A Grammar of Mavea: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu

Chapter 12 Simple sentences

Chapter 12 Simple sentences 12.1 Verbal clauses Minimally, an entire sentence may consist of just a single verbal complex, composed of subject agreement prefix, optionally a morpheme indicating number, and an intransitive verb. (1003) ref 07078.009 Ra-r-anan. 3PL-DL-eat ‘They ate.’ A verb phrase made up of a transitive verb is minimally composed of the subject agreement prefix, the verb, and an object clitic or an object NP, as shown below with the verb atia ‘bite.’ (1004) ref 06031.014 Mo-at 3SG-bite sun hat na LOC singo=na, mouth=3SG.POSS mo-at=i=a 3SG-bite=TR=3SG ro, then mo-tete. 3SG-fly ‘He bit the hat with his beak, he bit it and then flew off.’ In some instances, seen in imperative sentences, the verb occurs on its own, that is, without an agreement marker. (1005) ref 07054d.017 Tur stand.up asao far puse away rarua! 3PLtwo ‘Go away from these two!’ However, even in imperative sentences, the subject agreement can surface. (1006) ref 07054d.001–002 Fransiska! Fransiska Ko-lav 2SG-take paov̋ grater no-n CLF-CONS anti auntie Eileen! Eileen ‘Francisca! Take auntie Eileen’s grater!’ The subject itself, whether a NP or a pronoun, is overtly expressed at the beginning of a discourse in order to introduce a new participant, such as nna ‘he’ below. 277 12 Simple sentences (1007) ref 07085.070–072 Me FUT ka-m̋e-l-var 1SG.IR-IT-IMPF-speak sur about m̋el more aite one tav̋alu=na. side=3SG.POSS Nna 3SG mo-sa 3SG-go.up mo-sev 3SG-hang tuan with pili-na hand-CONS raruorua. 2together ‘I will talk again about another one on its side. He hangs up with both his hands.’ Once the referent of the participant is established, it is rarely included again in a sentence as a full NP subject, if only for emphasis, as in (1008), to differentiate this participant from another one, as in (1009), or to reintroduce a participant in the discourse. (1008) ref 06016.038 M̋atan because p̋ilae plover nna 3SG mo-tur 3SG-stand.up sea. more ‘Because Plover, HE stood firm.’ (1009) ref 06015.057–058 Ra-sa, 3PL-go.up nao 1SG na-l-to 1SG-IMPF-stay pa. still ‘They went up, me, I still stayed.’ Other morphosyntactic categories realized in the verbal complex (such as aspect and mood) are discussed in Chapter 9. 12.2 Non-verbal predicate clauses Non-verbal predicate clauses all have in common that their predicate is not crossreferenced with subject markers, nor are they marked for tense, mood, or aspect. There are five types of non-verbal predicate clauses: nominal predicate clauses, cardinality predicate, adjectival predicate, prepositional predicate, and adverbial predicate clauses. Negative existential and equative clauses are discussed in Chapter 13. 12.2.1 Nominal predicates These clauses are formed by the juxtaposition of two noun phrases. The first noun phrase stands as the subject and the second noun phrase is the predicate. Several types of noun can be used predicatively. In the following examples, the nominal predicate is a proper name in (1010) and (1011), and a common noun in (1012) and (1013). 278 12 Simple sentences (1010) ref 06034.001 Nao, 1SG ese=ku name=1SG.POSS Peter. Peter ‘Me, my name is Peter.’ (1011) ref 06034.005–006 Kam̋am, 1PL.EXCL v̋anua island sa=m̋am, CLF.LOC=1PL.EXCL.POSS ese=na name=3SG.POSS Mav̋ea. Mav̋ea Ureure-n islet-CONS Utalap̋e. Santo ‘We, our island, its name (is) Mav̋ea. (It is an) islet of Santo.’ (1012) ref 06031.002 Ululdunia story aro here ululdunia-n story-CONS kou fowl rar 3PL.DL vomae. dove ‘This story here (is) the story of Fowl and Dove.’ (1013) ref 06034.017 Sasa-n work-CONS ma COMP ra-l-la 3PL-IMPF-take manea money ai, PRO kavura copra na. only ‘The work they are getting money from (it) (is) only copra.’ In the following example, the noun poa ‘pig’ is used predicatively. The subject of this non-verbal predicate clause is the classifier (see also §7.5). (1014) ref 07065.038 Mo-v: 3SG-say ‘a=ku CLF.eat=1SG.POSS poa.’ pig ‘He said: ‘My (thing) to eat (is a) pig.’ ’ Demonstrative pronouns such as noro ‘this...