Native to Papua New Guinea Native speakers 20,000 (2000 census) Glottolog tawa1275 | Region Milne Bay Province ISO 639-3 tbo | |
Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Oceanic
Western Oceanic
Papuan Tip
Nuclear Papuan Tip
North Mainland – D'Entrecasteaux
Taupota
Tawala | ||
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.
Contents
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.
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.
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.
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.
Example: The following examples demonstrate the use of some of the above personal pronouns in context.
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.
Example: The following examples demonstrate the use of some of the above personal pronouns in context.
Pronominal Enclitics
Inalienable possession is constructed by attaching a pronominal enclitic to the possessed noun.
Example: The following example demonstrates the use of some of the above personal pronouns in context.