Paama language
| Paamese | |
|---|---|
| Paama | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
|
Native speakers
|
6,000 (1996) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | paam1238 |
Paamese, or Paama, is the language of the island of Paama in Northern Vanuatu. There is no indigenous term for the language; however linguists have adopted the term Paamese to refer to it. Both a grammar and a dictionary of Paamese have been produced by Terry Crowley.
Paamese is an Austronesian language of Vanuatu. It is most closely related to the language of Southeastern Ambrym. The two languages, while sharing 60-70% of the lexical cognate, are not mutually intelligible.
Paama itself is a small island in the Malampa Province. The island is no more than 5 km wide and 8 km long. There is no running water on the island except after heavy storms.
In the 1999 census in Vanuatu, 7000 people identified as Paamese. 2000 on the island itself and others through the urban hubs of Vanuatu, particularly Port Vila.
Paamese spoken in different parts of the island (and then those on other islands) does differ slightly phonologically and morphologically but not enough to determine definite ‘dialects splits’. Even in the extreme north and extreme south, places with the biggest difference, both groups can still communicate fully. There is no question of mutual intelligibility being impaired.
Stress is phonologically distinctive in Paamese.
There is a Paamese orthography which has been in use for over 75 years which accurately represents almost all of the consonant phonemes. The only point of difference is the labial fricative, which, although voiceless in most environments, is written ⟨v⟩. The velar nasal is written with the diagraph ⟨ng⟩. A long vowel is written with a macron over the vowel: ⟨ā, ē, ī, ō, ū⟩.
In Paamese nominals can occur in four environments:
There are four major classes of nominals:
Free pronouns in paamese:
The paucal is generally used for numbers in the range of about 3 to 6, and the plural is generally used for numbers greater than 12. In the range 6 to 12, whether a speaker of Paamese uses paucal or plural is dependent on what the thing being spoken about is contrasted with. For example one’s patrilineage will be referred to paucally when it is contrasted with that of the whole village but plurally when it is contrasted with just the nuclear family. The paucal is also sometimes used even when it is referring to a really big number if it is contrasted with an even bigger number. For example comparing the population of Paama with that of Vanuatu as a whole. However using the paucal with numbers above a dozen is rare.
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