East Ambae language

East Ambae
Region	Ambae, Vanuatu
Native speakers	5,000 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic Vanuatu Northern Vanuatu East Vanuatu East Ambae
Language codes
ISO 639-3	omb
Glottolog	east2443[2]

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.

Phonology

North-East Ambae distinguishes 5 vowels and 16 consonants, shown in the tables below.

Consonants^[3]

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Voiceless Stop		t	k
Prenasalised Voiced Stop	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ
Nasal	m	n	ŋ	mʷ
Fricative	β	s			h
Tap/Trill		r
Lateral Approximant		l
Glide				w

Vowels^[4]

	Front		Central		Back
Close	i				u
Mid		e		o
Open			a

Morphology

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.

Independent Pronouns

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		gideru	gide
1EXCL	neu	gamaru	gamai
2	niko	gimiru	gimiu
3	ngie	garue	ngire

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.^[5] Dual forms cliticise to the marker ru. In Lolovoli, no= is applied when cliticised in 1st person exclusive singular.

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		da=ru	da=
1EXCL	na=, no=	ga=ru	ga=
2	go=	ne=ru	ne=
3	Ø, na=, vi=	ra=ru	ra=

Examples:

Go=ni	inu	rongo	na	malogu
2SGS=IRR	drink	feel	ACC	kava
"You will taste the Kava"

Da=hivo	da=si~siu
1NSG.INS=go.down	1NSG.INS=REDUP~fish
"Let's go down and fish."

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.^[6]

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		gideru	gide
1EXCL	=eu	gamaru	gamai
2	=go	gimiru	gimiu
3	=a =e	=ra, =re	=ra, =re

Examples:

Ra=u	hui	i	gide
3NSG=TEL	ask	PERS	1NSG.IN
"They asked us."

Go=mese	wehe	i	netu-ku
2SGS=DEHOR	hit	PERS	child-1SGP
"Don't hit my children."

Possessive Suffixes

Possessive suffixes are attached to the head noun in a direct possessive construction, or a relational classifier in an indirect possessive construction.^[7]

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1INC		-da=ru	-da, -de
1EXCL	-ku	-ma=ru	-mai
2	-mu	-me=ru	-miu
3	-na, -ne	=ra, =re	=ra, =re

Examples:

Nago-mu	u	memea
face-2SGP	TEL	red
"Your face is red."

no-ku	bue
CL.GEN-1SGP	knife
"my knife"

Footnotes

1. East Ambae at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "East Ambae". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. Hyslop 2001, p.28
4. Hyslop 2001, p.32
5. Hyslop 2001, p.95
6. Hyslop 2001, p.96
7. Hyslop 2001, p.96

References

• Ivens, W. G. (1940). "A Grammar of the Language of Lobaha, Lepers' Island, New Hebrides, Melanesia". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 10 (2): 345–363. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00087553.
• Hyslop, Catriona. (2001). The Lolovoli Dialect of the North-East Ambae Language, Vanuatu. Pacific Linguistics 515. Canberra: Australian National University.