Simplifying a system: a story of language change in Lelepa, Vanuatu
Date
Authors
Lacrampe, Sebastien
Australian Linguistic Society
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Australian Linguistic Society
Abstract
This paper focuses on the problem posed by the vowel surfacing during two encliticization processes in Lelepa (Oceanic, Vanuatu), with the nominalizer =na ‘NMLZ’ and the pronominal =s ‘OBL’. For instance, the verbs faam ‘eat’, mat ‘dead’ and fan ‘go:IRR’ are derived as nafaamina ‘food’, nmatena ‘funeral’
and nafanona ‘departure’. While the base forms have the same vowel /a/, those vowels surfacing before =na seem unpredictable. This paper discusses several possible explanations for these vowels and shows that both historical and phonological approaches are needed to account for them. Still, there is
variation in the nominalisation of certain native verbs such as raik ‘fish with hand spear’, which is derived as either naraikana or naraikina ‘hand spear fishing’. It is shown that while naraikana is accounted for in diachrony, naraikina results from a reanalysis process indicated by intergenerational variation.
Description
Keywords
Lelepa, Oceanic, borrowings, vowels, language change
Citation
Lacrampe, S. (2012). Simplifying a system: A story of language change in Lelepa, Vanuatu. In M. Ponsonnet, L. Dao & M. Bowler (Eds), Proceedings of the 42nd Australian Linguistic Society Conference – 2011, Australian National University, Canberra ACT, 2-4 December 2011 (pp. 224-245).
Source
Proceedings of the 42nd Australian Linguistic Society Conference 2011
Type
Conference paper
Book Title
Australian Linguistic Society Conference
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
DOI
Restricted until
Downloads
File
Description