| Tangoa | |
|---|---|
| Movono | |
| Region | Tangoa Island,Vanuatu |
Native speakers | 370 (2015) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tgp |
| Glottolog | tang1347 |
| ELP | Tangoa |
 Espiritu Santo; Tangoa Island, where Tangoa is primarily spoken, lies off the southern coast | |
 Tangoa is not endangered according to the classification system of theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Tangoa, orMovono, is anOceanic language[1][2] or dialect.[3] It is spoken onTangoa Island off the southern coast ofEspiritu Santo inVanuatu, as well as a few mainland villages opposite Tangoa.[4] In 2015 it was estimated to have 370 speakers,[5] while in 2001 it was estimated to have 800.[6]
Tangoa may be endangered,[7] with its status described as "shifting".[8] Another source describes language use as vigorous, used among all ages in all domains, although with somecode-switching toBislama.[6]
It has largely displaced the moribundAraki language spoken onAraki Island.[9]
Tangoa is generally described as a language,[1][2] but also as a dialect of the proposed, lexicostastically defined Southwest Santo language along withAraki,Akei, andWailapa.[3][10]: 304 However, Tangoans generally do not understand Araki, which suggests they are not both dialects of a single language.[11]
The first Christianmissionaries settled on Tangoa in 1887 and founded the Tangoa Training Institute (in the 1970s it became the Presbyterian Bible College and later the Talua Ministry Centre), with the aim of training Bible teachers and priests; it still has a large influence on social life in the area. Tangoa was chosen as a locallingua franca for missionary purposes; it was used in church, education and for inter-island communication.[11][12]: 1
It is suggested that the activities of the missionaries, especially the Bible translations into Tangoa, contributed to the decline of theAraki language, which is now moribund.[11]
The following table shows Tangoa's consonantalphonemes:[12]: 3–4
| Bilabial | Linguolabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n̼ | n | ŋ | |
| Plosive | p | t̼ | t | k | |
| Fricative | β | ð̼ | s | x | |
| Affricate | ts | ||||
| Liquid | l | ɽ,ɽr |
/m/, /n/ and /ŋ/ may besyllabic. They all may occur as syllables word-medially when preceding another consonant, and /m/ may occur as a syllable word-finally.[12]: 6
Tangoa formerly had genderedsociolects, with linguolabial use differing between the sexes. Males acquired the women's dialect in early life from their caretakers, but lived in seclusion in all-male company during theirinitiation period, where they learned how to produce linguolabials. This, in effect reversed the historical collapse of*m and*mʷ. The awareness of the pre-merger distinction may have been supported by knowledge of surrounding languages in which the distinction is still preserved.[14]
| 'eye' | 'snake' | |
|---|---|---|
| Proto-Oceanic | *mata | *mʷata |
| Male speech | t̼ata | mata |
| General speech | mata | mata |
In the 1950s,[15] at least half of the adult speakers merged the linguolabials with the bilabials;minimal pairs becamehomophones. Confusion about where linguolabial use was appropriate only occurred in one minimal pair (pepe "butterfly" andpepe "flame"), but with more frequency among non-contrasting pairs, even among the older men. Most of the older Tangoan men regarded the merging as a recent deterioration in the language, caused by children not being taught to speak correctly. However, there is some evidence the variation was actually a long-standing feature. Usage of the linguolabials was consideredprestigious, and many users of these phonemes were sensitive about any suggestion they misused them.[12]: 5
Research published in the 1970s stated that linguolabial phonemes defined the prestige variety. Used by males in oratory, serious discussion, traditional storytelling, etc, but less consistently in ordinary speech, it was generally accepted as "true Tangoa", although women and children were not expected to use them, and rarely did.[13]
Research published in the 1980s stated that linguolabials were in the process of shifting to bilabials.[10]: 309
The following table shows Tangoa's vowelphonemes:[12]: 1–2
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Low | a |
The vowels weaken in unstressed syllables.[12]: 1–2
Ray (1926) gives the diphthongs asai,ao,au, andoi, in both long and short form (although the phonetic values are unclear).[16]: 356–57 However, later research found these to not be present, although "vowel clusters" do occur. All possible combinations of two vowels occur except /ie/ and /uo/. Out of the possible combinations of three vowels, /iau/, /iua/, /eia/, /eau/, /eua/, /aia/, /aui/, /aua/, /oia/, /oea/, /oau/, /uia/, /uea/ and /uai/ occur, and out of the possible combinations of four vowels, /iuau/, /eiau/, /euau/, /auau/, /aiau/, /oiau/, and /uaia/ occur.[12]: 5–6
All phonemes can occur word-initially and word-medially (although there is a low incidence of vowel-initial words), but only vowels and the syllabic /m/ occur word-finally.[12]: 8
Stress is predictable;primary stress occurs on the penultimatesyllable, andsecondary stress, present in words of more than three syllables, occurs on the first syllable.[12]: 6 Light stress occurs on the fourth syllable of seven syllable words, and on the fourth and sixth syllables of eight syllable words.[13]
A verb or adjectivemay be used as a noun without change to its form (e.g.la lo reti "they are speaking",noku reti "my speech"), although averbal noun may be formed by the suffixesa oria (e.g.mo rozo "he is sick",rozoa "sickness").[16]: 357–58
When prefixed to an adjective, the wordcina (a shortening ofcinau "thing") forms anabstract noun (e.g.rucu "good",cina rucu "goodness").[16]: 358
Agent nouns are formed using the wordtamloci "person", with a (either full or partial)reduplicated verb or adjective (e.g.tamloci sasati "sinner").[16]: 358
Demonyms are formed by the wordta, ormara in the plural (e.g.ta Ethiopia "Ethiopian"). For women,cara is used, with no special plural form (e.g.cara Sameria "woman of Samaria).[16]: 358
Nouns do not havenumber, although the context may show number in averbal phrase, or the adjectivematuva may be used before or after the noun (e.g.matuva cinau "many things").[16]: 358
Tangoa appears to mostly lackgrammatical gender, but some nouns denoting relationships are of common gender and use the prefixve to indicate feminine sex (e.g.natuna "his child",venatuna "his daughter").[16]: 358
Reduplication of the noun intensifies its meaning (e.g.buti "hill",butibuti "mountain").[16]: 358
The following table contains Tangoa'spersonal pronouns.[16]: 359
| Pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | enau (I) | Inclusive | enra (pronounced 'endra') (we, when including the addressee) |
| Exclusive | kanam (we, when excluding the addressee) | ||
| 2nd | egko (singular 'you') | kanim (plural 'you') | |
| 3rd | enia (he/she/it) | enira (they) | |
The pronouns also occur in shortened forms,[16]: 359 used around or affixed to a verb to indicate its subject and object.[16]: 364
| Short subject pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | a, na | Inclusive | ra |
| Exclusive | ana, kana | ||
| 2nd | o, ko | a, ka | |
| 3rd | i | ila, la | |
| Short object pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | au | Inclusive | ra |
| Exclusive | — | ||
| 2nd | ko | — | |
| 3rd | a | ra | |
Tangoa has aclusivity distinction, a grammatical difference between inclusive and exclusive first person pronouns. The inclusive form is used when including the addressee, whereas the exclusive form excludes them.[16]: 359
A dual or trial pronoun may be formed withrua ortolu following the pronoun (e.g.enra rua "we two",kanim tolu "you three").[16]: 359
The wordcase "self, by one's self, alone, only" functions as anintensive orreflexive pronoun (e.g.i casena vili te? "will he kill himself?",la casera thano "they went away alone",egko casem "you only").[16]: 359
Theparticlessei "this, these" andatu "that, those" aredemonstrative pronouns, and may either be used independently or follow a noun or pronoun (e.g.cinau sei "this thing"). These may be combined with the wordcari (of unclear meaning), with the common formscarici "this" andcaratu "that", althoughcari sei is apparently only used when referring to people (e.g.na uli carici "I write this").Nacai "this" andnatu "that" are also found (e.g.enau nacai "this is I").[16]: 360
Interrogative pronouns includecare "who?",sa "what?",sansei "what is this?",se "which?"[16]: 360 andvisa "how many?" (used as a verb with the particlesmo ori.[16]: 370 Indefinite pronouns includete "some, any",te cinau "something",sobo tea "none",nakomo "a few, a little",tari "all",matuvana "many",catecateaci "each",tinabua "another, something else".Tuatua "some, a part of", takes apronominal suffix (e.g.tuatuanim "some of you").[16]: 360
A noun in thegenitive case follows thehead noun (i.e. the possessor follows the possessed, e.g.tagisan Josep "Joseph's brothers", literally "brothers Joseph's", although such a construction can also form an adjective, e.g.ima poi "pig's house" or "fit for a pig").[16]: 360–61
In regard to possession, there are essentially two classes of noun. Head nouns of the first class are suffixed with-n if the genitive noun is also of the first class (e.g.natan Paul "Paul's nephew"). However, if the genitive noun is of the second class, no suffix appears (e.g.natu tamloci "man's son").[16]: 361
Head nouns of the second class are followed by the possessive nounsno,ca,pula orbula, which gain the suffix with-n (e.g.cinau non tananim "work of your father").Non is sometimes followed by the articlena (e.g.supe non na tamloci "rulers of the people").[16]: 361
First class nouns[16]: 361 suffix a short form of the pronouns to indicatepossession (e.g.tanaku "my father",natana "his eye").[16]: 359
| Possessive suffixes | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ku | Inclusive | ra |
| Exclusive | nam | ||
| 2nd | m | nim | |
| 3rd | na | ra | |
For second class nouns, the shortened pronoun is instead suffixed to the possessive noun, of which there are four:ca for food,na for drink,bula for animal property, andno for property generally (e.g.noku reti "my word",bulanim poi "his pigs").[16]: 361
When used without a noun, the possessives are equivalent to the English "mine", "yours", etc (e.g.noku cinau tari nom, nom noku "all my things are yours, and yours, mine"). Possessives may be used with a verbal phrase (e.g.nona mo le thano ormo le thano nona "his going").[16]: 362
A noun or an adjectivemay be used as a verb (e.g.rai "blood",mo rai "it bleeds").[16]: 363 Compound verbs are common (e.g.rogovosaci "to understand", literally "hear know").[16]: 364
There are no rules for the formation of atransitive from anintransitive verb; many verbs can be used with either connotation (e.g.mo calu "he deceives",mo calura "he deceives them". However, in some verbs the final-i resembles a transitive suffix (e.g.lavi "to give"), although many verbs end in an-i that does not appear essential to the meaning (e.g.sipai orsipa "to inherit").[16]: 363
Shortened forms of the subject pronouns are used in combination with a verb; these forms differ in the indicative and subjunctive moods (the table below shows the indicative forms), and in some cases are followed by a particle. Some examples of usage includeko oboiau "you love me" andmo verea "he told him".[16]: 364
| Short pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | na | Inclusive | ra |
| Exclusive | kana | ||
| 2nd | ko | ka | |
| 3rd | mo | la | |
In the third person singular, the verbal particlemo is used instead of a pronoun. This particle is not used with the other pronouns.[16]: 364
When the subject is a noun, it is usually followed by one of these pronouns (e.g.nona vorai la verea "his brothers (they) told him",carai atu mo verea "that woman said to him").[16]: 365
To form thefuture tense, the particlepa (po afterko) follows the pronoun.I is also used instead ofmo; the other pronouns also have forms for the future tense but their use is inconsistent. See the table below (these pronouns are also supposedly used for the imperative and subjunctive):[16]: 365
| Short future pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | a | Inclusive | ra |
| Exclusive | ana | ||
| 2nd | o | ca, a | |
| 3rd | i | ila | |
Note thatpa does not followila, andpa is not always used for the future (e.g.la pa lo cacau "while they were walking").
The suffix-si may indicate reflexivity or reciprocity (e.g.mo cati "he bites",mo cazia (katsia) "he bites himself, it pains him").[16]: 363 An alternative way to express reciprocity is by the verb's subject and object being identical, or with the wordcase (see above).[16]: 364 Another suffix-ci is of unclear meaning (e.g.thaisatici "to hurt", fromthai "to do" andsati "bad").[16]: 363
Theimperative mood is shown by the pronounso (for a singular referent) orca (for a plural referent) preceding the verb (e.g.o nai! "come!").Sobo follows the pronoun in the negative (e.g.o sobo natacu! "fear not!").[16]: 366
The particlele (sometimesla orlo) indicates thecontinuous aspect (e.g.na le reti "I am talking").[16]: 365
The verbmoiso "to finish" indicates completion of an action and is placed after the verbal phrasela usia moiso "they had finished praying".[16]: 365
To negate the verb, the wordsobo is placed after the pronoun (e.g.ca sobo natacu "fear not").[16]: 365
Tha or the verbthai, "to do, make" are used ascausatives; the latter formthai may be followed by a subjunctive phrase, but either form may be prefixed to the verb (e.g.cani "to eat",thacani "to feed").[16]: 364
The wordvari preceding the verb emphasizes it (e.g.boi la vari cati "pigs naturally bite"). Verbs can be reduplicated to express the frequency of an action, and this is used especially with a plural subject (e.g.la case vereverera "they say among themselves").[16]: 364
The verberi expresses ability or inability (e.g.mo sobo eri cite "he could not see", or alternatively the adjectivesuica is used). The verbrocu indicates unwillingness, whereasnasalo indicates a wish.[16]: 366
There is no copula, although the verbtoco is used to mean "to exist" or "to be in" (e.g.tea mo sobo lo toco cinia "no-one was in it").[16]: 366
Adjectives follow their noun (e.g.tamloci vuso "blind man").[16]: 362
Certain adjectives are formed by combining a verb with the prefixna (e.g.rari "to tear, break",narari "broken"). The suffixca, added to verbs and adjectives, seems to give an abstract meaning (e.g.mo rai "it bleeds",mo raiica "it is rusty"). Many adjectives appear to be reduplicated (e.g.nalonalo "naked",calucalu "false").[16]: 362
Incomparisons, two positive statements are used. The prepositioncin (variously meaning "of", "from", etc) may be used for "than" (e.g.carici mo rucu cin caratu "this is better than that". Superlatives are indicated byzea "very",mo lui "to pass", ormo thano "to go" (e.g.mo rucu rucu thano "it is the best").[16]: 362–63
The verbsthano "to go",nai "to come" andsace can be combined with other verbs to become directive adverbs meaning respectively "forth", "hither" and "up" (e.g.la alia thano "they carried him forth").[16]: 367
Interrogative adverbs includee "where?" (e.g.enia e "where is he?",ka taua e "you have laid him where?"),tamaci "how?" (a verb, e.g.ko vosaci tamaciau "how do you know me?", literally "you know how me?"),vara sa "why?" (e.g.ka nai vara sa "why have you come?"), andnata sa "for what, why" (e.g.ko sora isana nata sa "why do you talk with her?").[16]: 367
Adverbs of time includenake, nakerikerici "now, today",tebog "sometime, anytime, when",na bogi atu "at that time, then, when",tabuna "formerly",nanovi "yesterday",mo si nai nake "until now",na bog tari, thacatari, zezeu "always",na rani "by day",na bogi "by night",thacatea "at once, immediately",na bog nakomona "a little while",peravu "a long time" (from the verb "to continue"),mo rani "day break" (literally "it days"),mo ranina "the next day",mo rani palakavi "early in the morning",vuco, pavuco "tomorrow",ralavuco "early",na bog catecateaci "each day, every day",mo raviravi, na raviravi "in the evening",vutebog "at night",cinau atu moiso "after that",tuai "long ago, of old". Examples of usage includei pa sobo narocu tui "he shall never thirst".[16]: 367
Adverbs of place includenike, nacai "here",ea "there",zara atu "that place, where",mo nariviti "near",asau "far",na nipu "to the sea, seaward",na tarauta "to the land, landward",na vavasau "toward shore",nareu "on shore",na vuga tasi "on the sea",na tathalu nipu "over, beyond the sea". Examples of usage includeo nai nike "you come here",wai matuvana ea "much water (was) there",la cite zara atu mo lo toco ea "they saw the place where he lay there".[16]: 367
Adverbs of manner includesocena "thus",vila "quickly",vereverera "openly",tatacoloia "plainly", androro "secretly".[16]: 367
Io andece mean "yes" and "no" respectively.Sobo can also mean "no" or "not".[16]: 367
Simple prepositions, seemingly not derived from a noun or verb, include the locativesa (e.g.mo sakele a ima "he sat in the house") andna (e.g.mo nai na tharana "he came to the earth").Na can also be used as aninstrumental (e.g.mo amosi na palona na vuluna "she wiped his feet with her hair"). Other simple prepositions areisa, indicating motion to something or "beside, from" (e.g.mo turu isaku "he stood by me",la naricia isaku "they take it from me",na rulera thano isam "I sent them to you"),ta, indicating general relation or something belonging to a place (e.g.ta Tagoa "a man belonging to Tangoa",reti ta Tagoa "language of Tangoa"),nata, a causal preposition translating as "for, because" (e.g.ca usi moli nataku "pray to the Lord for me",natana mo usa "because it rained"),cini, a causal or instrumental preposition translating as "through, by" or meaning "about" (e.g.i pa nauri ciniau "he shall live through me",mo vere kanam tea cina sati cinico "he told us something bad about you"; this becomescin before a noun e.g.mo reti cin Jon "he spoke about John"), andcitacu "after" (e.g.citacu cinau sei "after these things").[16]: 368 Isa andcini are occasionally equivalent to possessives.[16]: 362
The prepositions mentioned above are sometimes combined with nouns to form a new preposition. These nouns includelolo "inside, in, within" (e.g.na lolo ima "within the house"),naco "before" (also meaning "face", e.g.na nacom "before you"),tano "below" (also meaning "earth", e.g.kanim ka ta atano "you are from beneath"),thatha "under" (e.g.na thatha vitoa "under the fig tree"),ulu "above" (also meaning "top", e.g.enau na ta aulu "I am from above"),vuga "on top, on" (e.g.mo cacau na vuga tasi "he walked on the sea"),livuca "between, among" (e.g.na livuca zara "in the middle of the place"), andtathalu "beyond, on the other side of" (e.g.la lo thano na tathalu nipu "they went over the sea").[16]: 368–69
Additionally, certain verbs can be used as prepositions: for example,tiroma "before" (e.g.mo tiromaku "he was before me"),usuri "after" (also meaning "to follow", e.g.mo usuriau "it comes after me"),coro "against" (e.g.enira la coroa "they opposed him"), andralici "round about" (e.g.la turu ralicia "they stood round him").[16]: 369
There is no simple copulativeconjunction, although sometimes ordinal numerals are used. Tangoa also lacks a personal conjunction (e.g.John enau kana thano Tagoa "John (and) I (we) went (to) Tangoa",narouna enira rua "he and his wife", literally "his wife they two").[16]: 369
Socena means "likewise, also" and is used at the end of a sentence.Te means "or" (e.g.lanane te carai "men or women") and can also be used at the end of a phrase interrogatively.Natana means "because, on account of" (e.g.ca usi moli nataku "pray to the Lord for me").[16]: 369
Interrogative clauses are shown by interrogative pronouns or adverbs, or by the particlete at the end of the sentence (e.g.ko ta Tagoa te? "are you a man of Tangoa?").[16]: 366
Dependent clauses are shown by the wordvara introducing theclause and the future forms of the pronouns (e.g.mo usia vara i siwo "he asked him to come down").[16]: 366
Conditionality is shown by the juxtaposition of two statements (e.g.mo zuruvi, i zuria "(if) he sleep, he shall be well"); there is no equivalent of the English "if".[16]: 366
Cardinal numerals follow the noun and take the verbal particlemo, or occasionally another particleca.[16]: 369
| Tangoa | English |
|---|---|
| mo tea | one |
| mo rua | two |
| mo tolu | three |
| mo thati | four |
| mo lina | five |
| mo linarave | six |
| mo linaraverua | seven |
| mo linaravetolu | eight |
| linaravethati | nine |
| sagavulu | ten |
| mo sagavulu romana ma tea | eleven |
| mo sagavulu romana mo rua | twelve |
| mo gavulurua | twenty |
| mo gavulurua gavulutoluna ma tea | twenty-one |
| mo gapsagavulu | hundred |
| tari (also means "all, every") | thousand |
Tea, "one", is commonly used as an indefinite article, particularly in its verbal formma tea (e.g.tamloci ma tea "a man").[16]: 357
Sagavulu is ten; to make tens above the first,sa is dropped and a number added to the end (e.g.mo gavulurua "twenty",mo gavulutolu "thirty" butgavulina "fifty").[16]: 370
The existence of anordinal is unclear, although sometimes the suffix-na seems to be in use, as in surrounding languages (e.g.bog catoluna "the third day", butna bogina mo linaravetolu "on the eighth day"). Multiplicatives are formed with the causative prefixthaca (e.g.thacatea "once",thacarua "twice").[16]: 370
The list below is a selected sample of words in Tangoa.[17]
| Tangoa | English |
|---|---|
| natu | child, son |
| mata | eye |
| takasa | friend |
| gabu | fire |
| balo | foot |
| kani | eat |
| alo | sun |
| thatu | stone |
| lito | spit |
| viriu | dog |
| rikiriki | small |
| utu | louse |
| boii | love |
| oneone | sand |
| sila | give |
| naro | run |
| ruku | good |
| oru, pati | tooth |
| rogo | hear |
| turu | stand |
| patu | head |
| vulu | hair |
| bogi | night |
| nabu | heart |
| neme | tongue |
| tali | rope |
Interjections includeo (indicating a vocative),e,he (both calling attention),ibo (showing wonder e.g.mo usa ibo! "what a great rain!"),pah "indeed", andpo "truly, yes".[16]: 370
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)