ISO 639-3 omb | Native speakers 5,000 (2001) Glottolog east2443 | |
Language family AustronesianMalayo-PolynesianOceanicSouthern OceanicVanuatuNorthern VanuatuEast VanuatuEast Ambae | ||
East Ambae (also known as Omba, Oba, Aoba, Walurigi, 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.
Contents
Phonology
North-East Ambae distinguishes 5 vowels and 16 consonants, shown in the tables below.
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.
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. Dual forms cliticise to the marker ru. In Lolovoli, no= is applied when cliticised in 1st person exclusive singular.
Examples:
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.
Examples:
Possessive Suffixes
Possessive suffixes are attached to the head noun in a direct possessive construction, or a relational classifier in an indirect possessive construction.
Examples: