South Efate language

Phonology

The South Efate language has a total of 20 phonemes consisting of 15 consonant and 5 vowel sounds.

Consonants

Vowels

As seen in the above chart, South Efate's vowel phoneme inventory is that of a five-vowel system; this is one of the most commonly seen vowel inventories in any given language in the world and also especially evident in many Oceanic languages. There is a distinction between short and long vowels but it is currently in a process of change that makes its status unclear.

Numerals

The system of numerals in South Efate is base-5 (quinary). Numbers two through five are distinct numerals that are then seen repeated in slight variation for the numbers seven to ten. The pattern of the numerals can be seen in the table below.

Ralim iskei can be used as an example to see the method for displaying numbers ten and above in South Efate; the numeral for ten ralim is followed by its multiplier, which in this case is iskei for one. The term for and atmat is added after the multiplier with an additional numeral to form a number such as thirty seven:

ralim + itol + atmat + ilaru ten + three + and + seven thirty-seven

Adnominal possession

There are two ways of marking adnominal possession in South Efate: through the use of a possessive pronoun (indirect possession), or directly on the noun (direct possession). Indirect possession is used for general possession, while direct possession is used for nouns that are closely associated items (e.g., body parts or products, kinship terms, etc.).

Indirect/general possession

Indirect possession is morphosyntactically represented through the use of the possessive markers ni (of) or knen (of it), or of the presence of a possessive pronoun such as nakte (my/mine).

When possession is marked by a possessive pronoun, the pronouns follow the possessed NP:

Nasum̃tap pur nigmam nen i=tarpek. church big 1p.exPOS REL 3sg.RS=fall down It was our church that fell down.

ni possession: the preposition ni only occurs when the possessum is a noun. The NP follows the form of ‘possessed ni possessor’.

I=pi nawesien ni Atua. 3sgRS=be work of God It is God’s work.

knen possession: This form is used as an inanimate referent, and often indicates a previously mentioned participant in the discourse. It is positioned following the referent noun.

Natrauswen karu i=pitlak nalag knen. story next 3sgRS=have song of.it The next story, it has its song.

Direct possession

Direct possession is used for inalienably possessed nouns. This is similar to other languages of Vanuatu that denote inalienable nouns as those that refer to relationships of part-whole association such as kinship terms, body parts or products, and associated parts (such as leaf/stem). These nouns take directly suffixed possession markers, however they can also occur without possessive marking when the possessor is encoded by a noun. The directly possessed (DP) suffix only attaches to the class of directly possessed nouns. For sg and 3p forms, an unpredictable vowel (V) may be inserted to aid DP suffixation.

Go ra=paos-ki-n ki, “Gag tm-a-m go rait-o-m wa?" and 3d.RS=ask-TR-3sgO PREP 2sgPOS father-V-2sgDP and mother-V-3sgDP where And they asked, “Where are your father and mother?”

If the directly possessed noun has no possessive suffix, the referent is presumed unknown or disembodied. Lack of possession also occurs when possession is encoded by the possessed noun preceding the possessor. As in the following example, the directly possessed noun rait (mother) is preceded by the noun tesa (child).

Go rait tesa ke=fo tae toleg preg tete namrun ses. and mother child 3sgIRR=PSP:IR able stand.up make some thing small And the child’s mother can stand up and do some small things.