79
7. Ezard (1997), p. 181
8. Ezard (1997), p. 81
9. Ezard (1997), p. 205
10. Ezard (1997), p. 180
11. Ezard (1997), p. 56
12. Ezard (1997), p. 251
13. Ezard (1997), p. 186
14. Ezard (1997), p. 184
15. Ezard (1997), p. 185
16. Ezard (1997), p. 120
17. Ezard (1997), p. 123
18. Ezard (1997), p. 121
19. Ezard (1997), p. 72
20. Ezard (1997), p. 73
21. Ezard (1997), pp. 73-74

External links

• Paradisec has a number of collections with Tawala materials, including two collections of Arthur Cappell's materials (AC1, AC2).

Bibliography

• Ezard, Bryan (1997). A Grammar of Tawala: An Austronesian Language of the Milne Bay Area, Papua New Guinea (PDF). Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/pl-c137. hdl:1885/145950.
• "Language Tawala". WALS Online. Retrieved 2019-11-20.