Academic literature on the topic 'Vanuatu, description and travel'

This is a description of the phonology, morphology and syntax of Namakir, a language of the Oceanic subgroup of Austronesian, which is spoken on some six small islands of the Shepherd Islands, central Vanuatu. My perspective on Namakir is that of a person trained in linguistics, who carried out linguistic fieldwork for the purpose of grammatical description. In addition I contributed to ethnographic work as well as compiling data for a dictionary, part of which is appended to the present description. Namakir is a conservative language which retains many features that make Oceanic languages unique. Thus it is a valuable witness for comparative and reconstructive work in Oceanic linguistics. The physical, social and historical setting of Namakir is detailed in the introductory chapter. A section on theoretical issues concerning the descriptive enterprise is included. The chapter on phonology outlines the Namakir consonant and vowel inventories, with due emphasis on the glottal stop which, as a reflex of the Proto-Oceanic glottal stop, is a unique occurence in Vanuatu languages Sections on phonotactics, stress and phonological processes add to the basic description of segments. In the chapter on morphophonemics the dynamics of derivational processes are explored. A major section deals with consonant alternation, a phenomenon widely discussed in Oceanic Linguistics. The major form classes are detailed in the next chapter. Nominals, determiners, adjectives, verbs and adverbs are established as word categories and paradigm tables are provided for comprehensive overviews. The last chapter on Namakir syntax provides a systematic description of noun phrase and verb phrase. Possessive constructions receive special attention as they exhibit a number of unusual features. The verb phrase is discussed within the framework of the Oceanic definition of verb and periphery which include subject markers as well as pronominal objects. The Namakir mood and aspectual system is presented in detail. A major section deals with serial verb constructions in relation to current descriptive theories. The concluding sections discuss selected items regarding complex sentence structures. Negation and question sentences, existential and comparative sentence types are included. Coordination together with direct and indirect speech is noted to use forms of a quotative verb, being especially significant in the organisation of narrative sequences. Relative and temporal clauses share a single overt marker. A morpheme-to-morpheme glossed narrative is appended to demonstrate narrative style. A substantial Namakir-English-Bislama wordlist is added as a repository of data collected during fieldwork.

Cette thèse consiste en une description du sun̄wadia, langue mélanésienne parlée dans l'île de Maewo, située dans la partie centre-nord du Vanuatu (Pacifique Sud). La description est basée sur deux séjours de terrain de trois mois chacun. La langue présente, à des stades plus ou moins poussés, les traits caractéristiques de la famille austronésienne: l'existence d'un article personnel, une tendance à l'omniprédicativité, la modification de la structure argumentale du verbe par quelques morphèmes hérités du système à applicatif des langues situées plus haut dans la généalogie de la famille. Elle présente également le système de marques personnelles très reconnaissable des langues austronésiennes.Il s'agit d'une langue relativement conservatrice sur le plan phonologique, mais dont la morphologie dérivationnelle apparaît assez érodée (il n'existe ni conjugaison verbale, ni déclinaison casuelle, ni marquage morphologique du nombre sur les noms). La thèse s'organise en six parties. La première étudie la phonologie, la morphophonologie, et la structure morphologique du mot sun̄wadia, ainsi que les phénomènes de sandhi. La seconde partie s'intéresse aux parties du discours et pose quelques bases syntaxiques sur lesquelles s'appuiera le reste de l'étude. Les quatre parties suivantes étudient successivement le fonctionnement du syntagme substantival, celui de la prédication (structurée par le recours fondamental aux constructions à verbes sériels), le système de repérage et de référence temporels, spatiaux et circonstanciels, et enfin l'organisation de l'énoncé. La thèse est accompagnée d'un extrait de corpus glosé d'une douzaine de pages<br>This PHD thesis consists in a description of Sun̄wadia, a melanesian language spoken in Maewo Island, Central-NorthVanuatu (South-Pacific). It is based on two fieldworks of three months each.This language exhibits, in a variable extension, some of the typical characters of the austronesian languages: it has a personal article, tends towards omnipredicativity; the argumental structure of the verb undergoes modifications via a few morphemes related to the applicative systems of languages that are situated higher in the genetic tree of the family. The language also has the typical pronominal system of austronesian languages.Sun̄wadia is a relatively conservative language, on the phonemic level at least, but its morphology appears to be quite eroded (there aren't any verbal conjugation, nor any nominal declension, nor any morphological marking of number on the noun). This thesis is organised in six parts. The first one studies phonemics, morphophonemics, and the morphological structure of the Sun̄wadia word, as well as sandhi phenomenon. The second part concerns the parts of speech and lays down some syntaxic grounds that will be useful to the rest of the study. The last four parts review the substantival syntagm, the functioning of predication (which is mostly built around serial verbs constructions); the temporal, spatial, and circumstantial reference, and, lastly, the global organisation of the clause. The thesis comes with a short excerpt of our oral corpus (a dozen of pages)