Apma language
| Apma | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Pentecost Island |
|
Native speakers
|
7,800 (2001) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | apma1240 |
Apma (or Abma) is the language of central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Apma belongs to the East Vanuatu languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages family.
With an estimated 7,800 native speakers (in the year 2000), Apma is the most widely spoken of Pentecost's native languages, and the fifth largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. In recent times Apma has spread at the expense of other indigenous languages such as Sowa and Ske. Apma is increasingly mixed with words and expressions from Bislama, Vanuatu's national language.
Like Pentecost's other languages, Apma is named after the local word for "what" or "something". Locally it is usually referred to simply as dalekte "language" or daleda "our language". Many people from other areas of Vanuatu recognise the language by the catchphrase te gabis meaning "good" or "OK", or refer informally to its speakers as wakin, an Apma term of address for brothers or friends.
Some linguists treat the Apma sound p as an allophone of b, and thus write the language's name as Abma. However, this interpretation of the language's phonology is disputed, and locally Apma is the preferred spelling.
Modern Apma has three well-defined dialects:
Mwerani and rabwanga are the words for "today" in their respective dialects, while bo and kavi are the words for "pig".
Two other probable Apma dialects, Asuk (or Asa) in the south-west and Wolwolan (or Volvoluana) in the north, are now extinct.
The consonant phonemes of Apma are b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng (as in English "singer"), r, s, t, ts (or j), bilabial v, w, and labiovelar bw and mw. The consonants b, bw, v and w are realised as p where they occur at the end of a syllable; b may also be devoiced to p when next to an unvoiced consonant, as in -tpo "lie down".
Clusters of consonants cannot occur within a syllable. Unlike in closely related Raga language, word roots in Apma can end with a consonant.
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