Loading AI tools
Avava (Navava), also known as Katbol, Tembimbe-Katbol, or Bangsa’ is an Oceanic language of central Malekula, Vanuatu. It has nasalized fricatives and a bilabial trill.
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (June 2019) |
The four Avava-speaking villages speak or spoke, distinct dialects. Timbembe and Nevaar (Nɨviar) are still spoken. The Nivat (Nevat) and Bangasa (Umbrul) dialects are extinct. Bangasa/Bangsa', or more correctly Bangasak, was known as Numbuwul by its neighbors to the north; the endonym is Umbbuul [(u)ᵐʙuːl].
When the final syllable is light (CV), stress tends to be penultimate. When the final syllable is heavy (CVC, CVV, CVː), stress tends to be final.
Vowels
There are a total of eight vowel quantities in Avava: five short vowels and three long vowels. The five short Avava vowel qualities, /a e i o u/. /u/ is pronounced [ʉ] between a bilabial trill and an alveolar and, in final syllables, between a bilabial trill and /k/. About 2% of vowels are long. Long /eː/ is not attested, and long /oː/ is marginal. This is a pattern shared with Naman. At the end of a prosodic unit – in citation form, utterance-finally and when speaking slowly – word-final vowels other than /i/ tend to be replaced with "diphthongs" /Vi/. Word-initial vowels present in citation form tend to be lost when the word is linked to others, e.g. when the subject of a verb or possessed by a pronoun. This is the reason for the alternative form of the name of the language, vava.
A notable variant of the same phoneme shown with short vowels is when /u/ undergoes centralisation to [ʉ] in two different settings: in closed syllables between a bilabial trill and a following alveolar consonant, and in non-final syllables between a bilabial trill and alveolar consonant[clarification needed].
The three long vowels in Avava are /i:/, /u:/, and /a:/. Though there is evidence for the long /o:/, the vowel is only shown in three words throughout the entire lexicon of Avava.
Consonants
/s/ is post-alveolar. The voiceless stops are lightly aspirated. Otherwise, the consonants have the values their IPA transcriptions suggest.
/h/ does not occur at the beginning of a word. Labialized consonants are only found before /a e i/. There are some grammatical contexts and perhaps random situations when word-initial /k/ and /t/ are replaced by /ɡ/ and /d/. /pʷ/ is known from only a single word. Word-final /k/ is lost when the word is suffixed or followed by a modifier.
The prenasalized trills may be described as /mʙ, nr/, with the quite audible stop analyzed as excrescent, or as /bʙ, dr/, with the representation common in the area of prenasalized voiced stops as simply voiced stops. /ᵐbʙ/ is quite common in the language. It is generally rounded, [mbʙʷ], and word-finally the trilled release is at least partially devoiced, [mbʙ̥ʷ]. It may occur in word-final position after any vowel, but in CV position the following vowel is overwhelmingly /u/, though other vowels do occur, e.g. /suᵐbʙʷat/ 'coral'. It is generated grammatically when the 3sg-irrealis /b⁽ʷ⁾V/ is prefixed to a verb root beginning with /v, vʷ, v/, as in /bʷe-vʷel/ > /ᵐbʙʷel/ 's/he will come'.
Consonant allophones
Prenasalization is maintained after oral consonants, e.g. [ⁿdirⁿdir] 'earthquake', but is lost after a nasal, e.g. [luᵑɡamɡem] 'bamboo roof pins'. Prenasalized stops are occasionally devoiced word finally, e.g. [aⁿdʳaᵐb ~ aⁿdʳaᵐp] 'mud'.
/p/ occasionally has a trilled release when followed by /ur/: [pʰura ~ pʙ̥ura] 'spit'.
Nasals and liquids are syllabified in word-final CN, CL clusters and in medial CNC, CLC clusters: [ᵑɡitn̩tl̩] 'we (paucal inclusive)', [kopm̩tl̩] 'we (paucal exclusive)'.
/k/ is [k] word-initially, word-finally, before another consonant, and between front vowels; it is also the more common allophone between front and non-front vowels. It is [ɣ] between identical non-front vowels, and this is the more common allophone between non-identical non-front vowels.
/v, vʷ/ are generally [f, fʷ] word-initially.
Pronouns
The use of pronouns in Avava refer to what person the subject is in, the number of speakers, and the inclusivity, as shown in the table below
| singular | dual | paucal | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | exclusive | na | kopmdru | kopmtl | kopm |
| inclusive | gitdru | gitntl | git | ||
| 2nd person | ong | kamdru | kamtl | kam | |
| 3rd person | e | ierdru | iertl | ier | |
The paucal form of a word vs the plural form of the word is generally characterized by the number of subjects. The paucal pronouns include a small number, greater than two but less than ten. The paucal and plural forms also differ systemically as they differ in the suffixes -dur and -tl.
Nominalization
The Avava language utilizes the process of nominalization to create words from pre-existing ones. Verbal nominalization of words involve the addition of the suffix -ian.
ex:
ran
'dawn'
→
→
ran-ian
'dawning'
ex:
sasar
'teach'
→
→
sasar-ian
'teaching'
In some cases, the nominalized form of a reduplicated verb contains the unreduplicated root.
ex:
ngarnar
'breathe'
→
→
ngar-ian
'breath'
Another pattern of nominalization involves the addition of the suffix -ian as well as the addition of the first vowel of the word to the beginning of the word to create a noun from a verb.
ex:
kan
'eat'
→
→
a-kan-iar
'food'
ex:
per
'work'
→
→
e-per-ian
'job'
Place of origin
The prefix, ma-, when added to the name of a place, refers to a person that is from that specified area.
ex:
Viar
'Viar'
→
→
Ma-Viar
'people of Viar'
Possession
Nouns in Avava can be divided into two categories: directly possessed nouns and indirectly possessed nouns.
Directly possessed nouns
The following generalizations can be given on the subject of these types of nouns:
- most external body parts
- many internal organs, though some do not fall under this category
- some bodily products (saliva), though many do not fall under this category
- many body parts and products associated with these animals
- some kin terms (son/daughter)
- many parts of trees and plants
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
