Hiw language

Last updated
Hiw
Pronunciation [hiw]
Native to Vanuatu
Region Hiw
Native speakers
280 (2012) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 hiw
Glottolog hiww1237
ELP Hiw
Lang Status 60-DE.svg
Hiw is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Hiw (sometimes spelled Hiu) is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of Hiw, in the Torres Islands of Vanuatu. [2] With about 280 speakers, Hiw is considered endangered. [3] [4]

Contents

Hiw is distinct from Lo-Toga, the other language of the Torres group. All Hiw speakers are bilingual in Bislama, and most also speak Lo-Toga. [5]

Name

The language is named after the island.

Phonology

Vowels

Hiw has 9 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs /iɪeʉɵəoɔa/: [6] [7]

Hiw vowels
Front Central
rounded
Back
Close i i ʉ u
Near-close ɪ ē
Close-mid e ë ɵ ö o ō
Mid ə e
Open-mid ɔ o
Open a a

The three central vowels /ʉ/,/ɵ/,/ə/ are all rounded. [8]

/i/ becomes a glide /j/ whenever it's followed by another vowel. [9]

The high back rounded vowel [ u ] occurs, but only as an allophone of /ʉ/ and /ə/ after labio-velar consonants. /ʉ/ always becomes [u] after a labio-velar, while /ə/ only becomes [u] in pre-tonic syllables, and then only optionally. [10]

Consonants

Hiw has 14 consonants. [9] [7]

Hiw consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Dorsal Labialized
velar
Nasal m m n n ŋ ŋʷ n̄w
Plosive p p t t k k q
Fricative β v s s ɣ g
Prestopped
lateral
ɡ͡ʟ
Glide j y w w

All plosives are voiceless.

Liquid consonants

The historical phoneme *l has shifted to /j/, which is unique within the Torres–Banks languages.

Hiw is the only Austronesian language whose consonant inventory includes a prestopped velar lateral approximant /ɡ͡ʟ/; this complex segment is Hiw's only native liquid. [11] Historically, this complex segment was a voiced alveolar trill /r/ (which is why it is written as ). The voiced alveolar trill, spelt as r, appears in recent loanwords. In some other, perhaps older, loanwords, alveolar trills have been borrowed as velar laterals.

Stress

Stress is predictable in Hiw, except in the case of words which only contain /ə/.

Generally, primary stress falls on the last syllable which does not contain /ə/. For example: [mɔˈwɪ] 'moon', [ˈwɔtəjə] 'maybe'. In the case of words whose only vowel is schwa, stress is unpredictable: thus [βəˈjə] 'pandanus leaf' is oxytone and [ˈtəpjə] 'dish' is paroxytone. These are the only polysyllabic words that may have a stressed schwa.

Polysyllabic words have secondary stress, which falls on every second syllable from the primary stressed syllable, going leftwards. For example: [ˌβəɣəˈβaɣə] 'speak'. [12]

Phonotactics

The syllable structure of Hiw is CCVC, where the only obligatory element is V: [11] e.g. /tg​͡ʟɔɣ/ 'throw (PL)'; /βti/ 'star'; /kʷg​͡ʟɪ/ 'dolphin'; /g​͡ʟɵt/ 'tie'.

Hiw allows consonant gemination, word-medially and initially. These geminated consonants can be analyzed as C1C2 consonant clusters in which both consonants happen to be identical. An example of gemination is in /tin/ 'buy' vs /ttin/ 'hot'. Consonants and vowels may also be lengthened for expressive purposes, for example: /nemaβə/ ‘it’s heavy’ becomes [nemːaβə] ‘it’s so heavy!’. [13]

Hiw's phonology follows the Sonority Sequencing Principle, with the following language-specific sonority hierarchy:

vowels > glides > liquids > nasals > obstruents [14]

In syllable onsets, C1 may not be more sonorous than C2. Fricatives and plosives are not distinguished with regard to sonority.

Even though /w/ is always pronounced as an approximant, it is best treated as an obstruent with regards to sonority: this interpretation accounts for words like /wte/ 'small', which would otherwise constitute a sonority reversal. [15]

Phonological evidence shows that /ɡ͡ʟ/ patterns as a liquid, more sonorous than nasals but less sonorous than the glide /j/. Unlike the obstruents, /ɡ͡ʟ/ cannot be followed by a nasal. However, it can come after a nasal, as in /mɡ͡ʟe/ ‘wrath’. The only consonant found after /ɡ͡ʟ/ is /j/ - e.g. /ɡ͡ʟje/ ‘sweep’. [11]

Grammar

Hiw has a similar grammatical structure to the other living Torres–Banks languages. [16]

In terms of lexical flexibility, Hiw has been assessed to be “grammatically flexible”, but “lexically rigid”. [17] The vast majority of the language's lexemes belongs to just one word class (noun, adjective, verb, adverb…); yet each of those word classes is compatible with a large number of syntactic functions.

The language presents various forms of verb serialization. [18]

Its system of personal pronouns contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural). [19]

Together with its neighbour Lo-Toga, Hiw has developed a rich system of verbal number, whereby certain verbs alternate their root depending on the number of their main participant. [20] Hiw has 33 such pairs of suppletive verbs, which is the highest number recorded so far among the world's languages. [20]

Spatial reference in Hiw is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals. That space system is largely reminiscent of the one widespread among Oceanic languages, yet also shows some innovations that make it unique. [21]

Related Research Articles

Liquids are a class of consonants that consists of rhotics and voiced lateral approximants, sometimes described as "r-like sounds" and "l-like sounds". The word liquid seems to be a calque of the Ancient Greek word ὑγρός initially used by grammarian Dionysius Thrax to describe Greek sonorants.

A macron is a diacritical mark: it is a straight bar ¯ placed above a letter, usually a vowel. Its name derives from Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón) 'long' because it was originally used to mark long or heavy syllables in Greco-Roman metrics. It now more often marks a long vowel. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the macron is used to indicate a mid-tone; the sign for a long vowel is instead a modified triangular colon ː.

In phonetics, rhotic consonants, or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including ⟨R⟩, ⟨r⟩ in the Latin script and ⟨Р⟩, ⟨p⟩ in the Cyrillic script. They are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet by upper- or lower-case variants of Roman ⟨R⟩, ⟨r⟩: r, ɾ, ɹ, ɻ, ʀ, ʁ, ɽ, and ɺ. Transcriptions for vocalic or semivocalic realisations of underlying rhotics include the ə̯ and ɐ̯.

The phonology of Portuguese varies among dialects, in extreme cases leading to some difficulties in intelligibility. Portuguese is a pluricentric language and has some of the most diverse sound variations of any language. This article on phonology focuses on the pronunciations that are generally regarded as standard. Since Portuguese is a pluricentric language—and differences between European Portuguese (EP), Brazilian Portuguese (BP), and Angolan Portuguese (AP) can be considerable—varieties are distinguished whenever necessary.

The phonology of Catalan, a Romance language, has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Although there are two standard varieties, one based on Central Eastern dialect and another one based on South-Western or Valencian dialect, this article deals with features of all or most dialects, as well as regional pronunciation differences.

Esperanto is a constructed international auxiliary language designed to have a simple phonology. The creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof, described Esperanto pronunciation by comparing the sounds of Esperanto with the sounds of several major European languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warlpiri language</span> Aboriginal Australian language

The Warlpiri language is spoken by close to 3,000 of the Warlpiri people from the Tanami Desert, northwest of Alice Springs, Central Australia. It is one of the Ngarrkic languages of the large Pama–Nyungan family and is one of the largest Aboriginal languages in Australia in terms of number of speakers. One of the most well-known terms for The Dreaming, Jukurrpa, derives from Warlpiri.

Martuthunira is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language, that was the traditional language of the Martuthunira people of Western Australia.

The phonological system of the Polish language is similar in many ways to those of other Slavic languages, although there are some characteristic features found in only a few other languages of the family, such as contrasting postalveolar and alveolo-palatal fricatives and affricates. The vowel system is relatively simple, with just six oral monophthongs and arguably two nasals in traditional speech, while the consonant system is much more complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saanich dialect</span> Language of the Saanich people of North America


Saanich is the language of the First Nations Saanich people in the Pacific Northwest region of northwestern North America. Saanich is a Coast Salishan language in the Northern Straits dialect continuum, the varieties of which are closely related to the Klallam language.

The sonority sequencing principle (SSP) or sonority sequencing constraint is a phonotactic principle that aims to outline the structure of a syllable in terms of sonority.

This article discusses the phonological system of the Czech language.

The phonology of Sesotho and those of the other Sotho–Tswana languages are radically different from those of "older" or more "stereotypical" Bantu languages. Modern Sesotho in particular has very mixed origins inheriting many words and idioms from non-Sotho–Tswana languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lo-Toga language</span> Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu

Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken by about 580 people on the islands of Lo and Toga, in the Torres group of northern Vanuatu. The language has sometimes been called Loh(sic) or Toga, after either of its two dialects.

Kensiu (Kensiw) is an Austro-asiatic language of the Jahaic subbranch. It is spoken by a small community of 300 in Yala Province in southern Thailand and also reportedly by a community of approximately 300 speakers in Western Malaysia in Perak and Kedah states. Speakers of this language are Negritos who are known as the Mani people or Maniq of Thailand.

Dorig(formerly called Wetamut) is a threatened Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in Vanuatu.

This article explains the phonology of Malay and Indonesian based on the pronunciation of Standard Malay, which is the official language of Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia, and Indonesian, which is the official language of Indonesia and a working language in Timor Leste. There are two main standards for Malay pronunciation, the Johor-Riau standard, used in Brunei and Malaysia, and the Baku, used in Indonesia and Singapore.

Proto-Torres-Banks is the reconstructed ancestor of the seventeen languages of the Torres and Banks Islands of Vanuatu. Like all indigenous languages of Vanuatu, it belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian languages.

Medumba phonology is the way in which the Medumba language is pronounced. It deals with phonetics, phonotactics and their variation across different dialects of Medumba.

References

  1. François (2012):88).
  2. François (2005 :444)
  3. François (2012):100).
  4. UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger: Hiw.
  5. François (2010a :421–422)
  6. François (2011 :195)
  7. 1 2 François (2021).
  8. François (2005 :458)
  9. 1 2 François (2010a :396)
  10. François (2010a :397)
  11. 1 2 3 François (2010a)
  12. François (2010a :397–398)
  13. François (2010a :399)
  14. François (2010a:412)
  15. François (2010a :414)
  16. François (2012 :90)
  17. François (2017)
  18. François (2017 :311)
  19. François (2016).
  20. 1 2 François (2019).
  21. François (2015:) 140-141, 176-183).

Bibliography