Kéo language

The Kéo spoken in the village of Udiworowatu (where the majority of data has been collected on the language) has a phonemic inventory of 23 consonants.

• There is a four-way stop distinction for manner of articulation: voiceless (unaspirated), voiced, preglottalised and prenasalised. This is atypical for an Austronesian language.[7]
• Kéo does not have a contrastive distinction between bilabial and labio-dental , hence the term ‘labial’ has been used for the place of articulation.[8]

Kéo has 6 vowel phonemes.[9]

In Kéo there are 7 standard pronoun forms that form a closed word class.[10]

Kéo pronouns have the same form irrespective of their syntactic behaviour. They can function as independent pronouns, as subjects, objects or as possessors. There are also no grammatical gender distinctions.[10]

In the examples below we can see the 1st singular pronoun nga’o used across four different scenarios: as the subject of an intransitive verb (1), as the subject of a transitive verb (2), as an object, (3) and in the possessor slot of a possessive construction (4).

Examples:[11]

(1) Nga’o mbana.

1sg walk

I’m walking

(2) Nga’o bhobha ‘imu.

1sg hit 3sg

I hit him.

(3) Kepa kiki nga’o.

mosquito bit me

A mosquito bit me.

(4) Dima nga’o lo.

arm 1sg hurt

My arm hurts.

The alternate pronoun forms in Kéo are ja’o, miu, kita and sira. Their usage can depend on dialectal variants, politeness and taboo avoidance rules and specificity with quantity of people involved in the utterance.[12]

J’ao is an alternate pronoun for nga’o in the first person singular. In the past, the two terms were used as a dialect-identifying feature for the Kéo speaking areas. Nowadays, both pronouns are used and personal preference appears to dictate usage. It has also been noted that a child will apply the term that is used by their mother.[12]

In an example from a Kéo storyteller, both first person pronoun forms are used stylistically to distinguish the main characters during a passage of direct speech, Wodo Bako nga’o and the sorcerer ja’o. This distinction can reflect the storyteller’s partiality towards a character depending on which form they themselves identify with.[13]

Examples:[13]

5) Négha ké Wodo Bako simba si’I, “Ata podo kau kema wado ‘ari nga’o.”

already that W. B then say person sorcerer 2sg work return younger sibling 1st

After that Wodo Bako then said, “Sorcerer you bring back my younger brother.”

6) ‘Ata podo si’I, “Modo ja’o kema wado”

person sorcerer say ok 1sg work to return

The sorcerer said, “Ok I’ll bring him back.”

Miu as shown in the ‘standard’ pronoun form table above is used to address more than one person, yet it can also be used to show a level of respect and politeness when speaking to someone.

Example:[14]

7) ‘Iné miu ta ndia.

ma’am 2pl REL here.

Ma’am, you stay here (while I go).

Kita is the pronoun used for first person plural inclusive. In some cases kita is used to replace kami (first personal plural exclusive) when talking about belongings or possession. This switch in pronoun to include the addressee(s) makes the speaker appear more community-minded and generous opposed to being arrogant or selfish.[14]

Example:[14]

8) kamba ko’o sai? Kamba kita.

buffalo POSS who buffalo 1pl.incl

Whose buffalo are these? Our water buffalo.

Sira is the archaic third person pronoun plural form that can replace the standard second and third person pronouns kay and ‘imi. Sira is used to avoid certain taboos in Kéo culture that include addressing parents-in-law or people held in high regard. Sira is also used when addressing a large group of people.[15]

Kéo pronouns can be followed by numerals to indicate the exact number of referents. The pronoun-numeral sequence is the only time a number can be used without a classifier. The most common numeral used is rua ‘two’ (9) to create dual pronouns,[15] yet it also acceptable to use any other numeral (10).

Examples:[15]

9) Mama né’e bapa ko’o Henri itu tungga kami rua weta nala.

mum and dad POSS H. that only 1pl.excl two sister brother

Me and Henri’s dad, only us two were siblings.

10) Rembu miu dima mbana.

All 2pl five go

All five of you go.

Personal pronouns replace proper nouns or other nouns, and form a closed word class. They are highly dependent on context, and are used to indicate if one is referring to the speaker, listener, etc. (Baird, 2002, pp. 108).[16]

There are five subclasses of nouns; 1) common nouns, 2) kin terms, 3) place names, 4) personal names and 5) personal pronouns (Baird, 2002, pp. 101–102).[16] Thus, unlike English, where pronouns are an independent part of the language, personal pronouns are included under the noun class in Kéo (Baird, 2002, pp. 97).[16] Furthermore, all five of these subclasses, including personal pronouns, may be used as nominal predicates (Baird, 2002, pp. 101).[16]

In Kéo, there is no change in the personal pronoun, even if they are independent pronouns, subjects, objects, possessors, etc. (Baird, 2002, pp. 108).[16] However, first, second, third, (and singular and plural forms) have differences, and the first person plural pronoun has an inclusive and exclusive form. Apart from the first and second person singular pronoun, pronouns may be followed by numbers to quantify the pronoun. Gender is also not differentiated in Kéo pronouns (Baird, 2002, pp. 109).[16]

Overview of Standard Personal Pronouns (Baird, 2002, pp. 110):[16]

• First person pronouns

The standard forms of 1st person singular pronouns are nga'o; which is 1st singular, kita; 1st person plural inclusive, and kami; 1st person plural exclusive. This can be used to express I, me, my, etc. (Baird, 2002, pp. 110).[16] For example:

(Baird, 2002, pp. 110)[16]

(Baird, 2002, pp. 110)[16]

• Second person pronouns

The standard forms of 2nd person singular pronouns are kau; which is 2nd person singular and miu; 2nd person plural. This can be used to express you, your, etc. (Baird, 2002, pp. 110).[16] For example:

(Baird, 2002, pp. 119).[16]

• Third person pronouns

The standard forms of 3rd person singular pronouns are ’imu; which is 3rd person singular and ’imu ko'o; 3rd person plural. This can be used as he, her, etc. (Baird, 2002, pp. 110).[16] For example:

(Baird, 2002, pp. 116).[16]

(Baird, 2002, pp. 119).[16]

A sentence can also be made to be less ambiguous by using ’imu possessively. (Baird, 2002, pp. 328).[16] In other words, using a pronoun in this way can make the meaning of a sentence clearer to the listener:

1) Nambu wado Australia Peter ongga dhoa kumi,

When go home Australia Peter shave lose beard

When Peter went home to Australia he shaved off a beard.[16]

2) Nambu wado Australia Peter ongga dhoa kumi ’imu.

When go home Australia Peter shave lose beard 3sg

When Peter returned home to Australia he shaved off his beard.[16]

As seen in the examples (Baird, 2002, pp. 328)[16] above, 2) clarifies the meaning of 1) with the addition of ’imu, as it shows the beard is Peter’s beard.

Below is an example of both a 1st singular pronoun and a 3rd singular pronoun being used in the same sentence:

(Baird, 2002, pp. 110).[16]

There are also alternate forms of personal pronouns, which are used for different reasons. There are three main reasons as to why alternate pronouns are used. Firstly, alternate pronouns may be used to indicate politeness, or to avoid social taboo. Secondly, they may be used based on dialect variations. Lastly, certain pronouns are used to identify the exact number of people there are in the situation being described or talked about (Baird, 2002, pp. 111).[16] Baird (2002)[16] highlighted four alternate forms of personal pronouns used in Kéo; ja'o, miu, kita, and sira (Baird, 2002, pp. 111–114).[16]

The first alternate form, ja'o, is an alternate form of the first person singular pronoun, nga'o (standard form). Initially, each dialect group used either one exclusively, and was a way to identify which Kéo -speaking area one was from. However, the use of the standard and alternate form of the pronoun no longer has this ability to establish one’s dialect group (Baird, 2002, pp. 111).[16] This will be further discussed below in Regional Varieties.

The second alternate form is miu. It is often used in reference to more than one person, but can also be used to address one person as an honorific. (Baird, 2002, pp. 112).[16] For example:

(Baird, 2002, pp. 112).[16]

The third alternate form is kita (Baird, 2002, pp. 113).[16] As mentioned above, first person plural pronouns have an exclusive and inclusive form in Kéo (Baird, 2002, pp. 110).[16] However, the alternate and inclusive form, kita, frequently replaces kami (the exclusive form). Using the inclusive form (kita) instead of the exclusive form (kami) helps the speaker to seem more generous and selfless, as they are including the listener in their speech. Especially when discussing property and personal possessions, the speaker can sound less arrogant by using the inclusive term instead of the exclusive term. (Baird, 2002, pp. 113).[16] For example:

(Baird, 2002, pp. 113).[16]

Another example which shows the importance of inclusivity in Kéo is where Kéo is often referred to as “our language” (sara kita) instead of just “Kéo”. (Baird, 2002, pp. 9).[16]

The last alternate form of personal pronouns highlighted by Baird (2002) is sira. This pronoun may be used instead of 2nd and 3rd person pronouns. The main reason sira is used would be as an honorific. It is often used to greet people, and to refer to in-laws or others as a sign of respect. Thus, one would use sira instead of ’imu-ko’o (Baird, 2002, pp. 114).[16] Kin terms, which is what identifies the relationship between speakers (Baird, 2002, pp. 105),[16] are also preferred when addressing in-laws, to establish a close relationship. Thus, sira would be used more often than more polite pronouns such as miu (Baird, 2002, pp. 113–114).[16]

• Regional varieties

Pronouns help to differentiate dialects. In the past, the difference in the first person singular pronoun ja’o and nga’o helped to establish this difference. However, in present times intermarriages between different dialect groups have dissolved these boundaries. Instead, which first person singular pronoun is used is up to personal preference (Baird, 2002, pp. 28).[16] Apart from personal preference, many Kéo speakers have the tendency to follow the form that their mother uses, (Baird, 2002, pp. 111)[16] while some adopt the form that their in-laws use after marriage (Baird, 2002, pp. 112).[16]

• There are two types
  • 1) possessive particle is used to link noun phrases. (Eg. 'Aé ko'o kami (water-POSS-1st plural exclusive) (our water))
  • 2) possessor can either be a noun phrase or a pronoun. (Eg. Bapa kami (father-1st plural exclusive) (our father))

• Two negators in Kéo.
  • 1) mona
  • 2) nggedhé
• These negators are synonymous.
• Negators can:
  • 1) Precede the predicate.
  • 2) Be predicates themselves.
  • 3) Be interjections.