Bislama Reference Grammar

by Terry Crowley

Overview

Bislama is the national language of Vanuatu, the world's most linguistically diverse nation with at least 80 actively spoken Oceanic languages used by about 200,000 people. Bislama began as a plantation pidgin based on English in the nineteenth century, but it has since developed into a unique language with a grammar and vocabulary very different from English.

It is one of very few national languages for which there is no readily available reference grammar. This book aims to fill this gap by providing an extensive account of the grammar of Bislama as it is used by ordinary Ni-Vanuatu. It does not, therefore, aim to describe any kind of artificial written norm but sets out to capture a range of different kinds of ways that Ni-Vanuatu will say things in various contexts, both written and spoken, formal and informal.

The thrust of this volume is to show that Bislama has a grammar—an unfamiliar concept for those educated in Vanuatu. It also shows that Bislama is a language of considerable complexity, which will come as a surprise to many of its users, who have been taught to view their language as somehow "simple" and even "deficient."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780824828806
Publisher:	University of Hawaii Press, The
Publication date:	05/31/2004
Series:	Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications Series , #31
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

Table of Contents

	List of Tables	x
	Preface	xi
	Acknowledgments	xiii
	Maps	xiv
1	Background to Bislama	1
1.1	Bislama: An Independent Language	1
1.2	Bislama in Vanuatu Society	3
1.3	Historical Background	4
1.4	The Vocabulary of Bislama	5
1.5	Varieties of Bislama	7
1.6	What Kind of Grammar is This?	9
2	Pronunciation and Spelling	11
2.1	Consonants	11
2.2	Vowels	15
2.3	Expanded Sound Systems	16
2.4	Spelling	18
2.5	Stress	21
2.6	Intonation	22
2.7	Syllables	23
3	Parts of Speech	24
3.1	Nouns	25
3.2	Pronouns	26
3.3	Prepositions	27
3.4	Verbs	28
3.5	Noun Modifiers	28
3.5.1	Number Markers	29
3.5.2	Adjectives	29
3.6	Adverbs	30
3.7	Other Modifiers	31
3.8	Interrogatives	31
3.9	Complex Sentence Markers	32
3.10	Interjections and Vocatives	32
3.11	Words with Several Functions	33
4	Nouns and Noun Phrases	37
4.1	Nouns	37
4.1.1	Simple and Complex Nouns	37
4.1.2	Compounding	38
4.1.2.1	Adjective + Noun	38
4.1.2.2	Noun + Postmodifier	39
4.1.2.3	Verb + Noun	39
4.1.2.4	Noun + Noun	39
4.1.3	Reduplication	40
4.1.4	Affixation	41
4.1.4.1	The Suffix - wan	42
4.1.4.2	The Prefix eks-	43
4.1.4.3	Emerging Suffixes?	44
4.2	Pronouns	45
4.3	Noun Phrases	50
4.3.1	Quantifiers + Nouns	50
4.3.2	Pronouns + Quantifiers	56
4.3.3	Adjectives	59
4.3.3.1	Reduplication	59
4.3.3.2	The Suffix -fala	60
4.3.3.3	Compounding	63
4.3.4	Noun Postmodifiers	64
4.3.5	Demonstratives	64
4.3.6	Nouns Modified by Sentences	65
4.4	Noun Phrases Linked by blong	67
4.4.1	Possession	68
4.4.2	Other Functions of blong	69
4.5	Coordinate Noun Phrases	70
5	Verbs and Verb Phrases	72
5.1	Verbs	72
5.1.1	Reduplication	72
5.1.2	Compounds	76
5.1.3	Affixation	77
5.1.3.1	Transitive Suffix	77
5.1.3.2	Directional Suffixes	82
5.1.3.2.1	Daon	83
5.1.3.2.2	Aot	83
5.1.3.2.3	Raon	83
5.1.3.2.4	Bak	83
5.1.3.2.5	Ap	84
5.2	Complex Verbs	85
5.3	Verb Phrases	88
5.3.1	Imperatives, Prohibitives, and Hortatives	89
5.3.2	The Forms i and oli	92
5.3.3	Tense	92
5.3.4	Negative Markers	95
5.3.5	Auxiliaries	96
5.3.5.1	Mas	97
5.3.5.2	Bin	97
5.3.5.3	Jas	98
5.3.5.4	Stap	98
5.3.5.5	Save	99
5.3.5.6	Wantem	100
5.3.5.7	Sud	100
5.3.5.8	Kanduit	101
5.3.5.9	Kam and Go	101
5.3.5.10	Stil	102
5.3.6	Post-Verbal Modifiers	102
5.3.7	Modifiers of Manner	105
6	Simple Sentences	108
6.1	Statements	108
6.1.1	Predicate Sentences and Predicate Markers	109
6.1.2	Non-Predicate Sentences	113
6.1.2.1	Presentative Sentences	114
6.1.2.2	Equational Sentences	115
6.1.2.3	'Ought to' Constructions	116
6.1.3	Constituent Order	117
6.1.3.1	Transitive and Intransitive Constructions	117
6.1.3.1.1	Meteorological Expressions	118
6.1.3.1.2	General States	118
6.1.3.1.3	The Existential Verb gat	119
6.1.3.1.4	Negation of Incomplete Sentences	120
6.1.3.1.5	Actions without Causers	120
6.1.3.2	Verb + Noun Constructions	122
6.1.4	Double Object Constructions	125
6.1.5	Prepositional Phrases	127
6.1.5.1	Basic Prepositions	127
6.1.5.1.1	Blong	127
6.1.5.1.2	From	128
6.1.5.1.3	Wetem	128
6.1.5.1.4	Wetaot(em)	129
6.1.5.1.5	Olsem	129
6.1.5.1.6	Long	130
6.1.5.2	Verbal Prepositions	133
6.1.5.2.1	Kasem	133
6.1.5.2.2	Bitim	134
6.1.5.2.3	Ronem	134
6.1.5.2.4	Agensem	135
6.1.5.2.5	Raonem	135
6.1.5.2.6	Folem	135
6.1.5.2.7	Tokbaot	136
6.1.5.2.8	Yusum	136
6.1.5.3	Position of Prepositional Phrases	137
6.1.5.4	Complex Prepositions	137
6.1.6	Adverbs	139
6.1.6.1	Adverbs of Place	139
6.1.6.2	Adverbs of Time	140
6.1.6.3	Adverbs of Manner	141
6.1.6.4	Miscellaneous Adverbs	142
6.1.6.5	Placement of Adverbs and Post-Verbal Modifiers	146
6.2	Questions	147
6.2.1	Yes-No Questions	147
6.2.2	Content Questions	150
6.2.2.1	Wanem	150
6.2.2.2	Se	151
6.2.2.3	Huia	151
6.2.2.4	Hamas	153
6.2.2.5	Hameni	153
6.2.2.6	Wijwan	154
6.2.2.7	Waswe	154
6.2.2.8	Watfo	155
6.2.2.9	Wataem	155
6.2.2.10	We	155
6.2.2.11	Wehem	156
6.2.2.12	From	157
6.2.2.13	From wanem	157
6.2.2.14	Olsem wanem	158
6.3	Fronted Noun Phrases	159
7	Complex Sentences	166
7.1	Serial Verbs	166
7.1.1	Directional Verbs	167
7.1.2	Manner Constructions	170
7.1.3	Causative Constructions	171
7.1.4	Sequential Actions	172
7.2	Coordination	172
7.2.1	Mo	172
7.2.2	Be	174
7.2.3	(N)o	175
7.3	Subordination	175
7.3.1	Juxtaposition	176
7.3.2	Subordinator Constructions	177
7.3.2.1	Simple Subordinators	178
7.3.2.1.1	Blong and Long	178
7.3.2.1.2	Se	182
7.3.2.1.3	We	184
7.3.2.1.4	Nogud	186
7.3.2.2	Complex Subordinators	187
7.3.2.2.1	From	187
7.3.2.2.2	Kasem	187
7.3.2.2.3	Olsem	187
7.3.2.2.4	Taem	188
7.3.2.2.5	Tetaem	188
7.3.2.2.6	Sapos	189
7.3.2.2.7	Nomata, Nevamaen, Nating, and Iven	189
7.3.2.2.8	Afta and Bifo	190
7.3.2.2.9	Question Words as Subordinators	191
7.4	Sentences in Discourse	192
7.4.1	The Sequencing of Events	192
7.4.2	Cause and Effect	195
7.4.3	Contrary to Expectation	196
7.4.4	The Pragmatic Particle ia	196
Appendix	Previous Studies of Bislama Grammar	199
	References	201
	Index	203