Sowa language
Encyclopedia
Sowa was the original language of south-central Pentecost island
in Vanuatu
. In recent times it has been totally displaced by Apma, a neighbouring language. Sowa is very closely related to Ske
, another south Pentecost language.
Sowa was originally spoken on both western and eastern sides of Pentecost. Melsisi River formed the language's north-western boundary, and its range extended southwards to a creek near the village of Levizendam.
Following the depopulation of Pentecost that occurred after the introduction of European diseases, men from Sowa-speaking areas were forced to marry women from other parts of Pentecost, who were mostly Apma speakers. As a result, by the 1960s, Apma had totally replaced Sowa as the predominant local language. The last native Sowa speaker, Maurice Tabi of Vanvat village, died in 2000.
Today, a few local people whose fathers or mothers were Sowa speakers still remember parts of the language, although none speak it fluently. A couple, including Isaiah Tabi Vahka of Waterfall Village and Adam Bulesisbwat of Lesuubelakan, compiled short written notes on Sowa in an attempt to ensure that the language was not lost. The only linguist to have studied Sowa while the language was still alive was David Walsh, who collected a vocabulary list in 1969, although Walsh's main informant (John Bule Seesee of Bwaravet village) was not a native Sowa speaker. Andrew Gray, a British schoolteacher at Ranwadi College
, worked with speakers' children in 2006-2009 to try and reconstruct the basics of the language.
Some people in the former Sowa area see the language as a part of their cultural heritage and lament its loss. There is talk of reviving Sowa, although this is not a high priority for most local people, and records are insufficient to allow a fully authentic restoration of the language.
(the two are reckoned by locals to have been mutually intelligible), a case could be made for classifying the two as dialects rather than as separate languages.
In his 1976 survey of New Hebrides Languages, Tryon classified Sowa as a separate language, calculating its cognacy with Ske at 77% (with 80% being the approximate threshold below which two forms are considered separate languages rather than mere dialects). However, in their 2001 survey, Lynch & Crowley did not recognise Sowa as a language, noting that Tryon's data suffered from significant margins of error.
Using an updated word list, Andrew Gray calculated the cognacy of Sowa and Ske at 81%. Sowa's status as a language is therefore borderline if considered on the basis of cognacy figures alone. However, local people perceive Sowa very much as a distinct language and not as a Ske dialect.
By comparison with related languages such as Apma
and Raga
, there appear to have been relatively few restrictions on the distribution of consonants. However, it appears that consonants occurring at the end of an utterance were modified according to Apma-like rules, with b, v and possibly w converted to p, d devoiced to t, g devoiced to k, and r dropped to produce a long vowel. Clusters of consonants within syllables were not permitted.
Unlike in neighbouring Ske
, there was no prenasalization of consonants
in Sowa.
In addition to the five standard vowels (a, e, i, o and u), Sowa appears to have had mid-high vowels ê (intermediate between e and i) and ô (intermediate between o and u), like in Ske
and Sa
languages.
Long vowels (aa, ee, etc) occurred as a result of the dropping of r at the ends of words, and are shown to have been distinct from short vowels by minimal pairs such as me "to be red" and mee (< mer) "to be black".
and number
. They were not distinguished by gender
.
The basic pronouns in Sowa were:
. Plural
ity was indicated by placing the pronoun nêê ("them") or a number after the noun.
Nouns could be either free, or directly-possessed. Directly-possessed nouns were suffixed to indicate whom an item belonged to. For example:
Possession could also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers were similar to those of Apma
:
The possessive suffixes were as follows:
A verb could be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -an:
Modifiers generally came after a noun:
, aspect
and mood
of an action. Some of these are difficult to reconstruct, due to inconsistencies within and between sources, but a plausible set is:
Dual (two-person) forms incorporating a particle ra also existed, as in Ske
, but are not well remembered.
Neighbouring languages also have markers denoting prospective actions (which are about to take place) and hypothetical ones. These are difficult to reconstruct in Sowa.
Negative phrases began with the word atna ("absent"):
In the imperative
, verbs could occur on their own (unlike in Apma
and Ske
, in which they are always preceded by a subject pronoun). Verbs beginning with a pair of consonants, which would have been difficult to pronounce on their own, acquired an extra vowel in this situation:
Transitive
and intransitive
verb forms were distinguished, like in Apma
and Ske
. Transitive verbs were commonly suffixed with -nê:
Like neighbouring languages, Sowa made extensive use of stative verb
s for descriptive purposes.
Verbs in Sowa could be linked together in serial verb construction
s.
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...
. In recent times it has been totally displaced by Apma, a neighbouring language. Sowa is very closely related to Ske
Ske language
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
, another south Pentecost language.
Sowa was originally spoken on both western and eastern sides of Pentecost. Melsisi River formed the language's north-western boundary, and its range extended southwards to a creek near the village of Levizendam.
Following the depopulation of Pentecost that occurred after the introduction of European diseases, men from Sowa-speaking areas were forced to marry women from other parts of Pentecost, who were mostly Apma speakers. As a result, by the 1960s, Apma had totally replaced Sowa as the predominant local language. The last native Sowa speaker, Maurice Tabi of Vanvat village, died in 2000.
Today, a few local people whose fathers or mothers were Sowa speakers still remember parts of the language, although none speak it fluently. A couple, including Isaiah Tabi Vahka of Waterfall Village and Adam Bulesisbwat of Lesuubelakan, compiled short written notes on Sowa in an attempt to ensure that the language was not lost. The only linguist to have studied Sowa while the language was still alive was David Walsh, who collected a vocabulary list in 1969, although Walsh's main informant (John Bule Seesee of Bwaravet village) was not a native Sowa speaker. Andrew Gray, a British schoolteacher at Ranwadi College
Ranwadi High school
Ranwadi School is a co-educational boarding school on Pentecost, Vanuatu. The school has just over 300 students, who come from all over Pentecost Island and from other parts of Vanuatu.The school is situated 11 km north of Lonorore airport on a coastal hillside adjacent to the village of...
, worked with speakers' children in 2006-2009 to try and reconstruct the basics of the language.
Some people in the former Sowa area see the language as a part of their cultural heritage and lament its loss. There is talk of reviving Sowa, although this is not a high priority for most local people, and records are insufficient to allow a fully authentic restoration of the language.
Status as a language
Given the close relationship between Sowa and Ske languageSke language
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
(the two are reckoned by locals to have been mutually intelligible), a case could be made for classifying the two as dialects rather than as separate languages.
In his 1976 survey of New Hebrides Languages, Tryon classified Sowa as a separate language, calculating its cognacy with Ske at 77% (with 80% being the approximate threshold below which two forms are considered separate languages rather than mere dialects). However, in their 2001 survey, Lynch & Crowley did not recognise Sowa as a language, noting that Tryon's data suffered from significant margins of error.
Using an updated word list, Andrew Gray calculated the cognacy of Sowa and Ske at 81%. Sowa's status as a language is therefore borderline if considered on the basis of cognacy figures alone. However, local people perceive Sowa very much as a distinct language and not as a Ske dialect.
Phonology
The consonants of Sowa were b, d, g, k, l, m, n, ng (as in English "singer"), p, r, s, t, bilabial v, w, z, and labiovelar bw, mw and pw. Sowa appears to have lacked h, although this letter occasionally appears in records of Sowa as a result of un-phonetic spelling and interference from other languages.By comparison with related languages such as 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 Raga
Raga language
Raga is the language of northern Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Raga belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family...
, there appear to have been relatively few restrictions on the distribution of consonants. However, it appears that consonants occurring at the end of an utterance were modified according to Apma-like rules, with b, v and possibly w converted to p, d devoiced to t, g devoiced to k, and r dropped to produce a long vowel. Clusters of consonants within syllables were not permitted.
Unlike in neighbouring Ske
Ske language
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
, there was no 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...
in Sowa.
In addition to the five standard vowels (a, e, i, o and u), Sowa appears to have had mid-high vowels ê (intermediate between e and i) and ô (intermediate between o and u), like in Ske
Ske language
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
and Sa
Saa language
Sa or Saa language is an Austronesian language spoken in southern Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. It had an estimated 2,500 speakers in the year 2000.- Dialects and range:Sa has numerous dialects, with no well-established names or boundaries...
languages.
Long vowels (aa, ee, etc) occurred as a result of the dropping of r at the ends of words, and are shown to have been distinct from short vowels by minimal pairs such as me "to be red" and mee (< mer) "to be black".
Grammar
Because no linguist ever worked directly with a native Sowa speaker, the language's grammar is poorly known. However, some of the basics can be deduced from the phrases that are remembered.Pronouns
Personal pronouns were 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 were 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 in Sowa were:
| Person | Sowa | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | nô | "me" |
| 2nd person singular | êk | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | nê | "him" / "her" / "it" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | êd | "us" (you and me) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | kamwam | "us" (me and others) |
| 2nd person plural | kimi | "you" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | nêê | "them" |
Nouns
Nouns in Sowa were generally not preceded by articlesArticle (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
. Plural
Plural
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 was indicated by placing the pronoun nêê ("them") or a number after the noun.
Nouns could be either free, or directly-possessed. Directly-possessed nouns were suffixed to indicate whom an item belonged to. For example:
- dolok = my voice
- dolom = your voice
- dolon = his/her voice
- dolon dasêk = my mother's voice
Possession could also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers were similar to those of 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....
:
- no- for general possessions (nog wakat, "my basket")
- bile- for things that are cared for, such as crops and livestock (biled bô, "our pig")
- a- for things to be eaten (am bwet, "your taro")
- mwe- for things to be drunk (mwen rê, "his water")
- na- for associations, over which the possessor has no control (vênu naêk, "my home island")
The possessive suffixes were as follows:
| Person | Sowa | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | -g or -(ê)k | "of mine" |
| 2nd person singular | -m | "of yours" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | -n | "of his/hers/its" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | -d | "of ours" (yours and mine) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | -mwam | "of ours" (mine and others') |
| 2nd person plural | -mi | "of yours" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | (lengthened vowel) | "of theirs" |
| Generic | -gze | - |
A verb could be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -an:
- bwal = to fight (verb)
- bwalan = a fight (noun)
Modifiers generally came after a noun:
- vat = stone
- vat amres = heavy stone
Verbs
Verbs were preceded by markers providing information on the subject and 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 an action. Some of these are difficult to reconstruct, due to inconsistencies within and between sources, but a plausible set is:
| Person | Subject marker - imperfective (present tense) |
Subject marker - perfective (past tense) |
Subject marker - irrealis (future tense) |
English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | mwi | ni | mwi dê | "I" |
| 2nd person singular | (ki) mwa | (ki) ti | ki dê | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | mwa or mwe or mo or mu | a | de | "he" / "she" / "it" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | tapa(n) | tava | tapat or tete | "we" (you and I) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | kapa(n) | kava | kapat | "we" (others and I) |
| 2nd person plural | kipa(n) or pi(n) | kiva | kipat or pi ti | "you" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | pa(n) | ava | deva | "they" |
Dual (two-person) forms incorporating a particle ra also existed, as in Ske
Ske language
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
, but are not well remembered.
Neighbouring languages also have markers denoting prospective actions (which are about to take place) and hypothetical ones. These are difficult to reconstruct in Sowa.
Negative phrases began with the word atna ("absent"):
- ni êko = I did it
- atna ni êko = I didn't do it
In the imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
, verbs could occur on their own (unlike in 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 Ske
Ske language
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
, in which they are always preceded by a subject pronoun). Verbs beginning with a pair of consonants, which would have been difficult to pronounce on their own, acquired an extra vowel in this situation:
- mwi lsê = I see
- Lesê! = Look!
Transitive
Transitive verb
In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
and intransitive
Intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
verb forms were distinguished, like in 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 Ske
Ske language
Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family....
. Transitive verbs were commonly suffixed with -nê:
- mwi rôs = I move
- mwi rôsnê vat = I move the stone
Like neighbouring languages, Sowa made extensive use of stative verb
Stative verb
A stative verb is one that asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property . Statives differ from other aspectual classes of verbs in that they are static; that is, they have undefined duration...
s for descriptive purposes.
Verbs in Sowa could be linked together in serial verb construction
Serial verb construction
The serial verb construction, also known as serialization, is a syntactic phenomenon common to many African, Asian and New Guinean languages...
s.
Sample phrases
| English | Sowa |
|---|---|
| Where are you going? | (Ki) mwa ba sawô(t)? |
| I'm going to... | Mwi ba... |
| Where have you come from? | (Ki) ti maê sawô(t)? |
| I've come from... | Ni maê... |
| Where is it? | Mu du sawô(t)? |
| It's here | Mu du igeni |
| Come here! | Maê igeni! |
| Go away! | Suk met! |
| What's your name? | Sem ne sinan? |
| My name is... | Sek ne... |
| Where are you from? | Êk azô ze sawô(t)? |
| I am from... | Noo azô ze... |
| How much? / How many? | Ivis? |
| one | tuwal / izuwal |
| two | iru |
| three | izôl |
| four | ivêt |
| five | ilim |
| Thank you | (Ki mwa) barêw |
| It's just fine | Awê ganek / Atwus ganek |