Raga language: Difference between revisions

Raga
Raga
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Pentecost island
Native speakers	6500
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic Vanuatu Northern Vanuatu East Vanuatu Raga; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-2	map
ISO 639-3	lml

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Revision as of 23:13, 29 December 2009

Raga (also known as Hano) is the language of northern Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Raga belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages where it spoken, including Bwatvenua, Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong.

With approximately 6,500 native speakers, Raga is the second most widely-spoken of Pentecost's five native languages (after Apma), and the seventh largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. There are significant communities of Raga speakers on Maewo island and in Port Vila and Luganville as a result of emigration from Pentecost.

Modern Raga is relatively homogeneous, with no significant dialectal variation. A distinctive southern dialect of Raga, Nggasai, is now extinct; its last native speaker died in 1999.

Phonology

The consonants of Raga are b, d, g (pronounced [x] like in Scottish "loch"), h, k, l, m, n, ng (like in English "singer"), ngg (prenazalised g), r, s, t, v (commonly pronounced like English f), w, and labiovelar bw, mw and vw. In printed media, ng and ngg are generally represented by n and g with italics or macrons.

Prenasalization of consonants, such that b becomes mb and d becomes nd, occurs when the preceding consonant is a nasal one (m, n or ng). Thus mabu "rest", for example, is pronounced mambu.

Raga has the five basic vowels a, e, i, o and u. Vowels are not distinguished for length.

Word roots in Raga nearly always end with a vowel. However, word-final vowels are often dropped within phrases, so that, for example, tanga "basket" and maita "white" combine to make tang maita "white basket".

Stress occurs on the penultimate syllable of a word.

Grammar

Basic word order in Raga is subject verb object.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are distinguished by person (1st, 2nd or 3rd person) and number. They are not distinguished by gender. The singular and plural pronouns are as follows:

Person	Independent pronoun	Subject pronoun	Object pronoun	Possessive pronoun (suffixed to nouns to show posession)
1st person singular	inau "me"	na- "I"	-au "me"	-ku or -nggu "my"
2nd person singular	ginggo "you"	ko- "you"	-go "you"	-m "your"
3rd person singular	kea "him / her / it"	ge- or none "he / she / it"	-a or -e "him / her / it"	-na "his /her / its"
1st person plural (inclusive)	gida "us" (you and me)	ta- "we"	gida "us"	-da "our"
1st person plural (exclusive)	kamai "us" (me and others)	ga- "we"	kamai "us" (me and others)	-mai "our"
2nd person plural	kimiu "you" (plural)	gi- "you"	kimiu "you"	-miu "your"
3rd person plural	kera "them"	ra- "they"	-ra "them"	-ra "their"

Dual (two-person) forms are produced by the addition of ru (e.g. gidaru "us two"). Subject pronouns also have trial (three-person) forms, produced by the addition of dol or tol.

External links

The Languages of Pentecost Island - information on Raga
Ethnologue page
Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer in Raga Leo huri ganisabuga

This Vanuatu-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This Austronesian languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 |iso2=map|iso3=lml}}
-'''Raga''' (also known as Hano) is the language of northern [[Pentecost Island|Pentecost island]] in [[Vanuatu]]. Raga belongs to the [[East Vanuatu languages]], a branch of the [[Austronesian languages]] family. In old sources the languages is sometimes referred to by the names of villages where it spoken, including Bwatvenua, Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong.
+'''Raga''' (also known as '''Hano''') is the language of northern [[Pentecost Island|Pentecost island]] in [[Vanuatu]]. Raga belongs to the [[East Vanuatu languages]], a branch of the [[Austronesian languages]] family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages where it spoken, including Bwatvenua, Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong.
 With approximately 6,500 native speakers, Raga is the second most widely-spoken of Pentecost's five native languages (after [[Apma language|Apma]]), and the seventh largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. There are significant communities of Raga speakers on [[Maewo]] island and in [[Port Vila]] and [[Luganville]] as a result of emigration from Pentecost.
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ==Phonology==
-The [[consonants]] of Raga are '''b''', '''d''', '''g''' (pronounced [x] like in Scottish "loch"), '''h''', '''k''', '''l''', '''m''', '''n''', '''ng''' (like in English "singer"), '''ngg''' (prenazalised ''g''), '''r''', '''s''', '''t''', '''v''' (commonly pronounced like English ''f''), '''w''', and labiovelar '''bw''', '''mw''' and '''vw'''. In printed media, ''ng'' and ''ngg'' are generally written as ''n'' and ''g'' (respectively) with [[macrons]].
+The [[consonants]] of Raga are '''b''', '''d''', '''g''' (pronounced [x] like in Scottish "loch"), '''h''', '''k''', '''l''', '''m''', '''n''', '''ng''' (like in English "singer"), '''ngg''' (prenazalised ''g''), '''r''', '''s''', '''t''', '''v''' (commonly pronounced like English ''f''), '''w''', and labiovelar '''bw''', '''mw''' and '''vw'''. In printed media, ''ng'' and ''ngg'' are generally represented by ''n'' and ''g'' with italics or [[macrons]].
 [[Prenasalized consonant|Prenasalization of consonants]], such that ''b'' becomes ''mb'' and ''d'' becomes ''nd'', occurs when the preceding consonant is a nasal one (''m'', ''n'' or ''ng''). Thus ''mabu'' "rest", for example, is pronounced ''mambu''.
 Raga has the five basic [[vowels]] '''a''', '''e''', '''i''', '''o''' and '''u'''. Vowels are not distinguished for length.
+Word roots in Raga nearly always end with a vowel. However, word-final vowels are often dropped within phrases, so that, for example, ''tanga'' "basket" and ''maita'' "white" combine to make ''tang maita'' "white basket".
 Stress occurs on the penultimate syllable of a word.
+==Grammar==
+Basic word order in Raga is [[subject verb object]].
+===Pronouns===
+Personal pronouns are distinguished by [[Grammatical person|person]] (1st, 2nd or 3rd person) and [[Grammatical number|number]]. They are not distinguished by [[Grammatical gender|gender]]. The singular and plural pronouns are as follows:
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Person || Independent pronoun || Subject pronoun || Object pronoun || Possessive pronoun<br />(suffixed to nouns to show posession)
+|--
+| 1st person singular || ''inau''<br />"me" || ''na-''<br />"I" || ''-au''<br />"me" || ''-ku'' or ''-nggu''<br />"my"
+|--
+| 2nd person singular || ''ginggo''<br />"you" || ''ko-''<br />"you" || ''-go''<br />"you" || ''-m''<br />"your"
+|--
+| 3rd person singular || ''kea''<br />"him / her / it" || ''ge-'' or none<br />"he / she / it" || ''-a'' or ''-e''<br />"him / her / it" || ''-na''<br />"his /her / its"
+|--
+| 1st person plural<br />(inclusive)|| ''gida''<br />"us" (you and me) || ''ta-''<br />"we" || ''gida''<br />"us" || ''-da''<br />"our"
+|--
+| 1st person plural<br />(exclusive)|| ''kamai''<br />"us" (me and others) || ''ga-''<br />"we" || ''kamai''<br />"us" (me and others) || ''-mai''<br />"our"
+|--
+| 2nd person plural|| ''kimiu''<br />"you" (plural)|| ''gi-''<br />"you" || ''kimiu''<br />"you" || ''-miu''<br />"your"
+|--
+| 3rd person plural|| ''kera''<br />"them" || ''ra-''<br />"they" || ''-ra''<br />"them" || ''-ra''<br />"their"
+|}
+'''Dual''' (two-person) forms are produced by the addition of ''ru'' (e.g. ''gidaru'' "us two"). Subject pronouns also have '''trial''' (three-person) forms, produced by the addition of ''dol'' or ''tol''.
 ==External links==