Language Of Vanuatu Research Articles

On the Nature of Proto-Oceanic *o in Southern Vanuatu (and Beyond)

The languages of Southern Vanuatu are unusual among Oceanic languages in that the default reflex of Proto-Oceanic *o is front or central and unrounded, and not back and rounded. Loan phonology also suggests that /o/ was a fairly late development in Southern Vanuatu languages. While front vowels condition "palatalization" of *t in all Southern Vanuatu languages (and of *l in some), *o also conditions palatalization in some words (though not in others). Similar but not identical developments occur in some North Central Vanuatu languages and in the Western Oceanic language Mbula. This leads into an attempt to redefine the vowel system of Proto-Oceanic, suggesting that it was not in fact the five-vowel system /*i *e *a *o *u/ currently accepted. The latter is the system that emerged in various branches after the breakup of Proto-Oceanic. The evidence indicates that Proto-Oceanic itself retained Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ə. Depending on the chronology of the changes Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ay > Proto-Oceanic *e and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *aw > Proto-Oceanic *o, the Proto-Oceanic system was probably one of /*i *ə *a *o *u/, /*i *e *ə *a *u/, or / *i *e *ə *a *o *u/.

The discourse markeralein Bislama oral narratives

AbstractThis study takes us to the South Pacific and concentrates on Bislama, one of the dialects of Melanesian pidgin (Siegel 2008: 4) and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. We take a discourse analysis perspective to map out the functions ofale, a conspicuous discourse marker in conversations and narratives. UsingLabov & Waletzky (1967)model, we analyze the use ofalein narratives from the bookBig Wok: Storian blong Wol Wo Tu long Vanuatu(Lindstrom & Gwero 1998) and determine thataleis a discourse marker which indicates temporal sequence and consequence, frames speech reports and closes a digression. We conclude our study by considering a possible historical development ofale. We map out how Frenchallezcould have become Bislamaaleusing imposition and functional transfer (Siegel 2008;Winford 2013a) of vernacular discourse markers (such asgoin Nguna).

Nafsan

Nafsan (ISO 639-3: erk, Glottocode: sout2856), also known as South Efate, is a Southern Oceanic language of Vanuatu. It is spoken in Erakor, Eratap and Pango, three villages situated along the southern coast of the island of Efate (Figure 1) (Clark 1985, Lynch 2000, Thieberger 2006). Nafsan is also closely related to Eton, Lelepa, Nakanamanga and Namakura, spoken further to the north on Efate and some smaller neighbouring islands.1 Nafsan is often described as the southernmost member of the North-Central Vanuatu group of languages, and the Nafsan and Eton-speaking communities are noted to be at the core of ‘an unmistakable area of innovation’ compared to their northern neighbours (Clark 1985: 25). Though crosslinguistic comparisons suggest a clear boundary between North-Central Vanuatu languages and languages of the Southern Vanuatu group, there is evidence that Nafsan speakers have both linguistic and cultural links to the southern islands, suggestive of complex historical relationships between the populations of the central and southern regions (Lynch 2004; Thieberger 2007, 2015). In terms of the sound system, Nafsan is noted to be of particular interest because it ‘forms a transition between the phonologically more conservative languages to the north and the more “aberrant” languages to the south’ (Lynch 2000: 320), and exhibits phonotactic patterns which are complex and typologically uncommon, particularly among Oceanic languages (Thieberger 2006).

Borrowing from Bislama into Raga, Vanuatu

Abstract This paper reports on variation among speakers of Raga, an Oceanic language of Pentecost island, Vanuatu, in their use of borrowings from Bislama, the national language of Vanuatu, an English-lexifier contact language. The study measures the frequency of borrowings from Bislama in the speech of 50 speakers, surveys speakers’ strategies in assimilating loanwords into Raga and quantifies speakers’ rate of lexical replacement and insertion. This corpus of natural speech reveals an overall low incidence of borrowing from Bislama at 1.6 Bislama words per 100 recorded words. Women and younger speakers borrow more frequently from Bislama. Young speakers use borrowings in equal measure to add to their vocabulary and replace Raga words, while their elders tend to borrow from Bislama to add to their vocabulary, rather than replace Raga words.

Acoustic evidence for right-edge prominence in Nafsan.

Oceanic languages are often described as preferring primary stress on penultimate syllables, but detailed surveys show that many different types of prominence patterns have been reported across and within Oceanic language families. In some cases, these interact with segmental and phonotactic factors, such as syllable weight. The range of Oceanic prominence patterns is exemplified across Vanuatu, a linguistically diverse archipelago with over 130 languages. However, both impressionistic and instrumentally-based descriptions of prosodic patterns and their correlates are limited for languages of this region. This paper investigates prominence in Nafsan, an Oceanic language of Vanuatu for which previous observations of prominence differ. Acoustic and durational results for disyllabic and trisyllabic Nafsan words show a clear pattern of higher fundamental frequency values in final syllables, regardless of vowel length, pointing towards a preference for prominence at the right edge of words. Short vowels also show centralisation in penultimate syllables, providing supporting evidence for right-edge prominence and informing the understanding of vowel deletion processes in Nafsan.

Verbal Number in Lo–Toga and Hiw: The Emergence of a Lexical Paradigm

AbstractSeveral languages around the world encode number through a regular alternation between verb roots, in a pattern sometimes called ‘verbal number suppletion’ (Veselinova 2006). Lo–Toga and Hiw, two Oceanic languages of Vanuatu (Torres Islands), thus alternate certain verbs according to their absolutive argument's number – e.g. Hiw tō ‘go:Sing’ vs. vën ‘go:Plural’. The pattern affects 17 verb pairs in Lo–Toga, 33 in Hiw. This rich system is a local innovation in the Torres Islands, not found elsewhere in Oceanic.This structure is here analysed for the first time. Verbal number is not just agreement: its principles and categories differ from nominal number. Despite its similarity with suppletion, the structure really involves separate words, organised into a ‘lexical paradigm’ – a structured set of lexical pairs, contrasting individual vs. collective events. The comparative method helps reconstruct the system's development. A former circumfix encoding pluractionality was the source for the number alternation; yet most verbs encoded the contrast lexically, as near‐synonyms were harnessed into the emergent paradigm. Crucially, even after it was recruited into the number paradigm, each verb remained an autonomous lexeme. While nominal number belongs to the morphology, the paradigm of verbal number in the Torres languages pertains entirely to the lexicon.

‘Because, they are from here. It is their identity, and it is important’: teachers’ understanding of the role of translation in vernacular language maintenance in Malekula, Vanuatu

ABSTRACT The idea of employing culturally and linguistically appropriate resources to address disparate literacy levels and to maintain the languages and cultures of communities in the Pacific has been presented by academics from different disciplines. In 2012, a National Language Policy was endorsed in Vanuatu, accommodating the endangered vernacular languages of Vanuatu within the formal education system for the first time in the nation’s history. To implement the policy, the Ministry of Education and Training developed a plan to create vernacular resources for around half of Vanuatu’s 100+ languages. On Malekula, teachers from seven local languages were involved in the implementation plan, translating a pool of regionally sourced literacy materials into their own languages. Teachers’ beliefs about the place of the translated reading materials in language maintenance, and their understandings of local literacy and storytelling practices in Malekula, were sought through semi-structured interviews. The interviews reveal shared storytelling practices on Malekula, in both schools and communities. Further, the data reveal a clear awareness amongst the teachers of the important role of culturally accessible and linguistically relevant literacy materials in the maintenance of local languages and knowledge.

Malakula Internal Subgrouping: Phonological Evidence

The languages of Malakula belong to the Central Vanuatu subgroup of Southern Oceanic. Although many of them are not well described grammatically or lexicographically, there is sufficient information available to attempt a preliminary classification. Building on earlier work by Tryon and Clark, evidence of a phonological nature will be presented below to show that there appear to be three major lower-order groupings of Malakula languages: a Northern subgroup, an Eastern linkage, and a Western linkage. There is also some evidence that all Malakula languages probably belong to a single grouping exclusive of other Central Vanuatu languages, though this evidence is not very strong.

In Memoriam, Darrell Tryon, 1942–2013

Darrell Tryon, Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University, died in Canberra on May 15, 2013, aged 70. (1) His contributions to Pacific linguistics and language studies were diverse and prolific. Although best known for his pioneering work on languages of Vanuatu, the Solomons, and the Loyalty Islands, he did research on hundreds of languages in half a dozen areas of the Pacific islands and Australia and was a highly productive author, who (discounting new editions and translations of French or English original editions) wrote or coauthored 20 books, edited or coedited another 23, and wrote over 100 articles and a stack of book reviews, as well as jointly supervising some 30 doctoral theses. A fluent speaker of French, he also maintained an abiding interest in French South Pacific affairs. In 2004, he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French Government, in recognition of his contributions to French language and culture, especially in the Pacific, and for his work in fostering relations between Australia and France. Darrell and I were almost exact contemporaries, beginning our careers in the 1960s on opposite sides of the Tasman. He was a New Zealander who came to Australia to pursue a career in linguistics, I was an Australian who moved to New Zealand. We were both fortunate in entering academia in a decade when universities were expanding at an unprecedented rate. It was at the first international conference on Austronesian languages in Honolulu in 1974 that I first met Darrell, a tall, softly spoken fellow with a military mustache. Over the years, we corresponded and met regularly at conferences, and I made much use of some of his publications, but I got to know him much better after moving to the Australian National University in 1990. Ironically, although I was his Head of Department for 17 years, Darrell was also my boss for much of that time, in his capacity as Convenor of the Division of Society and Environment in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS). He often gave wise counsel on matters ranging from handling temperamental support staff to obtaining School funds to run conferences. Our conversations sometimes drifted from academic matters to cricket, a game we both loved. There are many kinds of linguists. There are, for instance, theoreticians who sit in their armchairs and look for universal properties of language structure and language change. There are comparative-historical linguists, who sit in their armchairs and try to reconstruct the historical development of languages. Then there are those who gather primary data by fieldwork or from other sources. Among the gatherers of primary data are those who undertake field surveys of some or all the languages of a region and those who do in-depth analysis and description of the grammars and lexicons of particular languages. And there are sociolinguists, who pay particular attention to the social contexts and functions of linguistic usages. Except for the first category, Darrell was all of these, in some measure: he did field surveys, and in-depth descriptions, and both comparative-historical and sociolinguistic work. BEGINNINGS. Darrell was bom in Christchurch on July 20, 1942, and grew up there. He completed a Bachelor's degree at the University of Canterbury in 1963, majoring in French and Classics, followed by an MA with 1st class honors in French in 1964. In his student days, he was a useful cricketer and rugby player, and later in life he continued to play golf (handicap two) and tennis. Darrell's first love at University was the French language, with a particular interest in eighteenth-century French literature. One might have expected him to go on to a career as a scholar of French language and literature, but fate led him in another direction. Before entering university, he had spent time in New Caledonia teaching English at the Polytechnic in Noumea. There he became fascinated by the diversity of indigenous languages spoken in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands (about 30 languages, all belonging to the Oceanic branch of Austronesian), and in due course he decided to do a doctorate in linguistics, a discipline that at that time was not taught at the University of Canterbury. …

Tamambo, a language of Malo, Vanuatu by Dorothy G. Jauncey (review)

Reviewed by: Tamambo, a language of Malo, Vanuatu by Dorothy G. Jauncey Daniel Kaufman Dorothy G. Jauncey. 2011. Tamambo, a language of Malo, Vanuatu. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics 622. 449 pp. ISBN 978-0-858-83633-4. $Aust. 110.00 (Australia), $Aust. 100.00 (elsewhere), paper. Tamambo is a conservative Oceanic language of the Northern Vanuatu subgroup (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002) spoken on Malo, a small island just south of the country’s largest: Santo. Tamambo is currently the only language of the island, another dialect (Tamapo) being almost extinct. Use of Tamambo is still strong, particularly on the western side of the island where it originated, and it is also spoken by sizable “off-island” communities in Vanuatu’s main towns of Luganville and Port Vila. Jauncey estimates that there are currently approximately 3,600 speakers (a rising number). Like many Vanuatu languages, however, Tamambo is being impacted by widespread use of the country’s lingua franca and national language Bislama (an English lexifier-creole). Jauncey’s grammar marks the first substantial documentation of Tamambo. Previously, only a few short wordlists and brief grammatical sketches (for example, Macdonald 1891, Tryon 1976), as well as religious materials (for example, Landels 1897, Sykes 1955), were available. Jauncey’s grammar, as well as her online Tamambo dictionary, are the product of almost 20 years of research, multiple fieldtrips, and data-collection with a vast range of speakers in Malo as well as elsewhere in Vanuatu and abroad. Jauncey’s extensive knowledge of the language, the place, and the people give this grammar a unique value. She is not only able to provide a rich grammatical description but also to offer insight on change within the linguistic community over these years, differences across age groups and populations (on and off island), and Tamambo’s evolving relationship with Bislama. The grammar is well written, with clear descriptions of grammatical features. Even those who may take issue with some of her proposals will no doubt find a great deal of value. The book is organized into fourteen chapters and also includes several glossed texts in an appendix. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the language and linguistic community, past and present, as well as discussion of previous scholarship on Tamambo, Malo Island, and other languages of the area. This is followed by the presentation of grammatical features in chapters 2–14. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the phonology.1 Jauncey posits a phonemic inventory of 16 consonants and five simple vowels. Providing correspondences between Proto-Oceanic (POc) and Tamambo, she illustrates a “strong correspondence” (24) between the two. Her proposed inventory of consonants is arguably too conservative and probably best represents the speech of only the oldest speakers. Based upon Riehl’s (2008) research as well as Jauncey’s discussion in the chapter, the bilabial fricatives /β, βʷ / are, for the [End Page 277] majority of speakers, [w, v] in all contexts; the palatal stop /ɟ/ is consistently an affricate with variable voicing [ⁿʤ] or [tʃ]. Tamambo, like a number of other Oceanic languages, has a contrast between plain and additionally labialized bilabials (mb vs. mbʷ, m vs. mʷ, β vs. βʷ). The latter sounds (also referred to as “labiovelar”) have clear lip rounding in Tamambo, whereas in other Oceanic languages the contrast may primarily manifest in quality of the following vowel without apparent rounding (see Lynch 2002 for discussion). This contrast is, however, being lost for speakers below the age of 40 (as it is in other Vanuatu languages, such as those of southwest Malakula). The segment /x/ is notable for considerable variation in its phonetic realization [ɣ, h, g, kʰ], both due to phonological conditioning and sociophonetic factors. Regarding vowels, the five simple segments /i, u, e, o, a/ can occur in sequences of up to four. Jauncey provides a nice description of vowel phenomena, including restrictions on sequences, contexts for vowel deletion, and phonetic realization in the context of stress. With clear explanations and plentiful examples, there is a great deal of useful data. In addition to the segmental descriptions, discussions of consonant cooccurrence, syllable structure ([C]V[N]), and stress, Jauncey includes sections on the structure of grammatical and phonological words and intonation...

Mood and Transitivity in South Efate

South Efate, an Oceanic language of central Vanuatu, allows the expression of temporal relations in several ways using markers of aspect and mood. Pronominal expression of arguments is obligatory and, as subject proclitics occur in one of three forms (realis, irrealis, and perfect), expression of aspect or mood is required in every sentence. South Efate is one of a group of Vanuatu languages that displays stem-initial mutation, whereby the initial consonant of a very small group of verbs changes to reflect mood. This paper presents evidence that fortis (realis) and lenis (irrealis) stem mutation also correlates with features of transitivity, not a surprising finding following the work of Hopper and Thompson. All else being equal, the fortis form of the verb occurs in clauses that have an overt expression of an object, while the lenis form occurs when there is no object in the clause. A further curiosity is that stem-initial mutation has been maintained for just a small class of verbs, so its correlation with transitivity in just this small class is all the more interesting. This paper explores the relationship between the morphological expression of mood and transitivity in South Efate, and suggests frequency of use as an explanation for the retention of this marginal system that affects only 7 percent of verb stems in the lexicon.

The dynamics of linguistic diversity: egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages

The Torres and Banks Islands, two small archipelagos of northern Vanuatu, are home to 9400 inhabitants and to 17 distinct languages. With an average of 550 speakers per language, this region constitutes an extreme case of the linguistic fragmentation which is typically observed throughout Melanesia. This study presents the linguistic diversity of that area, examines its social underpinnings and outlines its historical dynamics. These islands form an integrated network where a variety of social forces interact, sometimes in conflicting ways. A long lasting bias toward cultural differentiation of local communities has led historically to the linguistic mosaic observable today. This traditional fostering of diversity was correlated with a principle of egalitarian multilingualism. But while these ancient social attitudes have survived to this day, the linguistic diversity of northern Vanuatu has already begun to erode, due to various recent social changes. These changes have reshaped the language ecology of the region and already resulted in the partial loss of earlier linguistic diversity. While northern Vanuatu is still linguistically diverse today, the increased imbalance of power among languages potentially makes the weaker varieties vulnerable in the decades to come.

Dual and plural in languages of Vanuatu

Dual and plural in languages of Vanuatu

Ditransitive Alignment and Referential Hierarchies in Araki

Since Bossong (1985), referential hierarchies have proven useful in accounting for patterns of differential object marking (DOM) in mono‑transitive clauses. More recent studies (Siewierska 1998; Haspelmath 2005; Bickel 2008; papers in this volume) have also shown the relevance of such hierarchies in explaining the alignment patterns of ditransitive verbs – that is, how languages treat formally the Theme and the recipient or Goal. Araki, a highly endangered Oceanic language of Vanuatu, not only shows DOM with its transitive verbs, but is also sensitive to referential properties of arguments in its handling of ditransitive alignment. On a hierarchy defined by the features [±local] (i.e. speech-act participant) and [±human], the higher-ranking participant receives the status of object, while the other one is demoted to a peripheral role. The result is a pattern of regular alternation between indirective and secundative alignment, depending on the relative properties of the Theme and the Goal. The present article will describe these patterns, and discuss cases of variation. Ultimately, rules of ditransitive alignment in Araki can be explained functionally as a competition between non-agent participants on a scale of affectedness.

Phonotactics and the prestopped velar lateral of Hiw: resolving the ambiguity of a complex segment

Complex segments consisting of two phases are potentially ambivalent as to which phase determines their phonemic status – e.g. whether // is a stop or a nasal. This theoretical problem is addressed here with respect to a typologically unusual phoneme in Hiw, an endangered Oceanic language of Vanuatu. This complex segment, //, combines a velar voiced stop and a velar lateral approximant. Similar phonemes, in the few languages which have them, have been variously described as (laterally released) stops, affricates or (prestopped) laterals. The nature of Hiw // can be established from its patterning in tautosyllabic consonant clusters. The licensing of word-initial CC clusters in Hiw complies with the Sonority Sequencing Principle, albeit with some adjustments. Consequently, the well-formedness of words like /mejiŋə/ ‘berserk’ relies on // being analysed as a prestopped velar lateral approximant – the only liquid in the system.

Irrealis and Indefinites in Unua

This paper presents an account of the uses and functions of irrealis morphology on quantificational expressions in noun phrases in Unua, an Oceanic language of Vanuatu. I will show that, when present on such quantificational expressions, the irrealis morphology encodes two distinct semantic functions for the arguments so quantified. In the context of negation and/or of irrealis modality, the irrealis-marked argument identifies a low-scope existential. In contexts in which the irrealis-marked argument is the argument of an individual-level predicate, it identifies a high-scope universal.

Leo tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages (review)

Reviewed by: Leo tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages John Lynch Ross Clark . 2009. *Leo tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics 603. viii + 297 pp. ISBN 978-0-85883-600-6. $Aust. 97.90 (Australia), $Aust. 89.00 (elsewhere), paper. The northern and central islands of the Republic of Vanuatu are home to slightly less that one hundred languages. The core of this book, chapter 5, is the reconstructed lexicon of the putative common ancestor of all but two of these, Proto– North-Central Vanuatu (PNCV).1 Hence the title: if the speakers of PNCV knew about protolanguages, Leo tuai would mean 'protolanguage', being the PNCV reflexes of Proto-Oceanic (POC) *leqo- 'voice, language, etc.' and *tuqaRi 'long ago, old'. Ross Clark has been conducting linguistic research in Vanuatu since the mid-1970s. His main research focus in those days was the Polynesian Outlier Ifira-Mele, but since that language has been heavily lexically influenced by the neighboring non-Polynesian languages of Efate, he began to make comparative notes on those languages. Like Topsy, the project grew, especially after the publication of Tryon (1976), which made available basic wordlists for nearly all Vanuatu languages, and then the subsequent appearance, over the next three decades, of dictionaries and longer wordlists for quite a number of these languages. The reconstructions themselves have been "around," in various versions and various formats, for many years, and have been used and cited by a range of linguists.2 The eventual appearance of a published version is thus most welcome to those conducting research on languages of the eastern part of Oceania especially. The first four chapters provide background of various kinds to the reconstructions. Chapter 1 (1–9), "The North and Central Vanuatu languages," provides an overview of various attempts to classify these languages, from Ray in 1893, through Grace and Capell in the 1950s and 1960s and Pawley and Tryon in the 1970s, to Lynch in 2001. There is no attempt to provide the evidence on which various subgrouping hypotheses were based: that is not the purpose of the chapter, or the book. Rather, Clark states that there seems to be a general consensus that there is a North and Central Vanuatu (NCV) subgroup of Oceanic, with its two major divisions being North and Central. Important to the lexical reconstructions is Clark's concept of areas and local groups. Clark (1985) put the NCV languages into 22 "local groups," based on the cognation figures in Tryon (1976). These 22 groups themselves are placed into five "areas": two making up Northern Vanuatu, and three Central Vanuatu. No lexical item could be reconstructed for PNCV unless it had cognates in at least two of these five areal groups. [End Page 509] Chapter 2 (10–18), "Outline of comparative phonology," details the PNCV sound system and its development from POC. First, though, a word on orthography. Although Clark basically uses the same symbols as have become standard for POC (though see the discussion relating to PNCV *z and *v below), he makes three orthographic departures: the prenasalized voiced velar stop (POC *g) is written as *q in PNCV, the velar nasal (POC *d ) is written as PNCV *g, and the postvelar/glottal stop (POC *q) is written as PNCV *ʔ The major developments from POC to PNCV, according to Clark, are: 1. merger of the POC palatals *j, *c, and *s, and emergence of a new contrast of PNCV *z and *s; 2. complex attrition of POc *R: in some cases, *R is lost throughout; in some others, it merges with *r throughout, as *r; in yet others, it is retained in the far north, as *r, and lost elsewhere, and in these cases Clark reconstructs PNCV *R; 3. some loss of POc *y; 4. lenition of POC *p as *v; and 5. regular loss of POC final consonants (though see below). The consonant inventory possibly errs on the side of conservatism (by which I mean the opposite of "risk-taking" rather than "aberrancy"), though Clark himself admits that this is the case. His consonant inventory shows a merger of POC *n and *ñ as PNCV...

Mavea

Mavea is spoken on the eponymous island, Mavea, a satellite island off the east coast of Espiritu Santo Island, northern Vanuatu. The language is highly endangered. There are about 34 fluent speakers on Mavea Island (aged 30 and older), out of a total island population of around 210. There are at least another 30 Mavea speakers who have left the island permanently. These speakers now live throughout Vanuatu, mainly on Espiritu Santo Island (in the villages of Deproma and Matevulu), Aore Island, and in Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu. All Mavea speakers are bilingual in Bislama, one of the official languages of Vanuatu.

Morphological Conditions on Regular Sound Change?: A Reanalysis of *l-loss in Paamese and Southeast Ambrym

Northern Paamese and Southeast Ambrym, two languages of Central Vanuatu, share a set of sound changes involving vocalization and loss of *l. One subpart of this sound change results in loss of *l word-initially before nonhigh vowels. An interesting aspect of this sound change is that it appears to apply in all word classes except verbs. Indeed, Crowley (1997) suggests that Northern Paamese *l-loss is a clear case of sound change with grammatical conditioning. In this paper we suggest that phonological and morphological aspects of verbal inflectional paradigms have given rise to the apparent exceptionality of *l-loss in these two languages. Phonological factors result in continuation of *l, while the structure of inflectional paradigms has given rise to analogical restoration of initial /l/ in all verbs where it is expected to be lost. Under this analysis, initial *l-loss can be seen to have applied without exception, and without grammatical conditioning.

The Language of Lapita: Vanuatu and an Early Papuan Presence in the Pacific

The languages of Vanuatu are uniformly Austronesian, but have long been described as “aberrant.” Blust (2005) points out a number of morphosyntactic features of the Vanuatu languages that might provide evidence for a Papuan element in their history. We add to that argument, presenting phonological evidence that links the languages of Vanuatu and New Caledonia with the non-Austronesian languages of New Guinea. Accepting that the earliest archaeological sites in Vanuatu are Lapita sites, we suggest that this implicates non-Austronesian speaking Melanesians in the earliest occupancy of the islands, calling into question assumptions that the Lapita expansion in the Pacific can be unproblematically associated with the expansion of Austronesian languages of the Oceanic subgroup.