| Apma | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in | Vanuatu |
| Region | Pentecost island |
| Native speakers | 7800 (date missing) |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | app |
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.
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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.
Clusters of consonants cannot occur within a syllable. Unlike in closely related Raga language, word roots in Apma can end with a consonant.
In archaic and northern varieties of Apma, prenasalization of consonants occurs in some environments, so that b becomes mb, d becomes nd, and g becomes ngg. This feature has been lost in modern Suru Mwerani dialect.
Apma's five vowels come in short forms (a, e, i, o and u) and long forms (aa, ee, ii, oo and uu). Long vowels typically occur where a consonant (most commonly r) has historically been lost. Vowels can occur alone or in various combinations. The combination iu has a distinctive rounded pronunciation.
Stress is normally on the penultimate syllable of a word. However, syllables that end with a consonant or a long vowel take stress in precedence to other syllables.
Basic word order in Apma is subject–verb–object. Occasionally, a subject may occur out of its usual position, in which case it is marked with na:
Personal pronouns are distinguished by person and number. They are not distinguished by gender. The basic pronouns differ substantially between dialects:
| Person | Apma (Suru Mwerani dialect) |
Apma (Suru Rabwanga dialect) |
Apma (Suru Kavian dialect) |
English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | nana | nana | ina | "me" |
| 2nd person singular | kik | nggi | nggu | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | ni | ni | ini | "him / her / it" |
| 1st person dual (inclusive) | kuduru | kunduru | kindiri | "us" (you and me, two of us) |
| 1st person dual (exclusive) | gemaru | nggemaru | inggari | "us" (me and another) |
| 2nd person dual | gumru | nggimiru | nggumiri | "you (two)" |
| 3rd person dual | nuuru | nuuru | iniiri | "them (two)" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | kidi | kindi | kindi | "us" (you and me) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | gema | nggema | ingga | "us" (me and others) |
| 2nd person plural | gimi | nggimi | nggumi | "you" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | nii | nii | inii | "them" |
The dual or plural form of "you" is occasionally used in place of the singular form to show extreme respect.
Nouns in Apma are generally not preceded by articles. Plurality is indicated by placing the pronoun nii ("them") or a number after the noun:
Nouns may be either free, or directly possessed. Directly possessed nouns are suffixed to indicate whom an item belongs to. For example:
Possession may also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:
The possessive suffixes are as follows:
| Person | Apma (Suru Mwerani dialect) |
Apma (Suru Rabwanga dialect) |
Apma (Suru Kavian dialect) |
English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | -k | -ngg + vowel | -ngg + vowel | "of mine" |
| 2nd person singular | -m | -m | -m | "of yours" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | -n | -n | -n | "of his/hers/its" |
| 1st person dual (inclusive) | -daru | -nd + vowel + ru | -nd + vowel + ri | "of ours" (yours and mine, two of us) |
| 1st person dual (exclusive) | -maru | -maru | -mari | "of ours" (mine and another's) |
| 2nd person dual | -mru | -muru | -miri | "of yours" (two of you) |
| 3rd person dual | -ru | -ru | -ri | "of theirs" (two of them) |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | -da | -nd + vowel | -nd + vowel | "of ours" (yours and mine) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | -ma | -ma | -ma | "of ours" (mine and others') |
| 2nd person plural | -mi | -mi | -mi | "of yours" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | (lengthened vowel) | (lengthened vowel) | (lengthened vowel) | "of theirs" |
| Generic | -kte | -k | -k | - |
In Suru Kavian dialect, vowels in certain directly possessed nouns and possessive classifiers change according to the pattern illustrated below. This does not occur in other dialects:
| 1st person singular | nonggo bu "my knife" |
vilunggu "my hair" |
| 2nd person singular | nom bu "your knife" |
vilum "your hair" |
| 3rd person singular | nen bu "his/her knife" |
vilin "his/her hair" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) |
nende bu "our knife" |
vilindi "our hair" |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) |
noma bu "our knife" |
viluma "our hair" |
| 2nd person singular | nomi bu "your knife" |
vilumi "your hair" |
| 3rd person singular | nee bu "their knife" |
vilii "their hair" |
A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -an:
Modifiers generally come after a noun:
Verbs in Apma are usually preceded by a subject pronoun and by a marker indicating the tense, aspect and mood of the action.
The subject pronouns are as follows:
| Person | Apma | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | na- | "I" |
| 2nd person singular | ko- | "you" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | - | "he" / "she" / "it" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | ta- | "we" (you and I) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | kaa(ma)- | "we" (others and I) |
| 2nd person plural | ka- (ko...i in Suru Kavian dialect) |
"you" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | ra- | "they" |
Apma has five sets of tense/aspect/mood markers:
| Tense / Aspect / Mood | Used for | Marker (full form) | Marker (short form) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective | Actions in the present tense Temporary or changing states A 'default' marker when the tense/aspect/mood has already been set |
mwa-, mwe-, mwi-, mwo-, mu- | -m |
| Perfective | Actions in the past tense Fixed states Negative phrases in either past or present tense |
te- | -t |
| Potential | Things that may happen in the future | mwan(e)- (nee- in northern and archaic Apma) |
-n (replaced with a long vowel in northern and archaic Apma) |
| Prospective | Things that are about to happen | nema- | -ma |
| Hypothetical | Things that have not happened and probably won't | bat(e)- | -bat |
The full forms of these markers are used in the 3rd person singular (where there is no subject pronoun):
Elswhere, short forms of these markers are suffixed to the subject pronoun:
The imperfective marker alters to some extent to match the sound of the verb it is attached to. It is usually absent altogether when the verb begins with b or m. (In Suru Kavian dialect, it is absent when the verb begins with any consonant other than r.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:
Dual (two-person) forms consist of the plural forms with ru (or ri in Suru Kavian) inserted after the tense/aspect/mood marker:
There is a pattern of verb-consonant mutation whereby v at the start of a verb changes to b, and w changes to bw, in certain aspects/moods:
In northern and archaic varieties of Apma, there is also mutation of k to g, and of t to d.
Negative phrases are indicated with the two-part marker ba...nga "not", or a variant, which encloses the verb and any direct object:
The passive voice can be formed by attaching the suffix -an to the verb:
In the imperative, verbs are preceded simply by the 2nd person subject pronoun ko or karu "you":
Prohibitions are marked with ba...an:
Other particles that can occur in a verb phrase include:
The direct object, if one is present, immediately follows the verb. When the object is already known, it need not be stated explicitly:
Many verbs in Apma have distinct transitive and intransitive forms. (These distinctions have been lost to some extent in Suru Kavian dialect.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:
| Intransitive | Transitive |
|---|---|
| gan "to eat" | gani "to eat something" |
| min "to drink" | -mni "to drink something" |
| rong "to hear" | rongo "to hear something" |
| solsol "to do the sewing" | -slo "to sew something" |
| lehlehvik "to do the washing" | lehvi "to wash something" |
| diptsipmik "to perform a burial" | dipmi "to bury something" |
In Suru Mwerani dialect, and to a lesser extent Suru Rabwanga, vowels have been lost from a number of verb roots, producing 'bound verbs' which begin with a pair of consonants (such as -mni and -slo above). Since clusters of consonants within a syllable are prohibited in Apma, speakers usually cite these verbs with a prefix such as mwa- attached (mwamni, mwaslo), and do not identify them as words when unprefixed.
In addition to verbs denoting actions, Apma has a large number of stative verbs that describe an item. For example, there is a verb "to be red" (meme) and a verb "to be good" (gabis). Apma uses stative verbs in many of the situations where adjectives would be used in English.
Unlike neighbouring Raga language, Apma has a copular verb, (v)i or bi. The phrase tei... meaning "it was..." (tevi... in Suru Kavian) is commonly used to focus attention on something or to set the scene.
Verbs in Apma can be linked together in a variety of serial verb constructions.
| English | Apma (Suru Mwerani dialect) |
Apma (Suru Rabwanga dialect) |
Apma (Suru Kavian dialect) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where are you going? | Ko ban ibeh? | Ko ban imbeh? | Ko ban al beh? |
| I'm going to... | Na ban... | Na mban... | Na mban... |
| Where have you come from? | Ko tepma ibeh? | Ko tepma ibeh? | Kot vama al beh? |
| I've come from... | Na tepma... | Na tepma... | Nat vama... |
| Where is it? | Mwidi ibeh? | Mwindi ibeh? | Si al beh? |
| It's here | Mwidi dokah | Mwindi dokah | Si inda |
| What's your name? | Ham ah itan? | Ham ah idan? | Am ah idan? |
| My name is... | Hak ah... | Hangga ah... | Angga ah... |
| Where are you from? | Kik atsi at ibeh? | ngGi atsi at ibeh? | ngGu asi at beh? |
| I am from... | Nana atsi at... | Nana atsi at... | Ina asi at... |
| How much? / How many? | Kavih? | Kavih? | Kaivih? |
| one | bwaleh | bwaleh | bwaleh |
| two | karu | karu | kairi |
| three | katsil | katsil | kaitil |
| four | kavet | kavet | kaivas |
| five | kalim | kalim | kailim |
| Thank you | Ko biah | Ko bivah | Ko mudak |
| It's just fine | Te gabis nge | Te kabis nge | Te kabis nga |
Notes on the grammar and vocabulary of Apma language were first made by Catholic missionaries at Melsisi in the early 20th century.
Cindy Schneider of the University of New England completed a description of the Suru Mwerani dialect of Apma language in 2008. Following Schneider's work, Pascal Temwakon and Andrew Gray produced Bongmehee, an illustrated dictionary of the language.
The other two dialects of Apma remain poorly documented.