Ske language


Ske is an endangered language of south-western Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Ske is an Oceanic language.
The Ske area comprises fourteen small villages centred on Baravet in south-central Pentecost, from Liavzendam in the north to Hotwata in the south and extending inland to Vanliamit. Historically the language's area extended to parallel areas of the east coast, but this part of the island is now depopulated.
Due to intermarriage between language areas, an increasing number of people in Ske-speaking villages now speak Bislama as a first language, and local chiefs fear for the future of Ske. Apma is also widely spoken in the Ske area. A closely related neighbouring language, Sowa, has already been totally displaced by Apma.
The number of Ske speakers is estimated at 300. The widely reported figure of 600 is probably an overestimate, since not everybody in the Ske area is fluent in the language.
There is no significant dialectal variation within modern Ske, although there are noticeable differences between the Ske of older and younger speakers. Doltes, the extinct dialect of Hotwata village, is sometimes regarded as a Ske dialect, but appears to have been closer to Sa.
There is no local tradition of writing in Ske, and until recently the language was virtually undocumented. However, linguist Kay Johnson has written a PhD thesis on the language, including a sketch grammar. Prior to her arrival, the only records of Ske were short vocabulary lists collected by David Walsh in the 1960s, Catriona Hyslop in 2001 and Andrew Gray in 2007.

Phonology

Following the orthography developed by linguist Kay Johnson in consultation with the Ske community, the consonants of Ske are b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, q, r, s, t, bilabial v, w, z, and labiovelar bw, mw, pw and vw.
A notable characteristic of Ske is the dropping of unstressed vowels. This has resulted in a language rich in consonants, in contrast to related languages such as Raga. Geminate consonants occur where two identical consonants have been brought together by the historical loss of an intervening vowel, for example in -kkas "to be sweet". Due to the presence of consonant clusters within syllables and other phonological features not typical of the area's languages, speakers of neighbouring languages consider Ske difficult to speak and learn.
Prenasalization of consonants occurs, so that b is pronounced mb, and d is pronounced nd.
Unlike neighbouring languages such as Apma, Ske permits a variety of voiced consonants to occur at the end of syllables, although when they occur at the end of an utterance they are often followed by an 'echo' of the previous vowel. Thus iq "you", for example, is often pronounced inggi.
In addition to the five standard vowels, Ske has mid-high vowels é and ó, like in Sowa and Sa languages. Vowels do not appear to be distinguished for length.
Stress typically occurs on the final syllable of a word.

Grammar

Basic word order in Ske is subject–verb–object.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are distinguished by person and number. They are not distinguished by gender. The basic pronouns are:
PersonSkeEnglish
1st person singularnou"me"
2nd person singulariq"you"
3rd person singularni"him / her / it"
1st person plural id"us"
1st person plural qmwam"us"
2nd person pluralqmi"you"
3rd person pluralnier"them"

Nouns

Nouns in Ske are generally not preceded by articles. Plurality is indicated by placing the pronoun nier or a number after the noun.
Nouns may be either free, or directly possessed. Directly possessed nouns are 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 or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:
The possessive suffixes are as follows:
PersonSkeEnglish
1st person singular-q"of mine"
2nd person singular-m"of yours"
3rd person singular-n"of his/hers/its"
1st person plural -d"of ours"
1st person plural -mwam"of ours"
2nd person plural-mi"of yours"
3rd person plural-r"of theirs"
Generic-qze-

A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -an:
Modifiers generally come after a noun:

Verbs

Verbs are preceded by markers providing information on the subject and the tense, aspect and mood of an action. These markers differ substantially between older and younger speakers; the newer forms are in brackets below...
PersonSubject marker -
imperfective 		Subject marker -
perfective 		Subject marker -
irrealis 		English
1st person singularmwanimwade or mwan"I"
2nd person singularkmwe ki ti "you"
3rd person singularm or mweade"he" / "she" / "it"
1st person dual takra tra "we"
1st person dual mwamramwara mwadra"we"
2nd person dualmwira or mwriakria dria "you"
3rd person dualmraaradra"they"
1st person plural pekve tve "we"
1st person plural mwabemwave mwadve"we"
2nd person pluralbikvie dvie "you"
3rd person pluralbeavedve"they"

There is a pattern of verb-consonant mutation whereby v at the start of a verb changes to b, and vw to bw. This mutation occurs in imperfective aspect, and in irrealis mood :
Hypothetical phrases are marked with mó:
Negative phrases are preceded by kare or a variant:
Transitive and intransitive verb forms are distinguished. Transitive verbs are commonly followed or suffixed with -né:
Ske makes extensive use of stative verbs for descriptive purposes.
Ske has a copular verb, vé or bé.
Verbs in Ske can be linked together in serial verb constructions.

Sample phrases

EnglishSke Ske
Good morningVangren ambisVangren ambis
Good dayRen ambisRen ambis
Good evening / Good nightBuong ambisBiong ambis
Where are you going?Kmwe mba embéh?Mwi mba embéh?
I'm going to...Mwa mba...Mwa mba...
Where have you come from?Ki me embéh?Ti me embéh?
I've come from...Ni me...Ni me...
Where is it?Mdu embéh?Mdu embéh?
It's hereMdu eneMdu ene
Come here!Ti me ene!Ti me ene!
Go away!Ti suk!Ti suk!
What's your name?Siam ne sien?Siam ne sien?
My name is...Siaq ne...Siaq ne...
Where are you from?Iq azó ze embéh?Iq azó ze embéh?
I am from...Nou azó ze...Nou azó ze...
How much? / How many?Avih?Avih?
onealvwalalvial
twoaruaru
threeaziolaziol
fouravietaviet
fivealimalim
Thank youKmwe mbarievMwi mbariev
It's just fineBis kngeBis knge