Raga language
Encyclopedia
Raga is the language of northern Pentecost island
in Vanuatu
. Raga belongs to the East Vanuatu languages
, a branch of the Austronesian languages
family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages in which it is spoken, such as Bwatvenua (Qatvenua), Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong.
With an estimated 6,500 native speakers (in the year 2000), Raga is the second most widely-spoken of Pentecost's five native languages (after Apma
), and the seventh largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. There are significant communities of Raga speakers on Maewo
island and in Port Vila
and Luganville
as a result of emigration from Pentecost.
The Raga spoken by most people today is heavily mixed with Bislama, Vanuatu's national language. The Turaga indigenous movement
, based at Lavatmanggemu in north-eastern Pentecost, have attempted to purge the language of foreign influences by coining or rediscovering native words for introduced concepts such as "torch battery" (vat bongbongi, literally "night stones") and "hour" (ngguha, literally "movement"). Members of the Turaga movement write in Raga language using Avoiuli
, a unique writing system inspired by local sand drawings.
Raga is generally considered an easy language to speak and learn, and is known as a second language by a number of speakers of other Vanuatu languages.
Modern Raga is relatively homogeneous, with no significant dialectal variation. A distinctive southern dialect of Raga, Nggasai, is now extinct; its last native speaker died in 1999.
Several grammatical sketches, vocabulary lists and short papers on Raga have been published, beginning with the work of R H Codrington
and von der Gabelentz
in the late 19th century, and a number of religious texts have been translated into the language. However, no thorough description of Raga has ever been published.
Prenasalization of consonants
, such that b becomes mb and d becomes nd, occurs when the preceding consonant is a nasal one (m, n or ng). Thus mabu "rest", for example, is pronounced mambu.
Raga has the five basic vowels a, e, i, o and u. Vowels are not generally distinguished for length.
Word roots in Raga nearly always end with a vowel. However, word-final vowels are often dropped within phrases, so that, for example, tanga "basket" and maita "white" combine to make tang maita "white basket".
Stress occurs on the penultimate syllable of a word.
and number
. They are not distinguished by gender
. The basic pronouns are as follows:
ity is indicated by placing ira before a noun:
Nouns may be suffixed to indicate whom an item belongs to. For example:
Possession may also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:
Historically there was also a classifier wa- for sugarcane to be chewed (wan toi, "his sugarcane"); this has fallen out of use among younger speakers.
The possessive suffixes are as follows:
A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -ana:
Modifiers generally come after a noun:
, aspect
and mood
of the action.
The subject pronouns are as follows:
There is no 3rd person singular subject pronoun ("he/she/it").
Raga has five sets of tense/aspect/mood markers:
The full forms of these markers are used in the 3rd person singular, when there is usually no subject pronoun:
nu lolia = he did it
vi lolia = he will do it
Elswhere, short forms of these markers are suffixed to the subject pronoun:
Dual (two-person) forms consist of the plural forms plus a particle ru "two", while trial (three-person) forms incorporate a particle dol or tol "three", as illustrated:
There is a pattern of verb-consonant mutation
whereby v at the start of a verb changes to b, vw to bw, g to ngg, and t to d. This mutation occurs in imperfective aspect, and in the presence of the additive marker mom:
Negative sentences are indicated with the two-part marker hav...te(he) "not", which encloses the verb and anything suffixed to it:
The passive voice
can be formed by attaching the suffix -ana to the verb:
The direct object immediately follows the verb. Some object pronouns take the form of suffixes attached to the verb:
In some cases a particle -ni- interposes between the verb and the object pronoun:
Pentecost Island
Pentecost Island is one of the 83 islands that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. It lies due north of capital Port Vila. Pentecost Island is known as Pentecôte in French and Pentikos in Bislama. The island was known in its native languages by names such as Vanu Aroaroa, although these...
in Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
. Raga belongs to the East Vanuatu languages
East Vanuatu languages
-Languages:A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database included seven East Vanuatu languages. Three, the Paama–Ambrym languages, were found to form a separate family...
, a branch of the Austronesian languages
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages in which it is spoken, such as Bwatvenua (Qatvenua), Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong.
With an estimated 6,500 native speakers (in the year 2000), Raga is the second most widely-spoken of Pentecost's five native languages (after Apma
Apma language
Apma is the language of central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Apma belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
), and the seventh largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. There are significant communities of Raga speakers on Maewo
Maewo
Maewo is an island in Vanuatu in Penama province, 105 km to the east of Espiritu Santo. It is 47 km long, and 6 km wide, with an area of 269 km². Its highest point is 795 m above sea level...
island and in Port Vila
Port Vila
Port Vila is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, the city population at last was 29,356, an increase of 55% on the previous census result . This suggests a 2007 population of about 40,000 or around 65% of the province's...
and Luganville
Luganville
Luganville, called "Santo" by people from Vanuatu's northern islands who use Luganville as their big city, and called "Kanal" by rural residents of the large island of Espiritu Santo, is the second largest city in Vanuatu. The population is .Luganville is one of Vanuatu's busiest ports,...
as a result of emigration from Pentecost.
The Raga spoken by most people today is heavily mixed with Bislama, Vanuatu's national language. The Turaga indigenous movement
Turaga nation
The Turaga nation is an indigenous movement based in northern Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. Its leaders include Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua and Motarilavoa Hilda Lini...
, based at Lavatmanggemu in north-eastern Pentecost, have attempted to purge the language of foreign influences by coining or rediscovering native words for introduced concepts such as "torch battery" (vat bongbongi, literally "night stones") and "hour" (ngguha, literally "movement"). Members of the Turaga movement write in Raga language using Avoiuli
Avoiuli
Avoiuli is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. It was devised by Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua over a 14-year period, based on designs found in traditional sand drawings, and intended as a native alternative to the Western alphabet...
, a unique writing system inspired by local sand drawings.
Raga is generally considered an easy language to speak and learn, and is known as a second language by a number of speakers of other Vanuatu languages.
Modern Raga is relatively homogeneous, with no significant dialectal variation. A distinctive southern dialect of Raga, Nggasai, is now extinct; its last native speaker died in 1999.
Several grammatical sketches, vocabulary lists and short papers on Raga have been published, beginning with the work of R H Codrington
Robert Henry Codrington
Robert Henry Codrington was an Anglican priest and anthropologist who made the first study of Melanesian society and culture...
and von der Gabelentz
Hans Conon von der Gabelentz
Hans Conon von der Gabelentz was a German linguistic researcher and authority on the Manchu language. He was prime minister of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg from 1848 to 1849.- Life :...
in the late 19th century, and a number of religious texts have been translated into the language. However, no thorough description of Raga has ever been published.
Phonology
The consonants of Raga are b, d, g , h, k, l, m, n, ng (like in English "singer"), ngg (prenazalised g), r, s, t, v (commonly pronounced like English f), w, and labiovelar bw, mw and vw. In printed media, ng and ngg are generally represented by n and g with italics or macrons.Prenasalization of consonants
Prenasalized consonant
Prenasalized consonants are phonetic sequences of a nasal and an obstruent that behave phonologically like single consonants. The reasons for considering these sequences to be single consonants is in their behavior, not in their actual composition...
, such that b becomes mb and d becomes nd, occurs when the preceding consonant is a nasal one (m, n or ng). Thus mabu "rest", for example, is pronounced mambu.
Raga has the five basic vowels a, e, i, o and u. Vowels are not generally distinguished for length.
Word roots in Raga nearly always end with a vowel. However, word-final vowels are often dropped within phrases, so that, for example, tanga "basket" and maita "white" combine to make tang maita "white basket".
Stress occurs on the penultimate syllable of a word.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns are distinguished by personGrammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
and number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
. They are not distinguished by gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
. The basic pronouns are as follows:
| Person | Raga | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | inau | "me" |
| 2nd person singular | ginggo | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | kea | "him / her / it" |
| 1st person dual (inclusive) | gidaru | "us" (you and me, two of us) |
| 1st person dual (exclusive) | kamaru | "us" (me and another) |
| 2nd person dual | kimiru | "you (two)" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | gida | "us" (you and me) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | kamai | "us" (me and others) |
| 2nd person plural | kimiu | "you" (plural) |
| 3rd person dual/plural | kera | "them" |
Nouns
PluralPlural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
ity is indicated by placing ira before a noun:
- manu = [the] bird
- ira manu = [the] birds
Nouns may be suffixed to indicate whom an item belongs to. For example:
- iha = name
- ihaku = my name
- ihamwa = your name
- ihana = his/her name
- ihan ratahigi = the chief's name
Possession may also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:
- no- for general possessions (nonggu tanga, "my basket")
- bila- for things that are cared for, such as crops and livestock (bilada boe, "our pig")
- ga- for things to be eaten (gam bweta, "your taro")
- ma- for things to be drunk (mara wai, "their water")
Historically there was also a classifier wa- for sugarcane to be chewed (wan toi, "his sugarcane"); this has fallen out of use among younger speakers.
The possessive suffixes are as follows:
| Person | Raga | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | -ku or -nggu | "of mine" |
| 2nd person singular | -mwa | "of yours" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | -na | "of his/hers/its" |
| 1st person dual (inclusive) | -daru | "of ours" (yours and mine, two of us) |
| 1st person dual (exclusive) | -maru | "of ours" (mine and another's) |
| 2nd person dual | -miru | "of yours" (two of you) |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | -da | "of ours" (yours and mine) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | -mai | "of ours" (mine and others') |
| 2nd person plural | -miu | "of yours" (plural) |
| 3rd person dual/plural | -ra | "of theirs" |
| Generic | -i | - |
A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -ana:
Modifiers generally come after a noun:
Verbs
Verbs in Raga are usually preceded by a subject pronoun and by a marker indicating the tenseGrammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
, aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
and mood
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
of the action.
The subject pronouns are as follows:
| Person | Raga | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | na- | "I" |
| 2nd person singular | go- | "you" (singular) |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | ta- | "we" (you and I) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | ga- | "we" (others and I) |
| 2nd person plural | gi- | "you" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | ra- | "they" |
There is no 3rd person singular subject pronoun ("he/she/it").
Raga has five sets of tense/aspect/mood markers:
| Tense / Aspect / Mood | Used for | Marker (full form) | Marker (short form) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective | Actions in the present tense Temporary or changing states |
mwa | -m |
| Perfective | Actions in the past tense Fixed states |
nu | -n |
| Potential | Things that may happen in the future | vi | -v or -i |
| Prospective | Things that are about to happen | men | -men |
| Hypothetical | Things that have not happened and probably won't | si | -s |
The full forms of these markers are used in the 3rd person singular, when there is usually no subject pronoun:
- mwa lolia
Elswhere, short forms of these markers are suffixed to the subject pronoun:
- nam lolia = I do it
- nan lolia = I did it
- nav lolia = I will do it
Dual (two-person) forms consist of the plural forms plus a particle ru "two", while trial (three-person) forms incorporate a particle dol or tol "three", as illustrated:
- ram lolia = they do it
- ramuru lolia = the two of them do it
- ramdol lolia = the three of them do it
- ran lolia = they did it
- ranru lolia = the two of them did it
- ratol lolia = the three of them did it
- rav lolia = they will do it
- raruvi lolia = the two of them will do it
- ratolvi lolia = the three of them will do it
- ramen lolia = they are going to do it
- rarumen lolia = the two of them are going to do it
- ratolmen lolia = the three of them are going to do it
- ras lolia = they should do it
- rarus lolia = the two of them should do it
- ratolsi lolia = the three of them should do it
There is a pattern of verb-consonant mutation
Consonant mutation
Consonant mutation is when a consonant in a word changes according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment.Mutation phenomena occur in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of all modern Celtic languages...
whereby v at the start of a verb changes to b, vw to bw, g to ngg, and t to d. This mutation occurs in imperfective aspect, and in the presence of the additive marker mom:
- nan vano = I went
- nam bano = I am going
Negative sentences are indicated with the two-part marker hav...te(he) "not", which encloses the verb and anything suffixed to it:
- nan hav lolia tehe = I didn't do it
The passive voice
Voice (grammar)
In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments . When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice...
can be formed by attaching the suffix -ana to the verb:
The direct object immediately follows the verb. Some object pronouns take the form of suffixes attached to the verb:
| Person | Raga | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | -(a)u | "me" |
| 2nd person singular | -go | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular (or inanimate plural) | -a or -e | "him" / "her" / "it" (or "them") |
| 3rd person plural (animate) | -ra | "them" |
In some cases a particle -ni- interposes between the verb and the object pronoun:
- nam doronia = I like it
Sample phrases
| English | Raga |
|---|---|
| Where are you going? | Gom ban (hala) behe? |
| I'm going to... | Nam ban... |
| Where have you come from? | Gon mai (hala) behe? |
| I've come from... | Nan mai... |
| Where is it? | Mwa ndo (hala) behe? |
| It's here | Mwa ndo teti |
| Come here! | Mai teti! |
| Go away! | Van dagai! |
| What's your name? | Ihamwa be ihei? |
| My name is... | Ihaku be... |
| Where are you from? | Ginggo ata behe? / Ginggo nin behe? |
| I am from... | Inau ata... / Inau nin... |
| How much? / How many? | Gaiviha? |
| one | gaituvwa |
| two | gairua |
| three | gaitolu |
| four | gaivasi |
| five | gailima |
| Thank you | Tabeana |
| It's just fine | Nu tavuha ngano |