North Efate, also known as Nakanamanga or Nguna, is an Oceanic language spoken on the northern area of Efate in Vanuatu, as well as on a number of islands off the northern coast. Efate Island is an island in the center of Vanuatu, where North Efate subsists of a region that encompasses the regions bordered by Tuktuk Point in the South and Samoan point in the north. The influx of missionaries was characteristic of a change in indigenous perspectives where much of the traditions were destroyed or altered. Vanuatu has some of the highest language densities in the world. The population of speakers is recorded to be 9,500.
Location
Shefa Province, north Efate island, Nguna, Tongoa, and several smaller islands, southeast
Verbs are prefixed with other stems that enable them to be differentiated at the morphological level Two types of Intransitive Verbs: A Verbs: Actor Subject U Verbs: Experiencer Subject
Auxiliary verb accessorize main verbs in a pre-verbal complex
Pi
The word pi can introduce a predicate nominal or adjective Ex: mai | pi |afsak come | be | turtle Translation: "Then she became a turtle", in this case the predicate nominal "turtle" is introduced by the "pi" Ex: mai | pi | boring a come | be | boring Translation: "It got boring", in this case the adjective, boring, describing the situation is also introduced by the "pi" This pi also serves as an designation for equative structures that discern the identity of two entities Ex: nmatu | nen | pi | nmatu | ni | nafet | ofisa woman | that | be | woman | of | group | officer Translation: "Those women are the wives of all the officers", where the women are also being ascribed the identity of wives Words like pi serve as existentials, where they serve a presentative function, announcing novel information into the conversation, while also notifying existence of its deignee
Pato
The word "pato" signifies the location of a subject Ex: pato | Kwinsland | to | namtu | ga | kin | Jeanie Translation: "He was in Queensland, his wife was Jeanie", note how the pato denotes the location of the subject in Queensland, like a general designation of place
me
This word is a conjunction that can serve to oppose separate clauses like the word "but" or establish a connection to them like the word "and". Ex: Spray | traem | wou | ki | me | malkio Spray | try | tell | PREP | but | not want Translation: "They tried to get me to use spray, but I didn't want to", notice how the meaning of the "me" is determined by the opposition generated by the last part "not want" which goes against the grain of the sentence effectively signifying the meaning of me as "but" Ex: Tete | tae | me | tete | tap | tae | mau Some | know | but | some | NEG | know Translation: "Some know, but some don't know", again, we see how the "me" is separating the two clauses and signifying an opposition between them because of the negative Ex: Nlaken| kai | sain | reki | army | nafkal | me | pa Because| sign | for | army | fight | and | go Translation: " Because I had signed with the army to fight and then I went". The adherence of the clauses effectively changes the meaning of the "me" in this sentence, since there are no lexical markers signifying opposition of what the clauses are trying to present. Thus me serves to conjoin both the clauses. From this, one can see that the meaning of "me" is largely driven by the context of the words around it.
Other Grammatical Details
Interrogative Intonation
Intonation plays a crucial role in defining a phrase as interrogative, in this case, a characteristic rise and subsequent fall is observed in the last word
Tags
Tags accessorize a sentence to add data to the question, often accompanied by the proper intonation cues.
ko
Serving the purpose as "or", and goes to express that the opposite of the phrase or phenomena it follows could in fact be the reality Ex: lakor | lek | na- map | ko maybe | look | map | or Translation: "You might have seen a map, or what?
eh
Serving the purpose as "isn't it", and this word serves as a request a repeat of the information. Note, it can be used independently and carries meaning in and of itself. Often in conversation it used by a party seeking clarification on a certain point
Go
The Efate word 'go' is analogous to the English 'and' in that it connects two clauses Ex: taos | apap | nigmam | go | mama | nigmam | pak | talmat. follow | father | 1p.POS |and | mother |1p.POS | to | garden Translation: We then followed our father and our mother to the garden
Na
Na is a purposive word that indicates the purpose of an action Ex: totan | na | fam sit | PURP | eat Translation: You sit in order to eat
Clauses
The order of clauses is SVO. A sentence consists most basically of a verb stem with a subject.
