Nakanai
Lakalai
Native toPapua New Guinea
Native speakers
(13,000 cited 1981)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nak
Glottolognaka1262

Nakanai is spoken by the Nakanai tribe in West New Britain, a province of Papua New Guinea. It is an Austronesian language, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup. Otherwise known as Nakonai, it also has dialects in the form of Losa, Bileki, Vere, Ubae, and Maututu.

The name Nakanai is natively pronounced Lakalai, as the alveolar nasal [n] has disappeared from the phonemic inventory of the language and has been replaced by [l].

The name given to the Nakanai people by the indigenous people, before the Tolai name of Nakanai was adopted, was either Muku or Muu. Those were derogatory words, and in Nakanai mean 'to screw up the nose in distaste', and 'humming sound made by masked men', respectively.[2]

History

Due to links between Nakanai and Eastern Oceanic languages, it is believed that its language family speakers arrived from the east of Papua New Guinea.[2]

New Britain had experienced regular contact and settlement from 1840 to 1883, but the lack of coverage and useful records of the Nakanai region had the region deemed terra incognita.

Speakers

Nakanai is spoken by people living in the West New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea. They live in around 45 villages in the coastal and hinterland regions of Cape Hoskins, Commodore Bay, Cape Reilnitz, Bangula Bay, and Cape Koas.[3]

The dialects that make up the Nakanai language are Bileki, Ubae, Vele, Loso, and Maututu, respectively from the west-most to the east-most of the Nakanai-speaking areas.[4]

Of all the dialects spoken, Bileki has the most native speakers due to being in a more densely populated area. It is common for speakers of other dialects to understand, or even speak, Bileki, but the reverse is not as common. There are 19 Bileki-speaking villages centered around Cape Hoskins and Commodore Bay. It also has a number of names, including Beleki and Central Nakanai. South-East of the Bileki area are the Ubae speakers, located in the Ubae and Gusi villages.[5] Vele speakers are centered on the coastal and adjacent regions of Bangula Bay, in particular, the villages of Tarobi, Pasusu, Sisimi, Gaekeke, Kai and Kaiamo.[6] Loso (or Auka) is a dialect of Nakanai spoken in the Silanga region, inland of Lasibu Anchorage. The villages are Kotoo Babata and Loa, all resettled at Silanga; Um, Bagela, Bibisi and Sipa, all resettled at or near Uasilau; and Movai, Sabol, Saiko, and a portion of Sipa, which are still situated on traditional land in the bush.[7] The villages of the Maututu dialect are Matililiu, Gomu, Apulpul, Baikakea, Bubuu, Mataururu, Kiava and Evase, all grouped on the eastern coast of the Nakanai area, between Toiru River and Cape Koas. These are all United Church Villages and have been influenced therefore by Tolai-speaking missionaries and Nassa shell traders, plus contact with Melamela to the east, Bileki and Vele to the west, and the inland languages Longeinga, Wasi and Kol.[8]

Grammar

Sociolinguistic choices

The noun article is obligatory when referring to an object, and when addressing an object, the noun article is never used.

Avoiding the use of names in speech is a way of showing esteem, whether one is talking about a person in reference or when addressing them. To use a person's name without good reason is seen as a form of disrespect. Instead, kinship terms are preferred. Esteem, in face–to–face conversations, is also displayed by referring to the addressee in the third person.[2]

Syntax

Thematic roles

In terms of case relations, "Nakanai role structure operates morphologically as follows: there are six contrastive cases, Actor, which appears as the immediately pre-verbal NP; Patient, which appears in the unmarked instance as the immediately post-verbal NP; Source; which is the NP immediately preceded by the post-verbal ablative particle le; Beneficiary, which is encoded by inalienable possession suffixation of the verb; Instrument, signaled by ablative particle le, but appearing discontinuously from it, the Patient-NP obligatorily intervening; and Goal encoded by the preposition te. "Additionally, directional verbs in chained sequence such as tavu (towards) and taro (away from) encode goal and source relationship respectively. relationships of Direction, Range, Location and comitative are encoded by prepositionally-coreferential topic deletion."[9]

Fundamental division of Nakanai cases in case relations:

  • Nuclear roles filling positions of referential prominence: actor, beneficiary, patient
  • Nuclear roles filling positions of non-referential prominence: goal, instrument, source
  • Peripheral roles (necessarily referentially non-prominent: location, direction, range, comitative

Actor

The actor is typically the animate entity credited for the action in a sentence. In Nakanai, the action includes the source, the undergoer and the experiencer of, "a caused or spontaneous process, or mental state or event." The actor noun phrase will precede the verb in the language.[9]

Patient

The patient is affected by the action or state identified by the verb in a sentence. They receive this external action or exhibit a state identified by a verb.

E

ART

Baba

Baba

kue(-a)

strike-3ps

e

ART

Bubu

Bubu

E Baba kue(-a) e Bubu

ART Baba strike-3ps ART Bubu

Baba struck Bubu

E

ART

Baba

Baba

kama-kokora

bad

E Baba kama-kokora

ART Baba bad

Baba is bad

In transitive clauses, the patient noun phrase is encoded by suffixation of the verb with a third-person singular affix -a. The accusative marking is optional for noun phrases with given information.

E

ART

Baba

Baba

kue(-a)

strike-3ps

la

ART

paia

dog

E Baba kue(-a) la paia

ART Baba strike-3ps ART dog

Baba struck the dog

Egite

they(PL)

barautu

cut

isahari

some

egite

they(PL)

siapani

Japan

Egite barautu isahari egite siapani

they(PL) cut some they(PL) Japan

they cut some Japanese soldiers

Japanese soldiers represent the new information.

The beneficiary or source noun phrases must precede the patient in a sentence, the two not being in the same sentence.

E

ART

Baba

Baba

abi-a-le

give-3ps-3psi/ART

tila-la

mother-3psi

la

ART

bua

areca nut

E Baba abi-a-le tila-la la bua

ART Baba give-3ps-3psi/ART mother-3psi ART {areca nut}

Baba gave his mother areca nuts

"The patient case appears in the nominal slot immediately following the verb, and potentially preceded by accusative suffix -a on the verb. This is the statistically most frequent occurrence of Patient."[9]

Beneficiary

These represent the animate beneficiary of the action or state identified by a verb. They are an inalienable possession marking agreeing with the beneficiary in number and person inclusiveness.[9]

Act VP Ben.

E

Baba

vitaho-a-le

Bubu

E Baba vitaho-a-le Bubu

ART baba escort-3ps-3psi/ART Bubu

Occurs mostly in ditransitive clauses, where it must occur in the nominal slot immediately following the verb:

Act VP Ven Pat

E

ART

Baba

Baba

abi-a-le

give-3ps-3psi/ART

Bubu

Bubu

la

ART

bua

areca nut

E Baba abi-a-le Bubu la bua

ART Baba give-3ps-3psi/ART Bubu ART {areca nut}

Baba gave Bubu areca nuts

Instrument

For intransitive clauses they may represent: the inanimate force

Act VP Ven Pat

E

ART

baba

baba

lea

sick

le

AB

bubuli

measlee

E baba lea le bubuli

ART baba sick AB measlee

baba is sick with measles Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

the independent non-volitional cause, animate

Act VP Ins E Baba sagege le loli

E

ART

baba

Baba

sagege

happy

le

ABL

loli

lollies

E baba sagege le loli

ART Baba happy ABL lollies

baba is happy with the lollies

inanimate

Act Modal VP INS

E

ART

baba

baba

ge

IRR

iloburuko

worry

le

ABL

amiteu

ART

 

us

E baba ge iloburuko le amiteu

ART baba IRR worry ABL ART us

baba will be worried about us Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 6 word(s) in line 1, 7 word(s) in line 2 (help);

For transitive clauses, "[the] instrument is the case of the object accessory or tool involved in performing the action of the verb." They are always inanimate. With an actor, it appears as the last noun phrase in the clause, marked with post-verbal ablative particle le. Without an actor, it may appear as the clause topic. "it is not a plausible analysis to regard le marking Instrument-NP as signalling Instrument outranked by another role (Patient), like English with, since this alternative does not explain the invariant ordering of the instrumental clause."[9]

Sources

In ditransitive clauses, the source "represents the animate origin of an action in which a patient is moved away from source-entity by [an] actor"

Act VP Src Pat

e

ART

baba

baba

abi

get

taro

away

le

ABL

bubu

bubu

la

ART

bua

areca nut

e baba abi taro le bubu la bua

ART baba get away ABL bubu ART {areca nut}

Baba took away from Bubu the areca nut

source marked by ablative particle le, appears post-verbally in first nominal slot."[9]

Goal

Goals are encoded by the free particle te. It is the case of the entity toward which the action is directed. It includes: destination, purpose, place, extent, or reason or topic of conversation. It is usually the last noun phrase in the clause.[9]

Act VP Goal

E

ART

baba

baba

sae

board

te

PREP

sipi

ship

E baba sae te sipi

ART baba board PREP ship

baba boarded the/a ship

Location

Act VP Loc

[E

ART

Baba

Baba

pou]

sit

[o-io

at-there

(te)

PREP

la

ART

hohoi].

bush

[E Baba pou] [o-io (te) la hohoi].

ART Baba sit at-there PREP ART bush

Baba stayed in the bush.

Act VP Loc

[E

ART

Baba

Baba

sae]

climb

[so-ata

to-up

(te)

PREP

la

ART

kari]

truck.

[E Baba sae] [so-ata (te) la kari]

ART Baba climb to-up PREP ART truck.

Baba climbed up onto the truck.

"Location may be optionally encoded by preposition te in addition to the coverb encoding Locative. Preposition te indicates that the embedded locative clause contains a nuclear case, viz. goal.

Depending on involvement of motion or whether the verb is transitive or not, there may be coreferential actor or patient deletion.

Act VP Pat Loc

[E

ART

Baba

Baba

paha

carve

la

ART

uaga]

canoe

[o-io

at-there

la

ART

hohoi]

bush

[E Baba paha la uaga] [o-io la hohoi]

ART Baba carve ART canoe at-there ART bush

Baba carved a canoe in the bush.

Act VP Pat Loc

[E

ART

Baba

Baba

tigitaro

pour.out

la

ART

lalu]

water

[so-talo

to-down

la

ART

magasa]

ground

[E Baba tigitaro la lalu] [so-talo la magasa]

ART Baba pour.out ART water to-down ART ground

Baba poured out the water onto the ground.

Coreferential topic deletion of actor noun phrase is not obligatory in the presence of motion verbs with the root go- 'to proceed'. "[9]

Range

Range is encoded as the goal of the direction verb kara 'until/as far as', appearing as the main verb, or in a chained sequence with another verb. "It indicates a relationship of spatial extent or temporal duration:"

Act VPP Range

[Egite

they(PL)

go-io]

go-there

[pou

sit

kara

until

(te)la

PREP

logo.]

ART

 

night

[Egite go-io] [pou kara (te)la logo.]

they(PL) go-there sit until PREP ART night

They then remained until nightfall Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 6 word(s) in line 1, 7 word(s) in line 2 (help);

"This clause shows two instances of coreferential topic deletion in clauses in chained sequence. The obligatory coreferential topic deletion of the actor noun phrase potentially appearing with kara is illustrated in the second embedded clause. Note too that the preposition in this clause is optional."[9]

Orthography

Nakanai has five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, and has the consonants p, b, t, d, k, g, s, h, r, l, n, ng.[2]

Phonology

Nakanai syllables may be of the shape V or CV, with no codas or consonant clusters to be found anywhere in the language.

Phonology of the Nakanai language:[9]

Consonant sounds
Labial Alveolar Dorsal Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d g
Nasal m (n)
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Fricative β s h
Glide (w) (j)

/i, u/ in initial position are heard as glides [j, w]. [n] is mostly replaced by /l/ and is only heard across other dialects.

Vowel sounds
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

Phonological rules

OrthographyFeature
w/u/
y/i/
v[β]
rflap/trill
/t/[ts] before i
i after tinfrequent sound
u after minfrequent sound
hnot usually articulated

Younger Bileki speakers, typically younger than 30 years old, tend to drop the /h/ sound from their speech. The Methodist parts of Nakanai also drop the /h/ sound as a result of Kuanuan language influence.

WordDropped /h/Gloss
la havila avifire
sahosaowater

The presence of English, Pidgin and Tolai brought in the change of /l/ to /n/ in areas where this change has occurred.[2]

Phonological differences

The dialects of Nakanai mainly differ in the sounds that they use.

Bileki

For the most popular dialect, Bileki, their /g/s are /d/s, /k/s are /ʔ/s, /l/s are /n/s for a number of words, and /r/s are /s/s.

Bileki also shares phonological similarities with another language in the New Britain area, Melamela, which is located east of the Maututu-speaking regions. Phonological differences lie in the different rendition of certain phonemes.

Bileki phonemeMelamela phoneme
/g//d/
/k//ʔ/
/l//n/
/r//s/

Ubae

In Ubae, the Bileki habit of dropping the /h/ sound from their speech has caused the la noun marker to turn into l- for words starting with a vowel. For example:

SentenceGloss
l-ivu-lahis/her hair
l-ase-lahis/her mouth

/k/ is present in Ubae speech, /l/ and /s/ are sometimes alternated in basic words, and the /l/ and /r/ change from their Vele neighbors is not present.

Vele

Like the Bileki dialect, the /h/ sound has been dropped from Vele speech. The /l/ is rendered as the /r/ sound, and the /k/ as the /ʔ/. Their noun marker la drops the /l/, transforming it to just a. Vele also has had contact with Bileki-speaking Methodist pastors, and thus the Methodist villages, Kaiamo and Sulu, speak a dialect that is moving closer to Bileki.

Loso/Auka

Similar to Bileki, the /h/ sound is missing. They also use the /n/ sound in place of /l/. Similar to Vele, the noun marker la is simplified to just a. Despite neighboring Vele, their /k/ sounds do not change to /ʔ/.

Maututu

Maututu's phonemic inventory shares a strong resemblance with Bileki's.[2]

Vocabulary

Speakers exposed to English borrow English lexical items, as well as mix in words from Pidgin into their speech. The practice is frowned upon, despite being widely practiced.

EnglishBorrowed
marriedmarid
greedygridi

Religion plays a part in the vocabulary used in the Nakanai-speaking regions. About 61.74% of speakers are Catholic, while the rest are Methodists of the United Church. The Catholic areas keep older Nakanai words that were replaced in other parts. Methodist areas borrow words from the Kuanuan language.

There are distinct kinship terms and their use depends on whether the person is being referred to or being addressed.[2]

ReferenceAddressGloss
e tamisa-gulavogumy cross-cousin
e tubu-gupupumy grandparent
e iva-gulaivamy brother-in-law

Nakanai has, over time, experienced lexical innovation. One driving force behind lexical innovation in the language is to be able to "discuss matters without outsiders understanding key words." An example:

SentenceGlossTranslation
e maisu-matanoun-marker straight nose'White person'

Lexical innovation also comes in the form of borrowing terms from the surrounding languages, mainly Tolai, Pidgin and English, to cover foreign objects. An example:

e morole uagae sipi (from Pidgin)'ship'

Before the borrowing of lexical terms, they would make do with creative reactions to new objects that arrived to New Britain from foreign sources.

Reactionary term (literal translation)Current termMeaning
koko-robo (excrete covering)rositirusted, rusty
la gala-muli-guaru (crawl-along-road)la karitruck, vehicle

Along with adding new terms, they have also expanded existing ones to match new experiences introduced by foreigners.

TermOriginal meaningExpanded meaning
gigi'count''read, receive, education'
kaka'ask''pray'

There are also unnecessary borrowings in the forms of functional term and calques:

Word (origin)Word (Nakanai)Meaning
oraet (Pidgin)ioge'so, well'
ma (Tolai)me'and'
Expression (literal)Meaning (original expression)
karutu gegeru ('Shaken badly')accuse (Pidgin sutim long tok)
hatamalei ('Man!')Pidgin olaman

Ubae

Ubae, compared to its neighbor Vele, has numerous lexical differences from Bileki, taking from other Eastern Nakanai dialects. For example, consider the words la voto: this means 'dog'. Voto, or 'dog', is found in the Eastern Nakanai dialects; however, Ubae still uses the Bileki article la instead of e, which is found in other Eastern Nakanai dialects.[2]

Lexicon

WordCategoryGloss
alitransitive verbgive
agiadverbtoo much
alauraadverblong ago
ale maveadverbwhich
alitransitive verbwhich
baanounarea, space
bahatransitive verbsend a person or a spoken message
balavaintransitive verbget something for nothing
baratutransitive verbcut
belonounreturn
beuaintransitive verbreturn
bisiintransitive verbsmall, young, insignificant
bisnisnounbusiness
bokisnounbox
bolonounpig
bububuadverbpointlessly
bulahuadverbfor no reason
bulitransitive verbroll
didimannounagricultural officer
gabutransitive verbthink about
gabutatalatransitive verbthink about
gabutatalalanounthinking
galenounarea, region
galiintransitive verbadvance, merge
galiliadverbaround
galoloadverbconstantly, tediously
gaurunounpath, road
gigitransitive verbcount, read
gilemulitransitive verbtell a story
gimanounappointed place
go-LOCintransitive verbgo to stated location
goloadverbdeceivingly, temporarily
gulutunouncooking
gututransitive verbcook
hagaviintransitive verbnear
hararenounbanks of river
harepalaintransitive verbopen one's mouth
haronounsun, day
(ha)ta(vi)vilenounwomen
heleintransitive verbflee, run desperately
hihilo-reduplication of hilo
hilitiintransitive verbstand up
hilotransitive verbsee
igotransitive verbdo, make
igotatahotransitive verbshow off
igovavaiintransitive verbsnigger
igogolunounwork
ilali-lanouneating
-ilolocative suffixin, inside, inland
-iolocative suffixthere
isa-nounname
kabiliintransitive verbin the middle
kakatransitive verbask, request
kaluvutransitive verbfinish
kamadanouncarpenter
kamutransitive verbgrasp
kaputransitive verbpulp

Notes

References

  • Chowning, Ann; Goodenough, Ward H. (2016). A Dictionary of the Lakalai (Nakanai) Language of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. hdl:1885/107217. ISBN 9781922185310.
  • Johnston, Raymond L. (1978). Nakanai Syntax (PhD thesis). Australian National University. doi:10.25911/5D763637B41D4. hdl:1885/10920.
  • Johnston, Raymond L. (1980). Nakanai of New Britain: The Grammar of an Oceanic Language Series. Pacific Linguistics Series B-70. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-B70. hdl:1885/148444.
  • Spaelti, Philip (1997). Dimensions of Variation in Multi-Pattern Reduplication (PhD thesis). University of California, Santa Cruz. doi:10.7282/T3NV9H3K.
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