Apma language

Name of the language

Like Pentecost's other languages, Apma is named after the local word for "what" or "something". Locally it is usually referred to simply as dalekte "language" or daleda "our language". Many people from other areas of Vanuatu recognise the language by the catchphrase te gabis meaning "good" or "OK", or refer informally to its speakers as wakin, an Apma term of address for brothers or friends.

Some linguists treat the Apma sound p as an allophone of b, and thus write the language's name as Abma. However, this interpretation of the language's phonology is disputed, and locally Apma is the preferred spelling.

Dialects and range

Modern Apma has three well-defined dialects:

Suru Mwerani, the southernmost dialect, is the most widely spoken and well-documented dialect. It is spoken in Melsisi, Tansip, Vanrasini and surrounding villages, and in the former Sowa area between Melsisi and Ranmawot.

Suru Rabwanga (or Suru Bo), the central dialect, is spoken in the mountainous area between Bwatnapni and Namaram. It is very similar to Suru Mwerani, and the two dialects are mixed in villages such as Bwatnapni, Enaa, Wutsunmwel and Naruwa.

Suru Kavian is a small, endangered and very distinctive dialect, spoken in the area to the north and east of Namaram. It is hard for speakers of the other two dialects to understand.

Mwerani and rabwanga are the words for "today" in their respective dialects, while bo and kavi are the words for "pig".

Two other probable Apma dialects, Asuk (or Asa) in the south-west and Wolwolan (or Volvoluana) in the north, are now extinct.

Phonology

The consonant phonemes of Apma are b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng (as in English "singer"), r, s, t, ts (or j), bilabial v, w, and labiovelar bw and mw. The consonants b, bw, v and w are realised as p where they occur at the end of a syllable; b may also be devoiced to p when next to an unvoiced consonant, as in -tpo "lie down".

Clusters of consonants cannot occur within a syllable. Unlike in closely related Raga language, word roots in Apma can end with a consonant.

In archaic and northern varieties of Apma, prenasalization of consonants occurs in some environments, so that b becomes mb, d becomes nd, and g becomes ngg. This feature has been lost in modern Suru Mwerani dialect.

Apma's five vowels come in short forms (a, e, i, o and u) and long forms (aa, ee, ii, oo and uu). Long vowels typically occur where a consonant (most commonly r) has historically been lost. Vowels can occur alone or in various combinations. A few words (e.g. miu "wild cane") contain a distinctive rounded high-front vowel, generally written as iu although perceived by speakers simply as a variant of u.

Stress is normally on the penultimate syllable of a word. However, syllables that end with a consonant or a long vowel take stress in precedence to other syllables.

Grammar

Basic word order in Apma is subject–verb–object. Occasionally, a subject may occur out of its usual position, in which case it is marked with na:

Bo mwe gani bwarus = The pig is eating papaya Mwe gani bwarus, na bo = It's eating papaya, the pig

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are distinguished by person and number. They are not distinguished by gender. The basic pronouns differ substantially between dialects:

The dual or plural form of "you" is occasionally used in place of the singular form to show extreme respect.

Nouns

Nouns in Apma are generally not preceded by articles. Plurality is indicated by placing the pronoun nii ("them") or a number after the noun:

bwihil = [the] bird bwihil nii = [the] birds bwihil katsil = three birds

Nouns may be either free, or directly possessed. Directly possessed nouns are suffixed to indicate whom an item belongs to. For example:

dalek = my voice dalem = your voice dalen = his/her voice dalen subu = the chief's voice dalekte = voice (generic)

Possession may also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:

no- for general possessions (nok watang, "my basket")

bila- for things that are cared for, such as crops and livestock (bilada bo, "our pig")

ka- for things to be eaten (kam tsi, "your sugarcane")

ma- for things to be drunk (maa sileng, "their water")

na- for associations, over which the possessor has no control (vini nak, "my home island")

The possessive suffixes are as follows:

In Suru Kavian dialect, vowels in certain directly possessed nouns and possessive classifiers change according to the pattern illustrated below. This does not occur in other dialects:

A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -an:

wel = to dance (verb) welan = a dance (noun)

Modifiers generally come after a noun, although those derived from nouns may come before:

vet = stone vet kavet = four stones vet kau = big stone biri vet = small stone (biri "small" comes from the noun "seed")

Verbs

Verbs in Apma are usually preceded by a subject pronoun and by a marker indicating the tense, aspect and mood of the action.

The subject pronouns are as follows:

Apma has the following tense/aspect/mood markers:

The full forms of these markers are used in the 3rd person singular (where there is no subject pronoun):

mwe leli = he does it te leli = he did it mwan leli = he will do it nema leli = he's going to do it bat leli = he should do it ne leli = let him do it ba leli = he's in danger of doing it

Elsewhere, short forms of these markers are suffixed to the subject pronoun:

nam leli = I do it nat leli = I did it nan leli = I will do it nama leli = I'm going to do it nabat leli = I should do it na leli = let me do it naba leli = I'm in danger of doing it

The imperfective marker alters to some extent to match the sound of the verb it is attached to. It is usually absent altogether when the verb begins with b or bw. (In Suru Kavian dialect, it is absent when the verb begins with any consonant other than r.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:

mwi sip = he goes down mwo rop = he runs mu rus = he moves --- ban = he goes

Dual (two-person) forms consist of the plural forms with ru (or ri in Suru Kavian) inserted after the tense/aspect/mood marker:

ram leli = they do it ramru leli = the two of them do it

There is a pattern of verb-consonant mutation whereby v at the start of a verb changes to b, and w changes to bw, in certain aspects/moods:

nat van = I went na ban = I am going nan ban or nan van = I will go

In northern and archaic varieties of Apma, there is also mutation of k to g, and of t to d.

Negative phrases are indicated with the two-part marker ba...nga "not", or a variant, which encloses the verb and any direct object:

natba leli nga = I don't do it / I didn't do it nanba leli nga = I won't do it

The passive voice can be formed by attaching the suffix -an to the verb:

te lelian = it was done

When giving instructions, verbs are preceded simply by the 2nd person subject pronoun ko or karu "you":

Ko leli! = Do it! (to one person) Karu leli! = Do it! (to two people, or politely to a group) Ka leli! = Do it! (plural, considered impolite and usually heard only with children)

The prohibitive is marked with ba… an:

Ko[n]ba lelian! = Don't do it!

Other particles that can occur in a verb phrase include:

a minimizing marker ga(m), "just"

a partitive marker te, "partly" or "at all"

an additive marker m(u), "furthermore"

a completive marker, also te, "already"

The direct object, if one is present, immediately follows the verb. When the object is already known, it need not be stated explicitly:

nat gita kik = I saw you nat gita = I saw [it]

Many verbs in Apma have distinct transitive and intransitive forms. (These distinctions have been lost to some extent in Suru Kavian dialect.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:

In Suru Mwerani dialect, and to a lesser extent Suru Rabwanga, vowels have been lost from a number of verb roots, producing 'bound verbs' which begin with a pair of consonants (such as -mni and -slo above). Since clusters of consonants within a syllable are prohibited in Apma, speakers usually cite these verbs with a prefix such as mwa- attached (mwamni, mwaslo), and do not identify them as words when unprefixed.

In addition to verbs denoting actions, Apma has a large number of stative verbs that describe an item. For example, there is a verb "to be red" (meme) and a verb "to be good" (gabis). Apma uses stative verbs in many of the situations where adjectives would be used in English.

Unlike neighbouring Raga language, Apma has a copular verb, (v)i or bi. The phrase tei... meaning "it was..." (tevi... in Suru Kavian) is commonly used to focus attention on something or to set the scene.

Verbs in Apma can be linked together in a variety of serial verb constructions.

Documentation

Notes on the grammar and vocabulary of Apma language were first made by Catholic missionaries at Melsisii in the early 20th century.

Cindy Schneider of the University of New England completed a grammar and short dictionary of the Suru Mwerani dialect of Apma language in the late 2000s. Building on Schneider's work, Pascal Temwakon and Andrew Gray produced Bongmehee, an illustrated dictionary of the language.

The other two dialects of Apma remain poorly documented.

Notable Apma words

Boroguu, the name of a popular kava variety, comes from Apma language.