Maskelynes language

Maskelynes (/ˈmæskəlɪns/), or Kuliviu (Uliveo), is an Oceanic language spoken on the Maskelyne Islands off south Malekula, Vanuatu.

Maskelynes
Kuliviu, Uliveo
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Malekula
Native speakers	1,100 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu Central Vanuatu Malakula Malakula Coastal Maskelynes
Language codes
ISO 639-3	klv
Glottolog	mask1242
Maskelynes is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Coronal	Dorsal
		plain	labiovelarized
Nasal		m	mʷ	n	ŋ
Plosive	unvoiced	p	pʷ	t̪	k
	voiced	ᵐb	ᵐbʷ	ⁿd̪	ᵑg
Fricative		β	βʷ	s	x~ɣ~ʀ
Approximant			w	l	j
Rhotic				r~ɾ

• /ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑg/ are in free variation as unreleased [ᵐb̚, ⁿd̚, ᵑg̚] or unvoiced [p, t, k] word-finally or before a consonant^[2]
  • /ᵑg/ is also in free variation as nasal [ŋ] word-finally, especially among young speakers^[3]
• /ᵑg/ is realized as a voiceless [k] among some speakers, especially young^[3]
• /p, pʷ, t/ are unreleased [p̚, p̚, t̚] word-finally or before a consonant (though /p/ has never been recorded before a consonant)^[4]
• /mʷ, pʷ, ᵐbʷ, βʷ/ lose their labialization word-finally when not followed by a vowel and before /o, u/^[5]
  • /ᵐbʷ/ is in free variation as trilled [ᵐʙ] (tapped [ᵐⱱ̟] in Peskarus) before /u/ and sometimes before /ə/^[3]
• /βʷ/ is [β] before voiced consonants^[6]
• /β, βʷ/ are [ɸ] before voiceless consonants and word-finally^[6]
• /β/ is in free variation with [ɸ] for some speakers^[6]
• /w, j/ are vocalic [u, i] when in nucleus following /e, a, o/^[7]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u (u̥)
Mid	ɛ	ə	o
Open			ɑ

• /i/ is near-close [ɪ] between front consonants^[8]
• /ɛ/ is close-mid [e] word-finally^[8]
• /ə/ is [ɵ] after labiovelarized consonants or before /xu̥/^[8]
• /əj, əw/ are realised as single morphemes, [i, u]^[7]
• /u/ is realised as front [y] between front consonants, and near-close [ʊ] when proceeded or preceded by back consonants^[9]
• /o/ is front [ø] between front consonants^[9]

Voiceless vowel

A voiceless [u̥] occurs at the ends of words. It is uncertain if it is an allophone of /u/ or a separate phoneme^[10]

Phonotactics

Possible syllable structures in Maskelynes: (C/S)V(S)(C)^[11]

Orthography

Maskelynes alphabet

Letter	a	b	b̃	d	e	ǝ	g	h	i	k	l	m	m̃	n	ŋ	o	p	p̃	r	s	t	u	w	v	ṽ	w/u	y/i
IPA	ɑ	ᵐb	ᵐbʷ	ⁿd̪	ɛ	ə	ᵑɡ	x	i	k	l	m	mʷ	n	ŋ	o	p	pʷ	r	s	t̪	u	u̥	β	βʷ	w	j

Grammar

Verbs

The verbs of Maskelynes are agglutinative, mostly being modified by prefixes, though the stem of a verb can stand on its own. These prefixes encode for, in order of appearance in verb: 1. tense-aspect-modes; 2. subject, person and number; 3. various modes, including realis and irrealis; 4. two tense-modes; 5. reduplication. The object of a sentence is encoded by a suffix.^[12]

Examples of verbal agglutination:^[13]

sa-g-e-mun-i

PROH-2SG.SUBJ-IRR-drink-3SG.OBJ

sa-g-e-mun-i

PROH-2SG.SUBJ-IRR-drink-3SG.OBJ

Don't you drink it.

go-to-madha-mun-mun-i

2SG.SUBJ-REL-IMM.PST-ITER~drink-3SG.OBJ

go-to-madha-mun-mun-i

2SG.SUBJ-REL-IMM.PST-ITER~drink-3SG.OBJ

You who just now kept drinking it

Reduplication

Reduplication in Maskelynes has various usages, and can encode for e.g. plurality, habituality, iterative aspect, etc.^[14]