Veraʼa language - Wikipedia

Veraʼa
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 Veraʼa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`vra`
Glottolog	`vera1241`
ELP	Vera'a
Veraʼa is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

The language Veraʼa is named after the village where it is spoken. This village is known locally as Veraʼa [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 *βaturatainProto-Torres-Banks — literally "flat stone": *βatu "stone" (< POc *patu) + *rata "flat" (< POc *rataR < PAN *dataR).

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 Veraʼa community abandoned its previous settlements and resettled to its current main center of residence, the village of Veraʼa (Vatrata). Veraʼa 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 Veraʼa, speakers of the now moribund language Lemerig moved to the village of Veraʼa. Lemerig is remembered by many residents of Veraʼa, 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]

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

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

Veraʼa 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].

In Veraʼa 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 Veraʼa 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:

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

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

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

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

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 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 Veraʼa: an Oceanic language of North Vanuatu, chapter 6.^[2]^{: 136–138}

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

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

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

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]

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}