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Article published In: Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 8:1 (2022) ► pp.72–105

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Patterns of variation in subject-indexing prefixes in Vatlongos, Southeast Ambrym

 | Massey University
Published online: 14 February 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.19006.rid
Abstract
This paper describes four patterns of variation in the subject-indexing paradigm of Vatlongos (Oceanic, Vanuatu). It explores their quantitative distribution in a corpus of monologic texts from speakers in three different communities: Mele Maat, a relocated peri-urban community; Endu, which has a distinct dialect; and Ase-Taveak, the other villages of Southeast Ambrym. Speakers in Mele Maat are more likely to use a zero variant of the third person singular Non-future prefix and shorter syllabic variants, and less likely to use the paucal number category. All three patterns suggest formal simplification in the Mele Maat community. The latter two patterns are also associated with higher levels of education, and consequent greater exposure to national and international languages. Overall these patterns suggest that changes which involve reduction of distinctions in morphological paradigms are more likely to be accelerated in contexts of language endangerment than phonological change or phonological reduction.
Abstract (Bislama)
Pepa ia hemi tokabaot fo rod blo tantanem toktok lo saed blo hao blo soemaot subjek long lanwis ia Vatlongos (Saot-Is Ambrym, Vanuatu). Hemi lukluk lo hamas taem ol difren rod i stap insaed lo ol stori blo manples blo trifala komuniti: Mele Maat, we ol man Saot-Is Ambrym i bin go stap klosap lo Port Vila; Endu, we oli gat wan difren tun; mo Ase-Taveak, we hemi ol narafala vilij. Ol man Mele Maat i stap iusum rod blo soemaot nambatri person we i nogat prefiks lo hem, mo oli katkatem sam prefiks i go lo wan silabol nomo, i antap bitim ol narafala komuniti. Be oli no stap soemaot se sam man nomo i stap olsem ol narafala komuniti. Ating trifala difrens ia i minim se rod blo toktok lo Mele Maat ating i kam mo simpol smol. Blo nambatu mo nambatri rod ia, hemi no man Mele Maat nomo, be tu ol man we oli skul longtaem, mekem se oli stap toktok Bislama, Inglis mo Franis oltaem. Ol difrens ia ating i soemaot se taem we lanwis i stap deinja, i save spidemap ol kaen jenis we i mekem se yu no soemaot tumas difren mining. Be kaen jenis we i hemi jensem o katkatem saon nomo, hemi jas gohed sipos lanwis i stap deinja, or hemi sef nomo.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Vatlongos speaker-communities
  • 3.Corpus and methodology
  • 4.Vatlongos verbal morphology
    • 4.1Overview and descriptive decisions
    • 4.2Subject-indexing prefixes
    • 4.3Interaction with other morphological processes
  • 5.Patterns of variation across communities
    • 5.1Individual styles: 2sg /o/ vs. /a/
    • 5.2Variation in phonological conditions: 3sg.nfut mi- vs. zero
    • 5.3Phonological erosion resulting in new patterns of syncretism: (C)VCV- versus (C)VC- forms
    • 5.4Choice of number category: Paucal versus plural
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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