Hiw language
Hiw (sometimes spelled Hiu) is an Oceanic language spoken by about 280 people on the island of Hiw, in the Torres Islands of Vanuatu.[3]
| Hiw | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Hiw |
Native speakers | 280 (2012)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hiw |
| Glottolog | hiww1237 |
| ELP | Hiw[2] |
It is distinct from Lo-Toga, the other language of the Torres group.
The language
Hiw has 280 speakers, and is considered endangered.[4][5]
Phonology
Vowels
Hiw has 9 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs /i ɪ e ʉ ɵ ə o ɔ a/:[6]
| 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 | ||
Consonants
Hiw has 14 consonants.[6]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labialized velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p p | t t | k k | kʷ q | |
| Nasal | m m | n n | ŋ n̄ | ŋʷ n̄w | |
| Fricative | β v | s s | ɣ g | ||
| Prestopped lateral |
ɡ͡ʟ r̄ | ||||
| Glide | j y | w w |
All plosives are voiceless. Hiw is the only Austronesian language whose consonant inventory includes a prestopped velar lateral approximant /ɡ͡ʟ/; this complex segment is Hiw's only liquid.[7] Historically, this complex segment was a voiced alveolar trill /r/ (which is why it is written as r̄). The voiced alveolar trill, spelt as r, appears in recent loanwords.
Grammar
In terms of lexical flexibility, Hiw has been assessed to be “grammatically flexible”, but “lexically rigid”.[8] 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.[9]
Its system of personal pronouns contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).[10]
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.[11] Hiw has 33 such pairs of verbs, which is the highest number recorded so far among the world's languages.[11]
Spatial reference in Hiw is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is partially typical of Oceanic languages, and partially innovative.[12]
References
- François (2012):88).
- Endangered Languages Project data for Hiw.
- François (2005:444)
- François (2012):100).
- UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger: Hiw.
- François (2010a:396)
- François (2010a)
- François (2017).
- François (2017:) 311 sqq).
- François (2016).
- François (2019).
- François (2015:) 140-141, 176-183).
Bibliography
- François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the History of the Vowels of Seventeen Northern Vanuatu Languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID 131668754
- François, Alexandre (2010a), "Phonotactics and the prestopped velar lateral of Hiw: Resolving the ambiguity of a complex segment" (PDF), Phonology, 27 (3): 393–434, doi:10.1017/s0952675710000205
- François, Alexandre (2010b), "Pragmatic demotion and clause dependency: On two atypical subordinating strategies in Lo-Toga and Hiw (Torres, Vanuatu)" (PDF), in Bril, Isabelle (ed.), Clause hierarchy and Clause linking: The Syntax and Pragmatics interface, Studies in Language Companion Series 121, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 499–548, ISBN 978-90-272-0588-9
- François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012 (214): 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022, S2CID 145208588
- François, Alexandre (2015). "The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF). In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137–195. hdl:1885/14819. ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5.
- François, Alexandre (2016), "The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF), in Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.), Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles, Faits de Langues, 47, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 25–60
- François, Alexandre (2017), "The economy of word classes in Hiw, Vanuatu: Grammatically flexible, lexically rigid" (PDF), in Eva van Lier (ed.), Lexical Flexibility in Oceanic Languages, Studies in Language, 41, pp. 294–357, doi:10.1075/sl.41.2.03fra
- François, Alexandre (2019). "Verbal number in Lo–Toga and Hiw: The emergence of a lexical paradigm" (PDF). Transactions of the Philological Society. 117 (3): 338–371. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12168..
External links
- Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Hiw.
- Audio recordings in the Hiw language, in open access, by A. François (Pangloss Collection).