A Grammar of Mavea: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu

Chapter 3 Word classes

Chapter 3 Word classes According to Schachter, “parts-of-speech classes must be distinguished from one another on the basis of a cluster of properties, none of which by itself can be claimed to be a necessary and sufficient condition for assignment to a particular class” (1985:6, original emphasis). In the following sections, parts of speech in Mav̋ea are identified based on a cluster of properties for each word class. Nouns and pronouns are presented in§3.1, verb types in §3.2, auxiliaries in §3.3, and adjectives and adjectival predicates are detailed in §3.4. Minor parts-of-speech (adverbs, prepositions, classi- fiers, etc.) are presented in §3.5 to §3.9. In §3.10, we shall see that some lexemes are “flexible,” i.e., a single lexeme may belong to several word classes. 3.1 Nouns Different classes of nouns found in Mav̋ea are summarized in Table 3.1. Table 3.1 Mav̋ea noun classes Open class Closed class Noun Proper Free Personal names Calendar and vocatives Bound Locatives and relationals Common Free Nouns Bound Body parts and kinship terms Pronoun Free Independent pronouns Bound Affixes and clitics All nouns have in common the fact that they are referential. They refer to an abstract or physical entity in the world. In the following sections, each subclass is reviewed. 3.1.1 Proper nouns Proper names can be subdivided into: personal names, calendar names, vocatives, relational terms, and locatives. They all have in common that they cannot be used with an article or a determiner, as opposed to common nouns. Other characteristics are detailed in each subsection below. 47 3 Word classes 3.1.1.1 Personal names In POc, personal nouns were preceded by the article *i or *e (Lynch et al. 2002:71). This is not the case in Mav̋ea, as shown below. (107) Vovrodal Vovrodal mo-sum 3SG-kiss Vopua. Vopua ‘Vovrodal kisses Vopua.’ Unlike common nouns, personal nouns in Mav̋ea need not be preceded by an article (as is the case in Lolovoli, for example, Hyslop 2001:74). On the other hand, personal nouns show a gender distinction. Most male names start with moland female names tend to start with vo- or va-. A sample list is given in Table 3.2. Table 3.2 Male and female personal names Male Female Moltas Vopua Molv̋atol Vovaro Moltoaima Vosike Molavea Valeo Moliala Vomoliala Molp̋aio Vatarul Daldal Vovrodal Vuropaitia Lim̋a The bound morpheme vo- (or va-) is a feminizing morpheme (Lynch 2001:233). It is used to feminize male kinship terms (see also Chapter 4). (108) natu- ‘son’ vanatu- ‘daughter’ palia- ‘father-in-law’ vopalia- ‘mother-in-law’ Some traditional male names are formed on common nouns. Molp̋aio, for example , is made up of two morphemes mol (which I was told is a short form for moli, a chiefly title) and p̋aio ‘shark.’ As such, personal names form an open class. Other traditional personal names could be construed as sentences. (109) Mo-l-to 3SG-IMPF-stay aima. home ‘He is staying home.’ Personal names also include names of animals that are personalized in stories. 48 3 Word classes (110) ref 06020.014 Ro then vomae dove mo-m̋a 3SG-come mo-one=a 3SG-see=3SG ro then mo-v: 3SG-say ‘Ariv̋i, rat nao, 1SG ka-l-tapula.’ 1SG.IR-IMPF-return ‘Then Dove came, saw him and said: ‘Rat, I’m going back.’’15 3.1.1.2 Calendar names There are no words for the days of the week in Mav̋ea, but there are words for the months. The complete list with explanations on the meaning of the terms is given in (112). Some younger Mav̋ea speakers know calendar names, but do not necessarily know the months’ meaning, i.e., either weather-related or based on agricultural practices. Although older speakers know all these calendar names, even they use Bislama loanwords in the course of a conversation. (111) ref 07059l.029 Siao year aite one mo-lo-v̋a 3SG-IMPF-go mo-tikel 3SG-reach Julae July ro. here ‘One year until this July.’ (112) Calendar names Supeliu January Time when the yam’s sprout has grown over its stick (from supa ‘chief’ and liu ‘beyond’). Rupu February Old yams are all eaten up. Adi March The hurricane month, the...