Akei language

Akei
Tasiriki
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Espiritu Santo
Native speakers	(650 cited 1981)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu North Vanuatu Espiritu Santo Akei
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tsr
Glottolog	akei1237
Akei is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Akei, or Tasiriki, is an Oceanic dialect chain spoken in southwestern coastal Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, centred in the village of Tasiriki as well as to its north and east. In 1981, it had around 650 speakers. The alternate name Tasiriki literally means "small water" (tasi "water", riki "small").

Grammar

Nouns

Akei mostly lacks grammatical gender, although for some relationship nouns the feminine is marked by the prefix ve- (e.g. natuna "his son", venatuna "his daughter"). In other cases, natural sex is indicated by separate words or by takuni ("male") or pita ("female") following the noun (e.g. tavasao takuni "man-servant", tavasao pita "maid-servant").

Plurals are unmarked and are shown only by juxtaposition of an adjective or pronoun (e.g. mazi alulusi "many animals").

A few nouns, including body parts and relationship names, decline to show possession between the noun and its pronoun subject (e.g. loeku "my voice").

Possessive suffixes	Singular	Plural
1st	ku	Inclusive	ka
		Exclusive	mam
2nd	m	mim
3rd	na	ra

Espiritu Santo, where Akei is spoken on the southwestern coast

Agent nouns are formed by the word takuni "man" followed by a word indicating the action (e.g. takuni veseni "teacher", from lulusi veseni "to teach).

Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st	inau (I)	Inclusive	inika (we, when including the addressee)
		Exclusive	komam (we, when excluding the addressee)
2nd	iniko (singular 'you')	komim (plural 'you')
3rd	inia (he/she/it)	inira (they)

Akei 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.

There is a single demonstrative pronoun, nake, meaning "this" or "that". This may be preceded by the third person pronouns inia and inira to mark singularity or plurality: inia nake "this", "that"; inira nake "these", "those". The interrogative pronouns are isei "who", sava "what" and savai "what is". Indefinite pronouns include te "any", tese'ese "anyone", povi "all, every", inira povi "everyone".

The reflexive pronoun is 'ase followed by a suffixed possessive pronoun (e.g. ra te 'asera varaira "they told one another")

Reflexive pronouns	Singular	Plural
1st	'aseku	Inclusive	n/a
		Exclusive	'asemam
2nd	'asem	'asemim
3rd	'asena	'asera

Adjectives

Adjectives can be a single morpheme, a compound (e.g. takuni epevuluvulura'a "hairy man", from epe "body" and vulu "hair") or prefixed with ma (e.g. malum "soft"). A noun or verb may be used as an adjective without change to its form (e.g. uro ai "water pot" from ai "water). Adjectives follow their noun (e.g. takuni vure 'a "good man", literally "man good").

Verbs

Verbs inflect for subject and object.

Subject prefixes	Singular	Plural
1st	na	Inclusive	ka
		Exclusive	koma
2nd	ko	komi
3rd	i	ra

Object suffixes	Singular	Plural
1st	au	Inclusive	ka
		Exclusive	n/a
2nd	ko	n/a
3rd	a	ra

In the second person plural and first person exclusive plural, the full pronoun is used (e.g. ka'ika ask us, but ka'i komim ask you).

Numbers

Akei uses a quinary numeral system, with a distinct word for ten.

Akei	English
mo 'ese	one
mo rua	two
mo tolu	three
mo vati	four
mo lima	five
mo 'a'ese	six
mo ravu 'arua	seven
mo ravu 'atolu	eight
mo ravu 'a vati	nine
mo sanavulu	ten

Selected vocabulary

The list below is a selected sample of Akei words.

Akei	English
maci	fish
biriu	dog
utu	louse
laiau	tree
rauna	leaf
benubenu	skin
kae	blood
sui	bone
kalina	ear
mata	eye
lanisu	nose
ako	tooth
meme	tongue
pau	knee
lima	hand
susu	breast
mape	liver
unu	drink
talesia	see
ronoa	hear
mate	die
mae	come
mata alo	sun
macoe	star
wae	water
sule	stone
apu	fire
sala	path
patibuti	mountain
poni	night
abuni	new
isa	name

Sample text

Genesis 1.1-5 in Akei:

1. Na muri God te veia tuka, tano.
2. Tano tele'e ozo tanopilo; pon tumbumalate te le'e na bua'a: talumen God te Vovi na ului ai.
3. Talena God, I pai mamara: te mamara.
4. God te lesia mamara, inia mo vure'a: God te sinkalai mamara, koko'a.
5. Mamara God te tia 'esana rani, koko'a te tia 'esana poni. Mataravi uluirani, pon mo 'ese.
6. Talena God, Zara vitinana i pai le'e na valibu'ira ai, i pai sinkalara ai.
7. God te veia zara vitinana, te sinkalara ai ram le'e atano 'inia zara vitinana, ram le 'e na uluna: inia se'ena.
8. Zara vitinana God te tia 'esana tuka. Mataravi uluirani, pon ruana.

Genesis 1.1-5 in English:

1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

References

• Ray, Sidney Herbert (1926). A comparative study of the Melanesian Island languages.