Phoneme inventory

Neve’ei contains 5 vowels and 20 consonants:

By comparison with other languages of the world,^[3] such a phoneme inventory classifies Neve’ei in the average range regarding vowels (5-6) as well as regarding consonants (22 ± 3). The consonant-vowel ratio classifies Neve’ei in the low band.

Phoneme properties

The table above indicates that the segments /t/, /k/ and /ʔ/ can be understood as voiceless stops at the alveolar, velar and glottal positions of articulation (Musgrave, 2007, p. 6). The segment /t/ can be understood as a voiceless alveolar stop in each position: initial, medial and final. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 6):

The segment /k/ can be understood as a voiceless velar stop (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7). It rarely appears with non-borrowed lexical root forms and is only found within the root /niaɾekaʔa-n/ ‘fin-CONST’ (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7).

The segment /ʔ/ can be understood as a glottal stop and appears in all positions, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7):

The segments /bʷ/, /b/, /d/ and /g/ are voiced stops at the labio-velar, bilabial, alveolar and velar positions of articulation (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7). The labio-velar stop /bʷ/ can be understood as a prenasalised bilabial stop that is voiced, involving the rounding of lips and an audible labio-velar, semi-vowel offset (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7). It can be identified in initial as well as medial positions, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7):

The bilabial stop /b/ can be understood as a prenasalised stop that is voiced [ᵐb] found in initial and medial positions, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7):

The segment /d/ is an alveolar stop that differs from other prenasalised stops in that it can be found in all positions (initial, medial and final) (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7). In initial and medial positions, it appears as a prenasalised voiced stop [ⁿd]. Examples include (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7):

The phonetic variations of [ⁿd], [ⁿt], [ndɾ] and [nɾ] can be found when /d/ occurs in final position (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7). Examples include (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7):

Finally, the velar stop /g/ can be understood as a voiced homorganic prenasalised stop [ᵑg] which can be found in initial and medial positions, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 7-8):

The following phonemes /mʷ/, /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/ are voiced nasals occurring at the labio-velar, bilabial, alveolar and velar positions of articulation (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8). The phoneme /mʷ/ appears in initial and medial positions, involving the rounding of lips and an audible labio-velar, semi-vowel offset. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8):

The segment /m/ can be understood as a voiced bilabial nasal in each position, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8):

The segment /n/ can be understood as a voiced alveolar nasal in each position, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8):

Finally, the segment /ŋ/ can be understood as a voiced velar nasal in each position, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8):

The phonemes /vʷ/, /v/, /s/, /x/ and /h/ can be understood as fricatives at the labio-velar, labio-dental, alveolar, velar and glottal positions of articulation (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8). The segment /vʷ/ is a labio-velar fricative involving the rounding of lips and an audible labio-velar, semi-vowel offset (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8). In initial position it is voiceless but can be optionally voiced intervocalically and does not appear in final position. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 8-9):

The segment /v/ can be understood as a labio-dental fricative (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9). In initial and final positions it is voiceless however, it can be voiced intervocalically. In some cases such as in syllable-final positions before /m/ and /b/, /v/ can be understood as [p] while in other syllable-final positions, there is variation between [f] and [p] (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9). For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9):

The segment /s/ can be understood as a voiceless alveolar grooved fricative (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9). If /s/ follows /n/ it is understood as the affricate [tʃ] in initial and medial positions but is understood as [s] in final positions. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9):

The segment /x/ can be understood as a velar fricative that is voiceless in initial and final positions but can be optionally voiced intervocalically. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9):

The segment /h/ can be understood as a glottal fricative that is voiceless (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9). It is attested in final positions with the exception of /ahau/ (which means ‘no’ in answer to an affirmative question or ‘yes’ in answer to a negative question) (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9). It is attested in medial positions such as /eheʔ/ ‘no’ (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9). For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9):

The segment /l/ can be understood as an alveolar lateral that is voiced (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9). It can be identified in all positions, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 9-10):

The segment /ɾ/ can be understood as an alveolar flap that is voiced (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10). It can be identified in all positions, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10):

The glides /w/ and /j/ can only be found in syllable-initial positions (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10). The segment /w/ is s a semi-vowel that can be understood as a labio-velar approximate [w] that is voiced (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10). For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10):

The segment /j/ is a semi-vowel that can be understood as a palatal approximate that is voiced (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10). For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10):

Consonant phoneme contrasts

The consonants that are phonetically similar in Neve’ei can be contrasted in the following ways (Musgrave, 2007, p. 10-11):

Neutralisation of labial consonants

Contrasts between plain labials /m/, /v/ and /b/ and labio-velars /mʷ/, /vʷ/ and /bʷ/ are neutralised in circumstances such as before front vowels /i/ and /e/. Examples include (Musgrave, 2007, p. 11):

When these consonants precede rounded vowels such as /o/ and /u/ there is no contrast and only plain labials, examples include (Musgrave, 2007, p. 11):

Vowel phonemes

The table above (Musgrave, 2007, p. 12) indicates that the vowel /i/ can be understood as a tense high front unrounded vowel (Musgrave, 2007, p. 12). When the vowel is followed by a nasal or a prenasalised consonant and in closed syllables that end in a non-liquid alveolar consonant, it can be understood as the lax high front vowel [ɪ] (Musgrave, 2007, p. 12). For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 12):

The vowel /u/ can be understood as a high back rounded vowel. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 13):

The vowel /e/ can be understood as a mid front unrounded vowel. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 13):

The vowel /o/ can be understood as a mid back rounded vowel. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 13):

The vowel /a/ can be understood as a low front unrounded vowel. For example, (Musgrave, 2007, p. 13):

Vowel phoneme contrasts

The forms listed below provide contrast between the five vowel phonemes in the Neve’ei language (Musgrave, 2007, p. 13):

Phonotactics

Stress

In Neve'ei, stress is predictable in which the primary stress lies on the penultimate syllable where the last two syllables contain single vowels, for example (Musgrave, 2007, p. 21):

Pronouns

Nouns

In Neveʻei, similar to most Oceanic Languages, nouns do not change.^{[M 14]} The inflection of nouns by numbers does not occur and instead postmodifiers are used.^{[M 14]} Only two types of possession exist in Neveʻei.^{[M 14]} These are direct and indirect. For a directly possessed noun, a suffix is attached directly to the noun itself and for an indirectly possessed noun, a possessive postmodifier appears before the noun.

Most often, directly possessed nouns have stems ending in vowels, however there are also instances in which stems ending in non-nasal alveolar consonants t, s, l and r occur (Musgrave, 2007). The following table provides examples of both instances (Musgrave, 2007 p. 33):

(More on directly possessed nouns below: 5.1 Directly possessed nouns)

Numerals

Person markers

In Neve’ei, subject verbal prefixes are obligatory and indicate the person and number of the subject. There are two complete sets of prefixes: one for realis mood and the other for irrealis. Unlike the pronoun systems, there is no distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person, and dual prefixes are always used with dual referents. There is no set of affixes encoding the person and number of objects. Vowels in some of these prefixes may change according to the first vowel in the verb stem; this is a process of progressive assimilation at a distance.^{[M 19]}

Example:^{[M 21]}

The third person singular realis prefix is sometimes realised as ∅- in various environments. This is more common with certain verbs, especially verbs where the stem begins with s.

Example:^{[M 22]}

Verbal prefixes ending in t also often lose the t before verb roots beginning with s.

Example:^{[M 22]}

Reduplication in Neveʻei

Reduplication is most commonly used in Neveʻei to indicate things such as intensity, prohibition, reciprocity and habitual aspects and is also sometimes used in order to differentiate between transitive and intransitive forms of a verb.^{[M 23]} The most common method of reduplication in Neveʻei is the repeating of the first syllable in the verb stem.^{[M 23]}

This example shows reduplication to express a habitual aspect.^{[M 23]}

This example shows reduplication to express prohibition.^{[M 23]}

This example shows reduplication to express reciprocity.^{[M 23]}

This example shows reduplication to express intensity.

Transitive suffix

In Neveʻei transitive and intransitive verbs are represented by a technique in which intransitive verbs become transitive through the addition of a suffix -V(vowel)n to the end of an intransitive verb stem.^{[M 24]}

The suffix to make verbs transitive has three allomorphs. They are:

• -on ~ -en (used for verb stems ending in oC (consonant)).^{[M 24]}
• -an ~ -en (used for verb stems ending in aC (consonant) where the consonant is also glottal or velar).^{[M 24]}
• -en (used elsewhere).^{[M 24]}

Apart from addition of the suffix, there are two other methods to differentiate between intransitive and transitive verbs.

One other way is for both transitive and intransitive verbs to have very different forms of expression.^{[M 24]}

The final way for intransitive and transitive verbs to differentiate from each other is through reduplication.^{[M 25]}

Negation

In Neve'ei negation is marked by the simulfixes sV- ... -si 'not' and sV- ... -vang(an) 'not yet'. The prefixed element of the negative marker directly follows the subject prefix and precedes the verb stem while the suffixed element is always the final morpheme of the verb.^{[M 27]} The prefixed element sV- is used in both negative simulfixes with the realisation of V- depending on a process of vowel harmony. The suffixed element -si remains the same following both transitive and intransitive verbs, however the -vang(an) element from the other simulfix is -vang following intransitive verbs and -vang-an (here -an can be described as a realisation of the transitive suffix -Vn) after transitive verbs.^{[M 28]}

The following examples^{[M 29]} show how the negative simulfixes are used with the intransitive verb nonong 'finish' and the transitive equivalent nonong-on 'finish (something)'.

When a sentence containing a verb with the completive suffix -i is negated the simulfix usually replaces the completive suffix as in the following example where mah-i becomes mah-vang-an in the negative version.^{[M 30]}

Demonstratives

There are five determiners in Neve’ei: the proximate demonstrative nene, the intermediate demonstrative nenana, and the distant demonstrative nenokhoi, the anaphoric demonstrative nge, and the indefinite postmodifier tuan.

The demonstratives show a three-way distinction in space and time: near, intermediate, and distant, as well as an anaphoric demonstrative used for items already mentioned. This three-way distinction is common in the Pacific, with a mean 2.7 distance contrasts.^[4] A three-way distinction is also the most common form of deixis among languages in and around Vanuatu, with three of the four languages cited in the World Atlas of Language Structures Online (WALS) having a three-way distinction.

Much like the vast majority of languages around Vanuatu and neighbouring Austronesian speaking regions, Neve’ei follows a Noun-Demonstrative pattern,^[5][6] where a demonstrative follows the noun head and any adjectival or possessive postmodifiers.

Both a three-way distinction and the Noun-Demonstrative pattern are thought to be features retained by Neve’ei from Proto-Oceanic.^[7]

In Neve’ei, nouns with indefinite reference are given the indefinite postmodifier tuan, while nouns with definite reference are either given the appropriate demonstrative or left unmarked. Musgrave suggests that since many Neve’ei nouns begin with nV, the Proto-Oceanic article *na attached to the noun and became a part of the noun root, meaning speakers no longer needed to mark the definite article.^[6]

The three non-anaphoric forms of the demonstrative have the same initial element ne-, similar to how nouns often appear in the language. The demonstratives also have final forms identical to how Neve’ei indicates other locational forms which also have three-way distinctions, for example, utne, ‘in this place, here’, utnang, ‘in that place, there’, and utnokhoi, ‘in that place, over there’.

The demonstrative nene indicates that the noun is close to the speaker.

The demonstrative nenang is most commonly used to mark temporal orientation rather than spatial.^[6]

The demonstrative nge is an anaphoric demonstrative meaning it is used to refer to a noun that has already been introduced. It is identical in form to the pronominal trace, which marks the original site of a noun phrase in a relative clause.^[6]

The anaphoric demonstrative cannot only be used after a noun has been marked by tuan to be used in later references. In the example above, natuturmwitiyilian ‘story’ is first modified by a relative clause marked by nen, then later referred to with the anaphoric demonstrative.^[6]

Grammatically, the anaphoric demonstrative nge behaves differently from the three other demonstratives in Neve’ei in that it can only ever function as a nominal postmodifier, while the other determiners can occur as both nominal postmodifiers and nominal phrase heads.^[6] This example shows the proximate demonstrative nene used as the head of a nominal phrase:

Spatial Deictics

Directly possessed nouns

Extending on directly possessed noun stems in section 4.2. Nouns, when these directly possessed nouns appear to have a nominal possessor that is when the directly possessed nouns do not refer to a particular possessor, a suffix which is identical to the person singular pronominal suffix –n, known as a construct suffix (Musgrave, 2007). The construct suffixes are depicted in the table below:

The construct suffix –ing/im is attached to –iC (where C is consonant) root stems, whereas –ung/um suffixes follow noun stem roots ending in all other consonants. Additionally, noun roots that end in a vowel have the suffix –ng/-m attached.

Some examples from Musgrave's (2007, p. 34) grammar include:

• nemelnibis-ing – ‘my saliva’
• nemelnibis-im – ‘your saliva’
• nemelnibis-n – ‘his/her saliva’

Unlike many other languages closely related to Neve’ei, the patterns for directly suffixed nouns are not as complicated. As many of the closely related languages have distinct pronominal suffixes that correspond to both singular and non-singular pronouns independent pronouns, Neve’ei is moving away from a rigid difference between how pronominal and nominal possession is demonstrated (Musgrave, 2007).

According to Musgrave's (2007) grammar findings, when found without a reference to a specific possessor, directly possessed nouns are displayed in their construct form, and the third person non-singular independent pronoun –ar and the plural postmodifier –ar are identical, their semantics must be worked out in context. For instance, depending on the context nat-n ar could be translated to ‘the children’, with the plural postmodifier, or ‘their children’, possession (Musgrave, 2007, p. 35).

E.g.:

However, determining the differences between the uses of the singular pronominal possessor constructions, it has been found that pronominal suffix formations are used more often for third person singular possessors and for first person singular possessors as a term of address, in narratives (Musgrave, 2007).

Nominal possession

Complex possessive constructions

Musgrave's (2007) grammar book identifies that Neve’ei, like most languages, has two main types of possession, direct and indirect possession. The constructions of possession show how the language has deviated from typical rules of grammar from Proto Oceanic language system and other languages of Vanuatu. A main difference identified in Musgrave's (2007) grammar is that Neve’ei does not juxtapose different indirect possessive subtypes and its direct possessive forms are reduced to singular pronominal possessors, as opposed to the Proto Oceanic system.