Vera'a language

Vera'a, also known as Vatrata, is an Oceanic language spoken on the western coast of Vanua Lava Island, in the Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu.

Vera'a
Vatrata
Pronunciation	[fɛraʔa]
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Vanua Lava
Native speakers	500 (2020)^[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu North Vanuatu Torres-Banks Vera'a
Language codes
ISO 639-3	vra
Glottolog	vera1241
ELP	Vera'a
Vera'a is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Vera'a was described in 2011 by linguist Stefan Schnell.^[2]

Name

The language Vera'a is named after the village where it is spoken. This village is known locally as Vera'a [fɛraʔa]. The alternate form Vatrata [βatrata], from Mota, is occasionally used. Other cognates include Vurës and Mwesen Vetrat [βɛtˈrat], and Lemerig Vera' [βɛˈraʔ]. These names ultimately reflect a protoform *βaturata in Proto-Torres-Banks — literally "flat stone": *βatu "stone" (< POc *patu) + *rata "flat" (< POc *rataR < PAN *dataR).

Recent history

According to recently recorded oral local history, Vanua Lava was struck by a major earthquake and landslide in 1945 that devastated gardens and hamlets on its north-west coast, as a result of which the Vera'a community abandoned its previous settlements and resettled to its current main center of residence, the village of Vera'a (Vatrata). Vera'a is located about 4 km from the village of Vetuboso, the largest settlement on Vanua Lava that is inhabited mainly by speakers of the closely related language Vurës.

Together with speakers of Vera'a, speakers of the now moribund language Lemerig moved to the village of Vera'a. Lemerig is remembered by many residents of Vera'a, but is no longer used in everyday communication. It is likely that the now de facto loss of the Lemerig language is the result of natural disaster and subsequent resettlement movements.^[3]

Phonology

Vera'a has 7 phonemic vowels, which are all short monophthongs:^[4]

	Front	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩	u ⟨u⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨ē⟩	ʊ ⟨ō⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩	ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open	a ⟨a⟩

There is no stress in Vera'a, although the effects of metaphony and vowel reduction must have preceded its loss.

Vera'a is unique within the local languages of Vanua Lava in that a Proto-Torres–Banks final vowel is retained as an echo vowel (either a, ē, or ō) if it is lower than the preceding vowel, or both the final and preceding vowels are *a. Examples include *βula "moon" > vulō [fulʊ] and *βanua "island" > vunuō [funuʊ]. However, they can be syncopated phrase-medially, as in *βanua laβa "Vanua Lava" > Vunulava [funulafa].

Possession

In Vera'a there are two types of possessive constructions recorded, that of direct possessive constructions and indirect possessive constructions.^[2]: 119 Similar to other Oceanic languages, the distinctions between directly and indirectly possessed nouns in Vera'a appear to generally correspond to the semantic distinctions seen between inalienable and alienable possession.

In both direct and indirect possessive constructions there are a further three construction sub-types based on the expression of the possessor. The three types of possessor constructions are as follows:

1. possessor as a pronoun expressed by a possessive suffix
2. possessor as a personal NP
3. possessor as a common noun

In order to express the possessor as a pronoun, possessive suffixes are used. Stefan Schnell reports that they “are considered pronominal in nature because they have specific, definite referents and inflect for the same categories as personal pronouns.”^[2]: 121

Possessive suffixes in Vera'a

		Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1st person	exclusive	-k	-madu(ō)	-mam'ōl	-mam
	inclusive		-du(ō)		-de
2nd person		-m	-mru(ō)	-m'ōl	-mi
3rd person		-gi	-ru(ō)	-r'ōl	-re

Direct Possession

In Vera'a, direct possession primarily expresses inalienable or inherently given relationships.^[2]: 121

These types of relationships can be seen through expression of:^{[2]: 57–58}

• kinship relations
• body parts
• other types of part/whole relations (often parts of plants)
• certain concepts that only occur in association with another concept (name of an entity)
• spatial relations (incl. temporal relations expressed in analogy to spatial relations)

Direct Possessive Construction

Direct possessive constructions consist of the possessum, that of which is being possessed, and the possessor. This structure tends to follow a possessum-possessor order. The possessum is expressed as a bound noun while the possessor can be expressed as either:^[2]: 121

1. a pronoun (expressed by a possessive suffix)
2. a personal NP linked to the possessum by the linking suffix -n
3. as a common noun adjacently following the possessum noun

The bound noun possessum will take one of these three possessor constructions as shown below:^[2]: 119

(1) Direct possessive construction with a pronominal possessor

(a)

n

ART

gunu-m

spouse-2SG

n gunu-m

ART spouse-2SG

'your wife / husband'

(b)

n

ART

kolo-k

back-1SG

n kolo-k

ART back-1SG

'my back'

(2) Direct possessive construction with a personal NP possessor

(c)

n

ART

vono-n

home-LK

e

ART

Qo’

person.name

n vono-n e Qo’

ART home-LK ART person.name

'Qo's home'

(d)

e

ART

gunu-n

spouse-LK

e

ART

Noleen

person.name

e gunu-n e Noleen

ART spouse-LK ART person.name

'Noleen's husband'

(3) Direct possessive construction with a common NP possessor

(e)

ēn

ART

neln̄o-

voice-

’an̄sara

person

ēn neln̄o- ’an̄sara

ART voice- person

'voice of a person, i.e. a human voice'

(f)

ēn

ART

deln̄o-

ear-

’ama’

devil

ēn deln̄o- ’ama’

ART ear- devil

'ears of a devil / devil ears'

In summary the constructions can be described as follows:

Direct Possessive Constructions

Possessor type	Structure
(1) Pronoun	[possessum NP-possessive suffix]
(2) Personal NP	[possessum NP-n] + [personal NP]
(3) Common NP	[possessum NP] + [common NP]

Indirect possession

Indirect possessive constructions primarily express alienable possession, that is a possession that is more easily terminated. The possessor is not directly expressed on the possessum noun, rather the possessor is expressed on a possessive classifier. This construction results in the possessum and the possessor being less morphologically dependent on one another. Consequently, this construction allows for the possessor to appear in different positions syntactically and for the possessor to be able to form a standalone NP with the possessum NP being omitted from speech.^[2]: 133

Indirect possessive constructions are divided further into two types, labelled Indirect Possessive Construction Type 1 and Type 2 respectively. In addition to both types, indirect possessive constructions also have several different functions, those being the anaphoric/generic use of a classifier (elided NP), the adnominal recipient construction and recipient / beneficiary construction.^[2]: 133 The different functions of indirect possessive constructions are further explained in Stefan Schnell's A Grammar of Vera'a: an Oceanic language of North Vanuatu, chapter 6.^{[2]: 136–138}

Indirect Possessive Construction

In an indirect possessive construction, the possessum is a free noun and the possessor is hosted by a possessive classifier which mediates the syntactic relation between the possessed and possessor.^[2]: 134 There are eight possessive classifiers that each express their own respective function and the types of relations that indirect possessive constructions express.

Possessive Classifiers^[2]: 120

Possessive Classifier	Function
go-	's.th. to eat'
mo-	's.th. to drink'
ko-	's.th. to use as vessel'
m̄o-	's.th. use as house'
bolo-	's.th. of customary value'
nō-	's.th. personally owned'
qo-	's.th. used to sleep, rest'
mu-	's.th. owned' / other

Indirect Possessive Construction Type 1

In the Indirect Possessive Construction Type 1, the possessive classifier is expressed as a bound morpheme with the possessor being expressed as either:^[2]: 134

1. a possessive suffix attached to the classifier
2. a personal NP linked to the possessive classifier with the -n suffix
3. as a common noun adjacently following the possessive classifier.

The possessive classifier will take one of these three possessor constructions as shown below:^{[2]: 120–121}

(1) Indirect possessive construction Type 1 with a pronominal possessor

(g)

n

ART

qe'an

ground

go-ruō

POSS.CLF-3D

n qe'an go-ruō

ART ground POSS.CLF-3D

'their (two) ground to eat from'

(h)

n

ART

nak

canoe

ko-k

POSS.CLF-1SG

n nak ko-k

ART canoe POSS.CLF-1SG

'my knife'

(2) Indirect possessive construction Type 1 with a personal NP possessor

(i)

n

ART

nak

canoe

mu-n

POSS>CLF-LK

e

ART

Qo’

person.name

n nak mu-n e Qo’

ART canoe POSS>CLF-LK ART person.name

'Qoʻ’s canoe'

(j)

ēn

ART

gie

kava

mo-n

POSS.CLF-LK

e

ART

’uvusm̄ēl

high.chief

ēn gie mo-n e ’uvusm̄ēl

ART kava POSS.CLF-LK ART high.chief

'the kava of the high chief (to drink)'

(3) Indirect possessive construction Type 1 with a common NP possessor

(k)

n

ART

gie

kava

mo

POSS.CLF

’uvusm̄ēl

high.chief

n gie mo ’uvusm̄ēl

ART kava POSS.CLF high.chief

'the kava of a high chief (to drink)'

(l)

n

ART

laklak

dance

mu

POSS.CLF

’ama’

devil

n laklak mu ’ama’

ART dance POSS.CLF devil

'a dance of ghosts / a ghost dance'

In summary the constructions are as follows:

Indirect Possessive Construction (Type 1)

Possessor type	Structure
(1) Pronoun	[possessum NP] + [possessive classifier-possessive suffix]
(2) Personal NP	[possessum NP] + [possessive classifier-n] + [personal NP]
(3) Common NP	[possessum NP] + [possessive classifier] + [common NP]

Indirect Possessive Construction Type 2

In an Indirect Possessive Construction of Type 2, the possessive classifier precedes the possessed noun. The result of this, is that the possessive classifier and the possessum form a complex NP. The possessor is exclusively expressed by a pronominal possessive suffix.^{[2]: 135–136}

Indirect Possessive Construction Type 2

(m)

maranaga

chief

go-dē

POSS.CLF-1PL.INCL

=n

=ART

kēl-

bog-

bigbig

'meat'

rōwē

down.at.the.sea

maranaga go-dē =n kēl- bigbig rōwē

chief POSS.CLF-1PL.INCL =ART bog- 'meat' down.at.the.sea

'Chief, a big 'meat' for us (to eat) is down at the sea.'

In summary the construction is as follows:

Indirect Possessive Construction (Type 2)

Possessor type	Structure
(1) Pronoun	[possessive classifier-possessive suffix] + [possessum NP]

References

1. Vera'a at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
2. Schnell (2011).
3. François (2012:98).
4. François (2005:445); François (2011:194).

Bibliography

Main reference

• Schnell, Stefan (2011). A grammar of Vera'a. Kiel: Kiel University. Retrieved 3 Nov 2018.

Other references

• François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID 131668754
• François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF), Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra, hdl:1885/29283
• François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012 (214): 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022, S2CID 145208588
• Schnell, Stefan (2012), "Referential Hierarchies in Three-Participant Constructions in Vera'a", Linguistic Discovery, 10 (3), doi:10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.419, retrieved 3 Nov 2018

External links

• Audio recordings in the Vera'a language, in open access, by linguist A. François (source: Pangloss Collection).
• Audio recordings in the Vera'a language, in open access, by linguist S. Schnell (source: Language Archive Cologne).
• Vorēs, Makson & Stefan Schnell. 2012. N'erē kakaka 'a Vera'a – Ol storian blong Vera'a – Stories from the village of Vera'a (Vanua Lava, TorBa), in open access, by Stefan Schnell and Makson Vorēs.
• Vera'a DoReCo corpus compiled by Stefan Schnell. Audio recordings of narrative texts with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level, translations, and time-aligned morphological annotations.