Tangoa language
Tangoa, or Movono, is an Oceanic language or dialect. It is spoken on Tangoa Island off the southern coast of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, as well as a few mainland villages opposite Tangoa. In 2015 it was estimated to have 370 speakers, while in 2001 it was estimated to have 800.
Tangoa may be endangered, with its status described as "shifting". Another source describes language use as vigorous, used among all ages in all domains, although with some code-switching to Bislama.
It has largely displaced the moribund Araki language spoken on Araki Island.
Classification
Tangoa is generally described as a language, but also as a dialect of the proposed, lexicostastically defined Southwest Santo language along with Araki, Akei, and Wailapa.However, Tangoans generally do not understand Araki, which suggests they are not both dialects of a single language.History
The first Christian missionaries settled on Tangoa in 1887 and founded the Tangoa Training Institute, with the aim of training Bible teachers and priests; it still has a large influence on social life in the area. Tangoa was chosen as a local lingua franca for missionary purposes; it was used in church, education and for inter-island communication.It is suggested that the activities of the missionaries, especially the Bible translations into Tangoa, contributed to the decline of the Araki language, which is now moribund.
Phonology
Consonants
The following table shows Tangoa's consonantal phonemes:| Bilabial | Linguolabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Velar | |
| Nasal | |||||
| Plosive | |||||
| Fricative | |||||
| Affricate | |||||
| Liquid | , |
- /ts/ is a backed alveolar grooved affricate, and has a backed variant before back vowels.
- /s/ is a alveolar grooved fricative.
- /x/ can be, for some speakers, variously and word-medially, occurring in free variation.
Linguolabials
Tangoa formerly had gendered sociolects, with linguolabial use differing between the sexes. Males acquired the women's dialect in early life from their caretakers, but lived in seclusion in all-male company during their initiation period, where they learned how to produce linguolabials. This, in effect reversed the historical collapse of *m and *mʷ. The awareness of the pre-merger distinction may have been supported by knowledge of surrounding languages in which the distinction is still preserved.| 'eye' | 'snake' | |
| Proto-Oceanic | *mata | *mʷata |
| Male speech | t̼ata | mata |
| General speech | mata | mata |
In the 1950s, at least half of the adult speakers merged the linguolabials with the bilabials; minimal pairs became homophones. Confusion about where linguolabial use was appropriate only occurred in one minimal pair, but with more frequency among non-contrasting pairs, even among the older men. Most of the older Tangoan men regarded the merging as a recent deterioration in the language, caused by children not being taught to speak correctly. However, there is some evidence the variation was actually a long-standing feature. Usage of the linguolabials was considered prestigious, and many users of these phonemes were sensitive about any suggestion they misused them.
Research published in the 1970s stated that linguolabial phonemes defined the prestige variety. Used by males in oratory, serious discussion, traditional storytelling, etc, but less consistently in ordinary speech, it was generally accepted as "true Tangoa", although women and children were not expected to use them, and rarely did.
Research published in the 1980s stated that linguolabials were in the process of shifting to bilabials.
Vowels
The following table shows Tangoa's vowel phonemes:| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | |||
| Close-mid | |||
| Low |
The vowels weaken in unstressed syllables.
Ray gives the diphthongs as ai, ao, au, and oi, in both long and short form. However, later research found these to not be present, although "vowel clusters" do occur. All possible combinations of two vowels occur except /ie/ and /uo/. Out of the possible combinations of three vowels, /iau/, /iua/, /eia/, /eau/, /eua/, /aia/, /aui/, /aua/, /oia/, /oea/, /oau/, /uia/, /uea/ and /uai/ occur, and out of the possible combinations of four vowels, /iuau/, /eiau/, /euau/, /auau/, /aiau/, /oiau/, and /uaia/ occur.
Phoneme distribution
All phonemes can occur word-initially and word-medially, but only vowels and the syllabic /m/ occur word-finally.Stress
is predictable; primary stress occurs on the penultimate syllable, and secondary stress, present in words of more than three syllables, occurs on the first syllable. Light stress occurs on the fourth syllable of seven syllable words, and on the fourth and sixth syllables of eight syllable words.Grammar
Nouns
A verb or adjective may be used as a noun without change to its form, although a verbal noun may be formed by the suffixes a or ia.When prefixed to an adjective, the word cina forms an abstract noun.
Agent nouns are formed using the word tamloci "person", with a reduplicated verb or adjective.
Demonyms are formed by the word ta, or mara in the plural. For women, cara is used, with no special plural form.
Nouns do not have number, although the context may show number in a verbal phrase, or the adjective matuva may be used before or after the noun.
Tangoa appears to mostly lack grammatical gender, but some nouns denoting relationships are of common gender and use the prefix ve to indicate feminine sex.
Reduplication of the noun intensifies its meaning.
Pronouns
The following table contains Tangoa's personal pronouns.The pronouns also occur in shortened forms, used around or affixed to a verb to indicate its subject and object.
Tangoa has a clusivity distinction, a grammatical difference between inclusive and exclusive first person pronouns. The inclusive form is used when including the addressee, whereas the exclusive form excludes them.
A dual or trial pronoun may be formed with rua or tolu following the pronoun.
The word case "self, by one's self, alone, only" functions as an intensive or reflexive pronoun.
The particles sei "this, these" and atu "that, those" are demonstrative pronouns, and may either be used independently or follow a noun or pronoun. These may be combined with the word cari, with the common forms carici "this" and caratu "that", although cari sei is apparently only used when referring to people. Nacai "this" and natu "that" are also found.
Interrogative pronouns include care "who?", sa "what?", sansei "what is this?", se "which?"and visa "how many?".
Possession
A noun in the genitive case follows the head noun.In regard to possession, there are essentially two classes of noun. Head nouns of the first class are suffixed with -n if the genitive noun is also of the first class. However, if the genitive noun is of the second class, no suffix appears.
Head nouns of the second class are followed by the possessive nouns no, ca, pula or bula, which gain the suffix with -n. Non is sometimes followed by the article na.
First class nouns suffix a short form of the pronouns to indicate possession.
For second class nouns, the shortened pronoun is instead suffixed to the possessive noun, of which there are four: ca for food, na for drink, bula for animal property, and no for property generally.
When used without a noun, the possessives are equivalent to the English "mine", "yours", etc. Possessives may be used with a verbal phrase.
Verbs
A noun or an adjective may be used as a verb. Compound verbs are common.There are no rules for the formation of a transitive from an intransitive verb; many verbs can be used with either connotation, although many verbs end in an -i that does not appear essential to the meaning.
Shortened forms of the subject pronouns are used in combination with a verb; these forms differ in the indicative and subjunctive moods, and in some cases are followed by a particle. Some examples of usage include ko oboiau "you love me" and mo verea "he told him".
In the third person singular, the verbal particle mo is used instead of a pronoun. This particle is not used with the other pronouns.
When the subject is a noun, it is usually followed by one of these pronouns.
To form the future tense, the particle pa follows the pronoun. I is also used instead of mo; the other pronouns also have forms for the future tense but their use is inconsistent. See the table below :
Note that pa does not follow ila, and pa is not always used for the future.
Aspect and mood
The suffix -si may indicate reflexivity or reciprocity. An alternative way to express reciprocity is by the verb's subject and object being identical, or with the word case. Another suffix -ci is of unclear meaning.The imperative mood is shown by the pronouns o or ca preceding the verb. Sobo follows the pronoun in the negative.
The particle le indicates the continuous aspect.
The verb moiso "to finish" indicates completion of an action and is placed after the verbal phrase la usia moiso "they had finished praying".
To negate the verb, the word sobo is placed after the pronoun.
Other verbal constructions
Tha or the verb thai, "to do, make" are used as causatives; the latter form thai may be followed by a subjunctive phrase, but either form may be prefixed to the verb.The word vari preceding the verb emphasizes it. Verbs can be reduplicated to express the frequency of an action, and this is used especially with a plural subject.
The verb eri expresses ability or inability. The verb rocu indicates unwillingness, whereas nasalo indicates a wish.
There is no copula, although the verb toco is used to mean "to exist" or "to be in".
Adjectives
Adjectives follow their noun.Certain adjectives are formed by combining a verb with the prefix na. The suffix ca, added to verbs and adjectives, seems to give an abstract meaning. Many adjectives appear to be reduplicated.
In comparisons, two positive statements are used. The preposition cin may be used for "than".
Adverbs
The verbs thano "to go", nai "to come" and sace can be combined with other verbs to become directive adverbs meaning respectively "forth", "hither" and "up".Interrogative adverbs include e "where?", tamaci "how?", vara sa "why?", and nata sa "for what, why".
Adverbs of time include nake, nakerikerici "now, today", tebog "sometime, anytime, when", na bogi atu "at that time, then, when", tabuna "formerly", nanovi "yesterday", mo si nai nake "until now", na bog tari, thacatari, zezeu "always", na rani "by day", na bogi "by night", thacatea "at once, immediately", na bog nakomona "a little while", peravu "a long time", mo rani "day break", mo ranina "the next day", mo rani palakavi "early in the morning", vuco, pavuco "tomorrow", ralavuco "early", na bog catecateaci "each day, every day", mo raviravi, na raviravi "in the evening", vutebog "at night", cinau atu moiso "after that", tuai "long ago, of old". Examples of usage include i pa sobo narocu tui "he shall never thirst".
Adverbs of place include nike, nacai "here", ea "there", zara atu "that place, where", mo nariviti "near", asau "far", na nipu "to the sea, seaward", na tarauta "to the land, landward", na vavasau "toward shore", nareu "on shore", na vuga tasi "on the sea", na tathalu nipu "over, beyond the sea". Examples of usage include o nai nike "you come here", wai matuvana ea "much water there", la cite zara atu mo lo toco ea "they saw the place where he lay there".
Adverbs of manner include socena "thus", vila "quickly", vereverera "openly", tatacoloia "plainly", and roro "secretly".
Io and ece mean "yes" and "no" respectively. Sobo can also mean "no" or "not".
Prepositions
Simple prepositions, seemingly not derived from a noun or verb, include the locatives a and na. Na can also be used as an instrumental. Other simple prepositions are isa, indicating motion to something or "beside, from", ta, indicating general relation or something belonging to a place, nata, a causal preposition translating as "for, because", cini, a causal or instrumental preposition translating as "through, by" or meaning "about", and citacu "after". Isa and cini are occasionally equivalent to possessives.The prepositions mentioned above are sometimes combined with nouns to form a new preposition. These nouns include lolo "inside, in, within", naco "before", tano "below", thatha "under", ulu "above", vuga "on top, on", livuca "between, among", and tathalu "beyond, on the other side of".
Additionally, certain verbs can be used as prepositions: for example, tiroma "before", usuri "after", coro "against", and ralici "round about".
Conjunctions
There is no simple copulative conjunction, although sometimes ordinal numerals are used. Tangoa also lacks a personal conjunction I went.Socena means "likewise, also" and is used at the end of a sentence. Te means "or" and can also be used at the end of a phrase interrogatively. Natana means "because, on account of".
Sentence structure
are shown by interrogative pronouns or adverbs, or by the particle te at the end of the sentence.Dependent clauses are shown by the word vara introducing the clause and the future forms of the pronouns.
Conditionality is shown by the juxtaposition of two statements ; there is no equivalent of the English "if".
Numbers
follow the noun and take the verbal particle mo, or occasionally another particle ca.| Tangoa | English |
| mo tea | one |
| mo rua | two |
| mo tolu | three |
| mo thati | four |
| mo lina | five |
| mo linarave | six |
| mo linaraverua | seven |
| mo linaravetolu | eight |
| linaravethati | nine |
| sagavulu | ten |
| mo sagavulu romana ma tea | eleven |
| mo sagavulu romana mo rua | twelve |
| mo gavulurua | twenty |
| mo gavulurua gavulutoluna ma tea | twenty-one |
| mo gapsagavulu | hundred |
| tari | thousand |
Tea, "one", is commonly used as an indefinite article, particularly in its verbal form ma tea.
Sagavulu is ten; to make tens above the first, sa is dropped and a number added to the end.
The existence of an ordinal is unclear, although sometimes the suffix -na seems to be in use, as in surrounding languages. Multiplicatives are formed with the causative prefix thaca.
Selected vocabulary
The list below is a selected sample of words in Tangoa.| Tangoa | English |
| natu | child, son |
| mata | eye |
| takasa | friend |
| gabu | fire |
| balo | foot |
| kani | eat |
| alo | sun |
| thatu | stone |
| lito | spit |
| viriu | dog |
| rikiriki | small |
| utu | louse |
| boii | love |
| oneone | sand |
| sila | give |
| naro | run |
| ruku | good |
| oru, pati | tooth |
| rogo | hear |
| turu | stand |
| patu | head |
| vulu | hair |
| bogi | night |
| nabu | heart |
| neme | tongue |
| tali | rope |
Interjections include o, e, he, ibo, pah "indeed", and po "truly, yes".