The name Tirax refers to ‘inland person’. The original homeland of the Tirax speakers is the mountainous interior of North Central Malakula, neighbouring Big Nambas. As the Tirax speakers embraced Christianity in the early twentieth century, they began to migrate towards the east coast, where they founded the villages of Mae, Rori and Bethel.[2]
Alternative names
Tirax speakers often refer to their own language as resan, "language, speech", or Resan Tirax. Tirax is called “Dirak” by the speakers of Northeast Malakula.[3]Dirak is the name used to refer to Tirax in John Lynch and Terry Crowley’s 2001, Languages of Vanuatu: A New Survey and Bibliography. Because it is the language of Mae village, the Tirax language is referred to as "Mae" in the Ethnologue listing, and also in Darrell Tryon's 1976, New Hebrides languages: An internal classification. See Mae language. Tirax speakers prefer not to use "Mae" as the language name, as it is also the language of Rori and Bethel.[4]
Mae village
Typology
Tirax has many features in common with other North Vanuatu languages. It has no tense marking, but has "obligatory subject-mood markers distinguishing realis and irrealis mood". It has "inalienable and alienable possessive marking", with a range of "possessive classifiers for alienable possession" including specific markers for food, drink and paths. Also like other Malakula languages, numbers have verbal morphology. Tirax has "nuclear verb serialisation, and a range of strategies for paratactic linkage. Several morphosyntactic processes, such as object marking and plural marking, are sensitive to the animacy of the referent".[5]
Apicolabials
There is evidence that Tirax had an apicolabial (linguolabial consonant) series, likely borrowed from Big Nambas. The apicolabials are no longer part of the Tirax phoneme system, but have recently shifted to their dental consonant counterparts.[6]
Narrative structure
Until 2004, Tirax was an oral language; a writing system is a relatively recent development. Tirax narratives show previously undescribed structural features not found in written narratives. There is a linking device between paragraphs, termed "transition clauses". Transition clauses are associated with a misalignment of prosodic and discourse-semantic levels of structure.[7] And there are a small set of circumstances in which story events are related out of chronological order, which runs counter to traditional theories of narrative.[8]
References
^Tirax at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^Brotchie, A. (2009). Tirax grammar and narrative: an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula, North Central Vanuatu. PhD thesis, Dept. of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, The University of Melbourne. p1
^Crowley, Terry. 2006b. Tape: A declining language of Malakula (Vanuatu). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. p3 footnote.
^Brotchie, A. (2009). Tirax grammar and narrative: an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula, North Central Vanuatu. PhD thesis, Dept. of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, The University of Melbourne. p2.
^Brotchie, A. (2009). Tirax grammar and narrative: an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula, North Central Vanuatu. PhD thesis, Dept. of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, The University of Melbourne. Abstract. https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/36956
^ Lynch, J. and Brotchie, A. (2010). Vowel Loss in Tirax and the History of the Apicolabial Shift. Oceanic Linguistics Vol. 49, No. 2 (DECEMBER 2010), pp. 369-388
^Brotchie, A. (2009). Tirax grammar and narrative: an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula, North Central Vanuatu. PhD thesis, Dept. of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, The University of Melbourne. pp.415ff.
^Brotchie, A. (2016). "Sequentiality in the narratives of Tirax, an oceanic language spoken on Malakula, Vanuatu." In "Narrative in ‘societies of intimates". Special issue of Narrative Inquiry 26:2 (2016) edited by Stirling, L., Green, J., Strahan, T. & Douglas, S. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp340-375 https://benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/ni.26.2.07bro/details
External links
Paradisec has a number of collections with Mae materials, including Amanda Brotchie's collection (TB1)
March 05, 2023
tirax, language, language, redirects, here, confused, with, maii, language, tirax, dirak, oceanic, language, spoken, north, east, malakula, vanuatu, tiraxmae, diraknative, tovanuaturegionmalekulanative, speakers1, 2001, language, familyaustronesian, malayo, po. Mae language redirects here Not to be confused with Maii language Tirax Dirak Mae is an Oceanic language spoken in north east Malakula Vanuatu TiraxMae DirakNative toVanuatuRegionMalekulaNative speakers1 000 2001 1 Language familyAustronesian Malayo PolynesianOceanicSouthern OceanicCentral VanuatuMalakulaWesternTiraxLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code mme class extiw title iso639 3 mme mme a Glottologmaee1241ELPTiraxis not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World s Languages in DangerTirax source source source Tirax pronunciation Problems playing this file See media help Contents 1 Tirax homeland 2 Alternative names 3 Typology 4 Apicolabials 5 Narrative structure 6 References 7 External linksTirax homeland EditThe name Tirax refers to inland person The original homeland of the Tirax speakers is the mountainous interior of North Central Malakula neighbouring Big Nambas As the Tirax speakers embraced Christianity in the early twentieth century they began to migrate towards the east coast where they founded the villages of Mae Rori and Bethel 2 Alternative names EditTirax speakers often refer to their own language as resan language speech or Resan Tirax Tirax is called Dirak by the speakers of Northeast Malakula 3 Dirak is the name used to refer to Tirax in John Lynch and Terry Crowley s 2001 Languages of Vanuatu A New Survey and Bibliography Because it is the language of Mae village the Tirax language is referred to as Mae in the Ethnologue listing and also in Darrell Tryon s 1976 New Hebrides languages An internal classification See Mae language Tirax speakers prefer not to use Mae as the language name as it is also the language of Rori and Bethel 4 Mae villageTypology EditTirax has many features in common with other North Vanuatu languages It has no tense marking but has obligatory subject mood markers distinguishing realis and irrealis mood It has inalienable and alienable possessive marking with a range of possessive classifiers for alienable possession including specific markers for food drink and paths Also like other Malakula languages numbers have verbal morphology Tirax has nuclear verb serialisation and a range of strategies for paratactic linkage Several morphosyntactic processes such as object marking and plural marking are sensitive to the animacy of the referent 5 Apicolabials EditThere is evidence that Tirax had an apicolabial linguolabial consonant series likely borrowed from Big Nambas The apicolabials are no longer part of the Tirax phoneme system but have recently shifted to their dental consonant counterparts 6 Narrative structure EditUntil 2004 Tirax was an oral language a writing system is a relatively recent development Tirax narratives show previously undescribed structural features not found in written narratives There is a linking device between paragraphs termed transition clauses Transition clauses are associated with a misalignment of prosodic and discourse semantic levels of structure 7 And there are a small set of circumstances in which story events are related out of chronological order which runs counter to traditional theories of narrative 8 References Edit Tirax at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Brotchie A 2009 Tirax grammar and narrative an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula North Central Vanuatu PhD thesis Dept of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics The University of Melbourne p1 Crowley Terry 2006b Tape A declining language of Malakula Vanuatu Canberra Pacific Linguistics p3 footnote Brotchie A 2009 Tirax grammar and narrative an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula North Central Vanuatu PhD thesis Dept of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics The University of Melbourne p2 Brotchie A 2009 Tirax grammar and narrative an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula North Central Vanuatu PhD thesis Dept of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics The University of Melbourne Abstract https minerva access unimelb edu au handle 11343 36956 Lynch J and Brotchie A 2010 Vowel Loss in Tirax and the History of the Apicolabial Shift Oceanic Linguistics Vol 49 No 2 DECEMBER 2010 pp 369 388 Brotchie A 2009 Tirax grammar and narrative an Oceanic language spoken on Malakula North Central Vanuatu PhD thesis Dept of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics The University of Melbourne pp 415ff Brotchie A 2016 Sequentiality in the narratives of Tirax an oceanic language spoken on Malakula Vanuatu In Narrative in societies of intimates Special issue of Narrative Inquiry 26 2 2016 edited by Stirling L Green J Strahan T amp Douglas S John Benjamins Publishing Company pp340 375 https benjamins com catalog journals ni 26 2 07bro detailsExternal links EditParadisec has a number of collections with Mae materials including Amanda Brotchie s collection TB1 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tirax language amp oldid 1138083320, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
