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Akei language

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Akei
Tasiriki
Native toVanuatu
RegionEspiritu Santo
Native speakers
(650 cited 1981)
Language codes
ISO 639-3tsr
Glottologakei1237
Akei is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Akei, or Tasiriki, is an Oceanic language[1][2] or dialect[3]: 51–52  spoken in southwestern coastal Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, centred in the village of Tasiriki as well as to its north and east.[3]: 52  In 1981, it had around 650 speakers.[4] The alternate name Tasiriki literally means "small water" (tasi "water", riki "small").

Classification

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Akei is generally described as a language[1][2], but also as a dialect of the proposed, lexicostastically defined Southwest Santo language along with Araki, Tangoa, and Wailapa.[5] [3]: 51–52 

Phonology

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Akei's vowels are a, e, i, o, and u. Its consonants are r, l, k, ', j, t, n, p, mp, b, mb, m, v, s and z.[6]: 371  However, the precise phonemes these letters represent are uncertain.

Grammar

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Nouns

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Akei has no articles.[6]: 371 

Akei mostly lacks grammatical gender, although for some relationship nouns the feminine is marked by the prefix ve- (e.g. natuna "his son", venatuna "his daughter"). In other cases, natural sex is indicated by separate words or by takuni ("male") or pita ("female") following the noun (e.g. tavasao takuni "man-servant", tavasao pita "maid-servant").[6]: 372 

Plurals are unmarked and are shown only by juxtaposition of an adjective or pronoun (e.g. mazi alulusi "many animals").[6]: 371–372  In enumeration the preceding word ravai 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").

Espiritu Santo, where Akei is spoken on the southwestern coast

Agent nouns are formed by the word takuni "man" followed by a word indicating the action (e.g. takuni veseni "teacher", from lulusi veseni "to teach).[6]: 371 

Denonyms are formed by the word marai preceding the place name (e.g. marai Judia "Jew"), in both singular and plural. The word pita ("female") precedes in the feminine (e.g. pita marai Sameria "woman of Samaria"). The word mera can also be used (e.g. mera 'Ibru "Hebrews").

In many cases, the noun is omitted and implied by context.[6]: 371 

Possession

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A noun in the genitive case follows the head noun (e.g. vivi ai "river's bank", literally "bank river").[6]: 374 

In regards to possession, 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 a preposition.[6]: 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 nouns and its genitive are the particles 'a for food and drink, pula for property generally and no for general possession. No is suffixed -ni and is placed inbetween the head and its genitive (e.g. tetei noni takuni "badness of man").[6]: 374 

The pronoun is suffixed to these particles, and precedes the noun (e.g. noku tano "my land").[6]: 374  See the following table with no as the example:

Possessive suffixes Singular Plural
1st noku Inclusive noka
Exclusive nomam
2nd nomu, nom nomim
3rd nona nora

The possessive pronouns pulaku, pulam, and pulana 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".[6]: 375 

The preposition isi "with" is used with a suffixed pronoun as a possessive (e.g. pita isim "thy wife", literally "woman with thee").

Pronouns

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The following table contains Akei's personal pronouns.[6]: 372 

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)

Short forms used as subject Singular Plural
1st na Inclusive ka
Exclusive koma
2nd ko komi
3rd i ra
Short forms used as object Singular Plural
1st au Inclusive ka
Exclusive n/a
2nd ko n/a
3rd a ra

In the objective second person plural and first person exclusive plural, the full pronoun is used (e.g. ka'ika ask us, but ka'i komim ask you).[6]: 372 

Akei has a clusivity 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.[6]: 372 

There is a single demonstrative pronoun, nake, meaning "this" or "that". This may be preceded by the third person pronouns inia and inira to mark singularity or plurality: inia nake "this", "that"; inira nake "these", "those". The interrogative pronouns are isei "who", sava "what" and savai "what is". Indefinite pronouns include te "any", tese'ese "anyone", povi "all, every", and inira povi "everyone".[6]: 373 

The reflexive pronoun is 'ase followed by a suffixed possessive pronoun (e.g. ra te 'asera varaira "they told one another").[6]: 373  Tambu is also used (e.g. matai savai komi tambumim rereni komim "why do you look at one another?").[6]: 377  See the following table:

Reflexive pronouns Singular Plural
1st 'aseku Inclusive n/a
Exclusive 'asemam
2nd 'asem 'asemim
3rd 'asena 'asera

Adjectives

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Adjectives can be a single morpheme, a compound (e.g. takuni epevuluvulura'a "hairy man", from epe "body" and vulu "hair") or prefixed with ma- (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" from ai "water). Adjectives follow their noun (e.g. takuni vure 'a "good man", literally "man good").[6]: 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 word nasa "only" denotes a superlative (e.g. inau volim mo vitinana nasa "thy reward great exceedingly").[6]: 375 

Verbs

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A noun may be used 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). Verbs may be transitive or intransitive; in the former case, the object pronoun is suffixed. Some verbs are prefixed with ma- (e.g. mauri "to live").[6]: 376 

Causativity is indicated with the verb vei "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").[6]: 376 

Passivity is indicated with an active, third person plural pronoun (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").

Verbs are conjugated for their subject with a prefix.

Subject prefixes Singular Plural
1st na Inclusive ka
Exclusive koma
2nd ko komi
3rd i ra

Conjunctions

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The word mata with suffixes (e.g mataku) means "because", whereas the verb mai "to come" means "until". The word kuain at the beginning of a sentence indicates doubt or hesitation. Akei lacks copulative, disjunctive, conditional or illative conjunctions.[6]: 382 

Numbers

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Akei uses a quinary numeral system, with a distinct word for ten.

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

Selected vocabulary

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The list below is a selected sample of words in Akei.[7]

Akei English
maci fish
biriu dog
utu louse
laiau tree
rauna leaf
benubenu skin
kae blood
sui bone
kalina ear
mata eye
lanisu nose
ako tooth
meme tongue
pau knee
lima hand
susu breast
mape liver
unu drink
talesia see
ronoa hear
mate die
mae come
mata alo sun
macoe star
wae water
sule stone
apu fire
sala path
patibuti mountain
poni night
abuni new
isa name

Sample text

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Genesis 1.1-5 in Akei:[8]

  1. Na muri God te veia tuka, tano.
  2. Tano tele'e ozo tanopilo; pon tumbumalate te le'e na bua'a: talumen God te Vovi na ului ai.
  3. Talena God, I pai mamara: te mamara.
  4. God te lesia mamara, inia mo vure'a: God te sinkalai mamara, koko'a.
  5. Mamara God te tia 'esana rani, koko'a te tia 'esana poni. Mataravi uluirani, pon mo 'ese.
  6. Talena God, Zara vitinana i pai le'e na valibu'ira ai, i pai sinkalara ai.
  7. God te veia zara vitinana, te sinkalara ai ram le'e atano 'inia zara vitinana, ram le 'e na uluna: inia se'ena.
  8. Zara vitinana God te tia 'esana tuka. Mataravi uluirani, pon ruana.

Genesis 1.1-5 in English:[9]

  1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
  2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
  3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
  4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
  5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
  6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
  7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
  8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Akei | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Retrieved 2024-12-23.
  2. ^ a b "Glottolog 5.1 - Akei". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
  3. ^ a b c Lynch, John; Crowley, Terry (2001). Languages of Vanuatu: A New Survey and Bibliography. p. 52. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Akei | Ethnologue". 2016-10-26. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  5. ^ Lynch, John (2019). "The Bilabial-to-Linguolabial Shift in Southern Oceanic: A Subgrouping Diagnostic?". Oceanic Linguistics. 58 (2): 292–323. doi:10.1353/ol.2019.0010. ISSN 0029-8115. JSTOR 26905160.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Ray, Sidney Herbert (1978). A comparative study of the Melanesian Island languages. Internet Archive. New York : AMS Press. ISBN 978-0-404-14166-0.
  7. ^ "The ASJP Database - Wordlist Akei". asjp.clld.org. Retrieved 2024-12-17.
  8. ^ Jeneses: Jona. The Long Now Foundation. London: British and Foreign Society. 1912.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ "Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 1 - King James Version". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2024-12-17.