Saa language

Not to be confused withSa'a language.

Saa
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Pentecost Island
Native speakers	2,500 (2001)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu Central Vanuatu Saa
Dialects	Ponorwal Lolatavola Ninebulo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sax
Glottolog	saaa1241
Sa is not endangered according to the classification system of theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger

SaorSaa languageis anAustronesian languagespoken in southernPentecost Island,Vanuatu.It had an estimated 2,500 speakers in the year 2000.

Dialects and range

Sa has numerous dialects, with no well-established names or boundaries. At a meeting in 2008, speakers recognised four main dialects, with sub-dialectal variation and mi xing of dialects in some areas.

The two central dialects are relatively similar to one another and are generally understood by all Sa speakers. Most writing and research in Sa has been in one of these dialects:

• A western dialect ( "Saa" with a longa) is spoken on the west coast around Panas, Wali, Panngi and Ranputor.
• An eastern dialect ( "Sa" with a shorta) is spoken in the south-east around Ranwas. A variant of this dialect with longer vowels in certain words is spoken at Poinkros in the far south, and is used in the Bible Society's recent Gospel translations.

There are also two outlying dialects, which are highly distinctive and difficult for speakers of other dialects to understand:

• A northern dialect ( "F dialect" ), characterised by the presence of anfsound, is spoken in the north of the Sa area, at St Henri (Fatsare) and by some at Ran'gusuksu. It has close links with neighbouringSke languageand with Doltes, the extinct dialect of Hotwata village.
• A southern dialect ( "Ha" ), notable for the widespread replacement ofswithh,is spoken in Bay Martelli (Harop) and Londar, and has close links with the languages of neighbouringAmbrymisland.

The distinctive speech of villages such asBunlap,Bay Barrier (Ranon) and Wanur appears to comprise mixtures of neighbouring dialects.

People in southern Pentecost remember the existence of additional dialects that are now extinct.

Phonology

Theconsonantsof Sa includeb,d,g,h,k,l,m,n,ng(as in English "singer" ),p,r,s,t,andw.In most dialects there is alsoj(occasionally written "ts" ), which is apparently anallophoneoftfound before the vowelsiandualthough speakers regard it separately. Most speakers also use labiovelarbw,mwandpw,although from some speakers of outlying dialects these are indistinguishable from normalb,mandp.In addition to these consonants, the northern dialect has a bilabialf.In this dialectsmay be pronounced like Englishsh.

Consonants

		Labial	Labiovelar	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	mʷ	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	pʷ	t		k
	voiced	b	bʷ	d		g
Affricate				(t͡s)
Fricative		(f)		s	(ʃ)		h
Approximant			w	l
Trill				r

As a general rule, clusters of consonants do not occur within a syllable. Word roots may begin with a pair of consonants, but in speech the first of these consonants is usually either dropped or attached to the final syllable of the preceding word.

In addition to the five standardvowels(a,e,i,oandu), certain authorshave proposed that Sa has additional mid-high vowelsê(intermediate betweeneandi) andô(intermediate betweenoandu). Not all authors have recognised these extra vowels, but they have been accepted by local teachers of vernacular literacy and are used in the Bible Society's recent Gospel translations. Vowels are distinguished for length, with long vowels (aa,ee,etc.) often occurring where a consonant has historically been lost. Vowels can occur alone or in various combinations.

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.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	iiː		uuː
Mid-High	(eeː)		(ooː)
Mid	e̞e̞ː		o̞o̞ː
Low		aaː

Grammar

Basic word order in Sa issubject–verb–object.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are distinguished bypersonandnumber.They are not distinguished bygender.With one exception, subject and object pronouns are identical.

The singular and plural pronouns are as follows:

		Singular	Plural
1st person	inclusive	nê	kê(t)
	exclusive		gema
2nd person		êk ( "o" in subject position)	gimi
3rd person		i	êr

In addition, there aredualpronouns (referring to two people), which incorporate the particlekô,andpaucalpronouns (referring to a small number of people), which incorporate the particletêlorpat.

Nouns

Nouns in Sa are not preceded byarticles.Pluralityis indicated by placing the pronounêr( "them" ) or a number after the noun.

Nouns may be eitherfree,ordirectly possessed.Directly possessed nouns are followed either by a suffix or a noun indicating whom an item belongs to. For example:

sêk= my name

sêm= your name

sên= his/her name

sêtemak= my father's name

The possessive suffixes are as follows:

		Singular	Plural
1st person	inclusive	-k	kêt
	exclusive		gma
2nd person		-m	gmi
3rd person	human	-n	-r
	non-human	-tê

Possession may also be indicated by the use of the wordna-"of" (ora-in the case of food items), followed either by a possessive suffix or the name of the possessor:

nak ôl= my coconut (belonging)

nam ôl= your coconut (belonging)

nan ôl= his/her coconut (belonging)

ôl na selak= my brother's coconut (belonging)

ak ôl= my coconut (to eat)

am ôl= your coconut (to eat)

an ôl= his/her coconut (to eat)

ôl natê= coconut for it (association)

A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of anominalising suffix-an:

wêl= to dance (verb)

wêlan= a dance (noun)

Modifiers generally come after a noun:

ere= village

ere lêp= big village

Verbs

Verbs in Sa are usually (though not always) preceded by verb markers indicating thetense,aspectandmoodof the action.

In positive statements the marker is typicallym-,ma-,mwa-,me-or a variant (depending on the dialect, the verb and the environment). Past and present tense are not explicitly distinguished:

nêmlos= I bathe / I bathed

nêmarngo= I hear / I heard

Innegativestatements this marker is replaced withtaa-or a variant:

nêtaalos= I don't bathe / I didn't bathe

nêtaarngo= I don't hear / I didn't hear

These markers may be combined with a future markertorte:

nê metlos= I will bathe

nê meterngo= I will hear

nê taatlos= I won't bathe

nê taaterngo= I won't hear

In theimperative,the future marker occurs without any other marker:

Otlos!= [You] bathe!

Oterngo!= [You] listen!

Hypothetical statements include a particlepo:

nê metpolos= I should bathe

Completed actions are indicated usingtê:

nê mlostê= I bathed already

The subject can be omitted from a sentence, as in the second example below:

i meterngo= he will hear it

meterngo= it will be heard

Transitive and intransitive verb forms are distinguished, withtransitive verbsoften followed bynê:

êr rôs= they move

êr rôsnêat= they move the stone

Verbs in Sa can be linked together in a variety ofserial verb constructions.

Sample phrases

English	Sa - central dialects (Panngi, Ranwas, Bunlap)	Sa - northern dialect (Fatsare)	Sa - southern dialect (Bay Martelli)
Where are you going?	O metea bê?	O mfa be?	O metea be?
I'm going to...	Nê metea...	Nê mfa...	Nê metea...
Where have you come from?	O mamra bê?	O mamra be?	O mamra be?
I've come from...	Nê mamra...	Nê mamra...	Nê mamra...
What's your name?	Sêm be sê?	Sêm be sê?	Hêm be hê?
My name is...	Sêk be...	Sêk be...	Hêk be...
How much? / How many?	Beês?	Befês?	Beêh?
one	(be)su	shuf	hu
two	(be)ru	(be)ru	(be)ru
three	(be)têl	(be)jil	(be)têl
four	(be)êt	(be)fêt	(be)êt
five	(be)lim	(be)lim	(be)lim
It's just fine	I mbetô nga	I mbetô nga	I mbetu nga

References

• Crowley, Terry. 2000. The language situation in Vanuatu.Current Issues in Language Planning.Vol 1, No 1.
• Gray, Andrew. 2012.The Languages of Pentecost Island.British Friends of Vanuatu Society.
• Lynch, John and Crowley, Terry. 2001.Languages of Vanuatu: A New Survey and Bibliography.Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University.

External links

• The Languages of Pentecost Island - further information on Sa
• Article on Bible translation into Saa
• ELAR archive ofA preliminary audiovisual documentation of Ha
• Paradisechasa number of collections with Saa materials,including two collections fromArthur Cappell.