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Maskelynes
Kuliviu, Uliveo
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Malekula
Native speakers	1,100 (2001)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu Central Vanuatu Malakula Malakula Coastal Maskelynes
Language codes
ISO 639-3	klv
Glottolog	mask1242
Maskelynes is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Maskelynes (/ˈmæskəlɪns/), or Kuliviu (Uliveo), is an Oceanic language spoken on the Maskelyne Islands off south Malekula, Vanuatu.

Phonology

Consonants

• /ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑg/ are in free variation as unreleased or unvoiced word-finally or before a consonant
  • /ᵑg/ is also in free variation as nasal word-finally, especially among young speakers
• /ᵑg/ is realized as a voiceless among some speakers, especially young
• /p, pʷ, t/ are unreleased word-finally or before a consonant (though /p/ has never been recorded before a consonant)
• /mʷ, pʷ, ᵐbʷ, βʷ/ lose their labialization word-finally when not followed by a vowel and before /o, u/
  • /ᵐbʷ/ is in free variation as trilled (tapped in Peskarus) before /u/ and sometimes before /ə/
• /βʷ/ is before voiced consonants
• /β, βʷ/ are before voiceless consonants and word-finally
• /β/ is in free variation with for some speakers
• /w, j/ are vocalic when in nucleus following /e, a, o/

Vowels

• /i/ is near-close between front consonants
• /ɛ/ is close-mid word-finally
• /ə/ is after labiovelarized consonants or before /xu̥/
• /əj, əw/ are realised as single morphemes,
• /u/ is realised as front between front consonants, and near-close when proceeded or preceded by back consonants
• /o/ is front between front consonants

Voiceless vowel

A voiceless occurs at the ends of words. It is uncertain if it is an allophone of /u/ or a separate phoneme

Phonotactics

Possible syllable structures in Maskelynes: (C/S)V(S)(C)

Letter-to-phoneme correspondence

Grammar

Verbs

The verbs of Maskelynes are agglutinative, mostly being modified by prefixes, though the stem of a verb can stand on its own. These prefixes encode for, in order of appearance in verb: 1. tense-aspect-modes; 2. subject, person and number; 3. various modes, including realis and irrealis; 4. two tense-modes; 5. reduplication. The object of a sentence is encoded by a suffix.

Examples of verbal agglutination:

sa-g-e-mun-i

PROH-2SG.SUBJ-IRR-drink-3SG.OBJ

sa-g-e-mun-i

PROH-2SG.SUBJ-IRR-drink-3SG.OBJ

Don't you drink it.

go-to-madha-mun-mun-i

2SG.SUBJ-REL-IMM.PST-ITER~drink-3SG.OBJ

go-to-madha-mun-mun-i

2SG.SUBJ-REL-IMM.PST-ITER~drink-3SG.OBJ

You who just now kept drinking it

Reduplication

Reduplication in Maskelynes has various usages, and can encode for e.g. plurality, habituality, iterative aspect, etc.

References

1. Maskelynes at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Healey 2013, pp. 14–15.
3. ^ Healey 2013, p. 15.
4. Healey 2013, p. 13.
5. Healey 2013, p. 19.
6. ^ Healey 2013, p. 17.
7. ^ Healey 2013, pp. 18–19.
8. ^ Healey 2013, p. 20.
9. ^ Healey 2013, p. 21.
10. Healey 2013, pp. 24–25.
11. Healey 2013, p. 25.
12. Healey 2013, Section 8.1: Verb morphology.
13. Healey 2013, p. 181.
14. Healey 2013, section 8.5: Reduplication.

External links

• Resources in and about the Maskelynes language at OLAC
• Paradisec has a number of collections that include Maskelynes language materials
• Maskelynes (Kuliviu) at Omniglot

Bibliography

• Healey, David S. (2013). A GRAMMAR OF MASKELYNES: THE LANGUAGE OF ULUVEU ISLAND, VANUATU (PDF) (PhD). University of the South Pacific. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-05-31. Retrieved 2020-05-31.

• Malekula languages
• Languages of Vanuatu