| Akei | |
|---|---|
| Tasiriki | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Espiritu Santo |
Native speakers | (650 cited 1981)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tsr |
| Glottolog | akei1237 |
 Espiritu Santo, where Akei is spoken on the southwestern coast | |
 Akei is not endangered according to the classification system of theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Akei, orTasiriki, is anOceanic language[2][3] or dialect[4]: 51–52 spoken in southwestern coastalEspiritu Santo inVanuatu, centred in the village of Tasiriki.[4]: 52 In 1981, it was estimated to have 650 speakers.[5]
Other names for Akei are Eralado, Ipayato, Lamarakai, Marino, Navaka, Penantsiro, Pilipili, Tasiriki and Wailapa,[6]: 71 presumably based on the areas where it is spoken. The alternate nameTasiriki literally means "small water" (tasi "water",riki "small").
Akei is generally described as a language,[2][3] but also as a dialect of the proposed, lexicostastically defined Southwest Santo language along withAraki,Tangoa, andWailapa.[7][4]: 51–52 It has also been described as adialect chain, with its dialects on either end of the chain not beingmutually intelligible with each other.[6]: 51
Akei's vowels area,e,i,o, andu. Its consonants arer,l,k,',j,t,n,p,mp,b,mb,m,v,s andz.[8]: 371 However, the precise phonemes these letters represent are uncertain.
Akei mostly lacksgrammatical gender, although for some nouns denoting relationships the feminine is marked by the prefixve- (e.g.natuna "his son", butvenatuna "his daughter"). In other cases, natural sex is indicated by separate words or bytakuni ("male") orpita ("female") following the noun (e.g.tavasao takuni "man-servant",tavasao pita "maid-servant").[8]: 372
Plurals are unmarked and are shown only by juxtaposition of an adjective or pronoun (e.g.mazi alulusi "many animals"). In enumeration the wordravai precedes and forms the plural of relationship nouns (e.g.Isau te vatira pita isina, ravai natuna, ravai venatuna, ravai takuni povi isina "Esau took them his wife, his sons, his daughters, all his people").[8]: 371–372
Agent nouns are formed by the wordtakuni "man" followed by a word indicating the action (e.g.takuni veseni "teacher", fromlulusi veseni "to teach").[8]: 371
Demonyms are formed by the wordmarai preceding the place name (e.g.marai Judia "Jew"), in both singular and plural. The wordpita ("female") precedes in the feminine (e.g.pita marai Sameria "woman of Samaria"). The wordmera can also be used (e.g.mera 'Ibru "Hebrews").[8]: 371
In many cases, the noun is omitted and implied by context.[8]: 371
The following table contains Akei'spersonal pronouns.[8]: 372
| Pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | inau (I) | Inclusive | inika (we, when including the addressee) |
| Exclusive | komam (we, when excluding the addressee) | ||
| 2nd | iniko (singular 'you') | komim (plural 'you') | |
| 3rd | inia (he/she/it) | inira (they) | |
Akei 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.[8]: 372
There is a singledemonstrative pronoun,nake, meaning "this" or "that". This may be preceded by the third person pronounsinia andinira to mark singularity or plurality:inia nake "this", "that";inira nake "these", "those". Theinterrogative pronouns areisei "who?",sava "what?" andsavai "what is?".Indefinite pronouns includete "any",tese'ese "anyone",mo'ese "one",vavono "other",te tuenira "some, others",povi "all, every", andinira povi "everyone".[8]: 373
Thereflexive orintensive pronoun is'ase "self, by one's self, alone" followed by a suffixed possessive pronoun (e.g.ra te 'asera varaira "they told one another",inia 'asena "he was alone").[8]: 373 Tambu is also used (e.g.matai savai komi tambumim rereni komim? "why do you look at one another?").[8]: 377 See the following table:[8]: 373
| Reflexive or intensive pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 'aseku | Inclusive | — |
| Exclusive | 'asemam | ||
| 2nd | 'asem | 'asemim | |
| 3rd | 'asena | 'asera | |
There are shortened forms of the subject and object pronouns,[8]: 372 used either as anaffix or as separate words.[8]: 377
| Short subject pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | na | Inclusive | ka |
| Exclusive | koma | ||
| 2nd | ko | komi | |
| 3rd | i | ra | |
| Short object pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | au | Inclusive | ka |
| Exclusive | — | ||
| 2nd | ko | — | |
| 3rd | a | ra | |
There is no shortened form of the second person plural and first person exclusive plural object pronouns; the full pronoun is used instead (e.g.ka'ika "ask us", butka'i komim "ask you").[8]: 372
A noun in thegenitive case follows thehead noun (i.e. the possessor follows the possessed, e.g.vivi ai "river's bank", literally "bank river").[8]: 374
In regard topossession, there are essentially two classes of noun. Head nouns of the first class are suffixed with-ni if the genitive noun is also of the first class (e.g.'esani pita "name of the woman"). First class nouns suffix the pronoun to show possession (e.g.natuku "my son"), including when the noun is used as apreposition.[8]: 374
If the genitive noun is of the second class, the head noun is suffixed with-i (e.g.venatui takuni "daughter of a man"). Connecting a second class head noun and its genitive are theparticlesno for general possession,'a for food and drink, andpula for property generally.No is suffixed-ni and is placed in between the head and its genitive (e.g.tetei noni takuni "badness of man").[8]: 374
The pronoun is suffixed to these particles, and precedes the noun (e.g.noku tano "my land").[8]: 374 See the following table withno as the example:
| Possessive suffixes | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | noku | Inclusive | noka |
| Exclusive | nomam | ||
| 2nd | nomu, nom | nomim | |
| 3rd | nona | nora | |
The possessive pronounspulaku,pulam, andpulana correspond to the English "mine", "thine", "his", etc; they are used without a noun (e.g.noku lulusi veseni mo kei pulaku, pulana te tapatapaau "my teaching is not mine, (but) his that sent me".[8]: 375
The prepositionisi "with" is used with a suffixed pronoun as a possessive (e.g.pita isim "your wife", literally "woman with you").[8]: 375
A nounmay be used as a verb (e.g.usa te le'e na tano "rain stayed on the earth",na pai veia i pai usa na tano "I will make it, it will rain on the earth"),[8]: 377 although the verb may also be entirely different from the noun (e.g.valum "to fight",takuni vuro "fighter, soldier").[8]: 371 Verbs may betransitive orintransitive; in the former case, the object pronoun is suffixed.[8]: 377
Akei has azero copula; thepredicate simply follows the subject (e.g.inia se'ena "it (was) so",inau Pero "I (am) Pharaoh").Negation is shown by the particlekei, which follows the tense particles (e.g.nam kei pinisia "I do not know him").[8]: 378–79
Causativity is indicated with the verbvei "to do, to make" in a separate phrase (e.g.na pai veia i pai le turi "I will make him he shall again stand", i.e. "I will raise him up").[8]: 376
Passivity is indicated with a third person plural pronoun in theactive (e.g.noku mani ra te le tia "my money is restored", literally "my money they give back"). The subject is sometimes omitted (e.g.te ulia "(it) was written").[8]: 377
The verbpinisi "to know", and its negative equivalentkei pinisi indicate ability or inability and precede the main verb (e.g.isei mo pinisi ronoa "who can hear it?").[8]: 378
Theinterrogative mood is identical to that of theindicative, unless an interrogative adverb or pronoun is used (e.g.komi pai 'ilu se'era? "will you go away also?").[8]: 378
Theimperative mood is expressed with the second person present pronouns (e.g.kom turi! "stand up!"), and similarly with thehortative in the other persons (e.g.kam vano se'ena! "let us go likewise!"). Theprohibitive (negative imperative) anddehortative (negative hortative) moods are expressed withtakai, which can be used with or without the particle and pronouns (e.g.takai 'oroau! "don't hinder me!"). The verb'are "to allow" expresses permission (e.g.kom 'areau na pai masa'a! "let me go up!", literally "allow me I will go up").[8]: 378
To express thesubjunctive, one sentence simply follows the other (e.g.nam vano na pai 'izia "I go (that) I may (shall) awake him"), and likewise with theconditional (e.g.inia mo noro, i pai le vure'a "(if) he sleep, he will again (be) well"). Alternatively, for the subjunctive, the nounmata with apronominal suffix is added to the end of the sentence (e.g.na te mai, ra pai vatia mauri matana "I am come, that they may have life").[8]: 378
The particlele, following the tense particle, indicates repetition of an action (e.g.te le mai "he came again"), andmisi indicates continuance (e.g.mo misi mauri "he is still alive").[8]: 379
The particlemo indicates thepresent tense. It is abbreviated to-m suffixed to the shortened form of the subject pronoun, except for the third person singular, where the particle is used on its own (e.g.mo rere "he sees", butkom ulenia "you say it").[8]: 377
| Present tense pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | nam | Inclusive | kam |
| Exclusive | komam | ||
| 2nd | kom | komim | |
| 3rd | mo | ram | |
The particlete indicates thepast tense, following the shortened form of the subject pronoun. However, like the present tense, the particle is used without the preceding pronoun for the third person singular (e.g.te lesira "he saw them", butna te 'ania "I did eat it").[8]: 377
| Past tense pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | na te | Inclusive | ka te |
| Exclusive | koma te | ||
| 2nd | ko te | komi te | |
| 3rd | te | ra te | |
Thefuture tense is indicated bypai following the shortened form of the subject pronoun. Note the third person singulari is used beforepai, in contrast to the other tenses (e.g.i pai vatia mauri 'inia "he shall have life through it",na pai varai komim "I shall tell you").[8]: 377
| Past tense pronouns | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | na pai | Inclusive | ka pai |
| Exclusive | koma pai | ||
| 2nd | ko pai | komi pai | |
| 3rd | i pai | ra pai | |
Adjectives can be a singlemorpheme, acompound (e.g.takuni epevuluvulura'a "hairy man", fromepe "body" andvulu "hair") or prefixed withma- (e.g.malum "soft"). A noun or verb may be used as an adjective without change to its form (e.g.uro ai "water pot" fromai "water"). Adjectives follow their noun (e.g.tahuni vure 'a "good man", literally "man good").[8]: 375
Comparatives are formed using statements (e.g.tu'u vavono mo vitinana 'inia tu'u nake "other things greater than these", literally "thing other is great by it thing this"). The wordnasa "only" denotes a superlative (e.g.inau volim mo vitinana nasa "thy reward great exceedingly").[8]: 375
The verbsmasa'a "to go up",masivo "to go down",mai "to come",vano "to go",rovo'i "to flee", when used with other verbs, becomeadverbs meaning "up, down, hither, hence, away".Masa'a andmasivo lose their prefixma- (e.g.tia sa'a "to lift up",reresa'a "to look up",kom tia nom uro sivo "let down your pitcher").[8]: 379
Interrogative adverbs includena nisa? "when? (past)",nisa? "when? (future)",matai sava? "why?" (literally "cause of what?") (e.g.na nisa ko te mai kiae? "when did you come here?",komim ronoa matai sava? "why do you hear him?").[8]: 379
Other adverbs includeereri'i "now",na 'aireni "today",na poni alo "yesterday",na malana "tomorrow",na mataravi nake "tonight",na pon "last night",na uluirani "in the morning",na mataravi "in the evening",mo poriri'i "when it was dark",na poni naki "at that time, then",vila "quickly",na nosa "at first",na muri "before",va 'ese "immediately",na poni povi "at all times, always",kiae "here",ae "there",kikue "yonder",ravi "near" (with a suffixed pronoun, e.g.Jekob te vano ravini Aisak "Jacob went near Isaac"),zaravono "afar",se'ena "thus, so, as" (e.g.na pai se'emim "I shall be like you",se'e literally "like",),matana tu'u nake "therefore" (literally "because of thing that", e.g.matana tu'u nake nam tapara nasa "therefore I rejoice greatly",nasa "very, exceedingly".[8]: 379–80
Thelocative preposition isna (e.g.na sala "on the road",na ima "in the house"). It is also used referring to motion to or from a place, except with proper nouns (e.g.ra pai tara'i na zara nake "they go away from (at) this place", butte tara'i Ijipt "he came (from) Egypt").Na can also be used as aninstrumental (e.g.te jina rorona na sari "he pierced his side with a spear").[8]: 380
'ini means "about, concerning" and is used with the object pronouns (e.g.na te ronoa lulusi 'iniko "I have heard it said about thee").'Ini becomes instrumental at the end of averbal phrase (e.g.varea nake nam tovoko 'inia "I give thee this field", literally "field this I give thee with it").Isi means "to, with, from a person" (e.g.te mai isina "it came to him").[8]: 380–81
Many prepositions come from nouns; in these cases they are used with the possessive suffixes and the locativena. Some examples are'ere "before" (e.g.na 'ereku "before me",'ere literally "face"),'e'e "beside",valibu "the middle",vava "under",koko "under",lolo "inside",valu "outside", andzeni "stead" (e.g.zenin Ebel "instead of Abel"). Other prepositions are verbal; some examples areta'u "after" (e.g.ra pai ta'uia "they shall come after him",ta'u literally "to follow") andkalili "round about".Ta'u may also be equivalent to the English "with" (e.g.te kei tapatapai ta'ura to'ana "he did not send him with his brothers").[8]: 381–82
The wordmata with suffixes (e.gmataku) means "because". The verbmai "to come" means "until". The wordkuain at the beginning of a sentence indicates doubt or hesitation. Akei lacks copulative, disjunctive, conditional orillativeconjunctions.[8]: 382
Akei uses aquinarynumeral system, with a distinct word for ten. The numbers are treated as verbs and prefixed with the particlemo, and, for the numbers six to nine, a second particle'a is added. The particleravu is also used for some numbers.[8]: 382 When acardinal numeral refers to a person, it is preceded bypen orpeni (e.g.natuna peni sanavulu komana mo'ese "his twelve sons").[8]: 384
| Akei | English |
|---|---|
| mo 'ese | one |
| mo rua | two |
| mo tolu | three |
| mo vati | four |
| mo lima | five |
| mo 'a'ese | six |
| mo ravu 'arua | seven |
| mo ravu 'atolu | eight |
| mo ravu 'a vati | nine |
| mo sanavulu | ten |
| mo sanavulu komana mo 'ese | eleven |
| mo sanavulu komana mo rua | twelve |
| mo navulurua | twenty |
| mo navulutolu | thirty |
| napsanavulu | hundred |
| mo napsanavulu mo va'arua | two hundred |
| mo napsanavulu mo va'asanavulu | thousand |
Instead ofsanavulu,navulu with a number affixed refers to twenty, thirty and so on (e.g.mo navulurua "twenty",mo navulutolu "thirty"). The multiplicativeva'a is used for the hundreds above the first (e.g.mo napsanavulu mo va'arua "two hundred",mo napsanavula mo va'avati "four hundred"). Thousands above the first also use a multiplicative (e.g.mo vanavunavu va'a lima "five thousand").[8]: 382
Turumuri means "first", whereas otherordinals are formed by the suffix-na (e.g.mo ruana "second"). In compounds, this suffix is added to the other components as well as to the noun (e.g.na taunina mo sanavuluna koma toluna "in the thirteenth year"). Before a noun,-na changes to-i and is accompanied by the particle'a (e.g.'a'esai natuna "sixth son").[8]: 383–4
Multiplicatives are formed by prefixingva'a-, except for the number one which usesva'- (e.g.va'ese "once",va'arua "twice",va'atolu "thrice",va'asanavulu "ten times"). Distributives are formed by reduplication (e.g.rua-rua "by twos").[8]: 384
The list below is a selected sample of words in Akei.[9][8]: 380
| Akei | English |
|---|---|
| Maji | fish |
| viriu | dog |
| utu | louse |
| laiau | tree |
| rauna | leaf |
| uriurina | skin |
| kaena | blood |
| suina | bone |
| kalalana | ear |
| mata | eye |
| lansuna | nose |
| akona | tooth |
| memena | tongue |
| pauna | knee |
| limana | hand |
| susuna | breast |
| mapena | liver |
| kocko | drink |
| talesia | see |
| ronoa | hear |
| mate | die |
| mae | come |
| mata alo | sun |
| majoe | star |
| pei | water |
| sule | stone |
| apu | fire |
| sala | path |
| patvuti | mountain |
| poni | night |
| avuni | new |
| ijamu | name |
| io | yes |
| akei | no |
Genesis 1.1-5 in English:[11]
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