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| Tolomako | |
|---|---|
| Bigbay | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Big Bay,Espiritu Santo Island |
Native speakers | 900 (2001)[1] |
| Dialects |
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tlm |
| Glottolog | tolo1255 |
| ELP | Tolomako |
 Tolomako is classified as Definitely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Tolomako (also calledBigbay) is a language of theOceanic subgroup ofAustronesian languages. It is spoken on Santo island inVanuatu.
It distinguishes four numbers for its personal pronouns: singular, dual, trial, plural. Its verbs have no tense or aspect marking, but two moods,realis andirrealis. Substantives and numerals also have the same two moods. E.g.
na
REALIS
tatsua
person
mo
REALIS
tea
one
mo
REALIS
tsoa
not to be
na tatsua mo tea mo tsoa
REALIS person REALIS one REALIS {not to be}
Someone is missing
te
IRREALIS
tatsua
person
i
IRREALIS
tea
one
mo
REALIS
tsoa
not to be
te tatsua i tea mo tsoa
IRREALIS person IRREALIS one REALIS {not to be}
There is nobody.
Tolomako proper is characterized by having dentals where the proto-language had labials before front vowels. It shares this feature withSakao, but not with its dialect Tsureviu, which is otherwise very close. Thus:
| Tolomako | Tsureviu | Proto-form | |
|---|---|---|---|
| tei | pei | *pei | "water" |
| nata | mata | *mata | "eye" |
When labials do occur preceding front vowels they seem to be reflexes of older labiovelars:
| Tolomako | Tsureviu | Proto-form | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pei | pei | *pʷei | "good" |
| mata | mata | *mʷata | "snake" |
Compare withFijian ŋata "snake" (speltgata).
It is possible that Tolomako is a very simplified daughter-language or pidgin of the neighboring languageSakao. However, Tolomako is more likely a sister language of Sakao, not a pidgin. It cannot be phonologically derived from Sakao, whereas Sakao can be from Tolomako to some extent (one innovation of Tolomako is the shift of /*ŋ/ to /ɣ/, whereas Sakao retains it). Comparing Tolomako with its close dialect of Tsureviu allows researchers to reconstruct an earlier state, from which most of Sakao can be regularly derived. This earlier state is very close to what can be reconstructed of Proto-North-Central Vanuatu. Thus Tolomako is a veryconservative language, whereas Sakao has undergone drastic innovations in its phonology and grammar, both in the direction of increased complexity.
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Tolomako has a simple syllable structure, maximally consonant-vowel-vowel:V,CV, VV, CVV. However, in older materials, it permitted closed syllables, such askanam "you (exclusive)" versuskanamu, though this may reflect the epenthetic addition of non-etymologicalu in closed syllables.
There are three degrees ofdeixis, here/this, there/that, yonder/yon.
Tolomako hasinalienably possessed nouns, which are regularly derived:
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Tolomakosyntax isisolating. It has a singlepreposition,ne, for all relationships of space and time; below it is used to distinguish theobject of a verb from the instrument used.
mo
losi
hits
na
poe
pig
ne
na
matsa
club
mo losi na poe ne na matsa
3SG hits ART pig PREP ART club
"He hits (kills) the pig with a club"
Tolomako was unwritten until the arrival of missionaries from the New Hebrides Mission. James Sandilands translated Matthew, Jonah and Malachi from the Bible into Tolomako and these were published as "Na taveti tahonae hi Iesu Kristo, Matiu moulia..." by theBritish and Foreign Bible Society in 1904. A missionary with the New Hebrides Mission, Charles E. Yates translated the book of Acts into Tolomaku and this was published by the Melbourne Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1906.
Charles E. Yates then worked on the Gospel of John, the Letter to the Philippians and the 1st and 2nd Letters to Timothy. With the help of fifteen of his teaching staff they translated "Na Taveti Tahonai hi Jon na Varisula" and 750 copies were published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1909.
