Lala, Nara, or Pokau is an Austronesian language of the central southern coast of the Papuan Peninsula in Papua New Guinea. This language is spoken in the villages of Oloi, Diumana, Ala'ala, Tubu, Kaiau and Vanuamae. A count in 2017 showed there to be about 3000 speakers with a current language status of developing, meaning that the language is in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some.[citation needed]
The coastal surroundings of this land allows for vegetable farms and plenty of animals to be hunted, the wallaby being one notable example. The coast is also utilized for fishing.
Phonology
Vowels
The Lala language contrasts five vowel qualities. The front vowels are always short, while the back (or non-front) vowels are always long. Hence, the vowels are long /a/, short /e/, short /i/, long /o/, and long /u/. Vowel pairs are au, ei, io, oe, oi, and ou.
Consonants
The following consonant phonemes are distinctive in the Lala language:
Consonants
Labial
Dental
Velar
Glottal
Voiceless stops
p
t
k
'
Voiced stops
b
d
g
Fricactives
v
s
Nasals
m
n
(h)
Liquids
l
The fricative /h/ only occurs in the words hosi 'horse' and Hulaha 'Hula people'. Consonants /s/ and /t/ were probably originally pronounced as [ts]. Introduced /s/ can be heard in the name Saka and in sisima 'ship'. Introduced /t/ appears in boti 'boat'.[citation needed]
Stress
Stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable of a word. It shifts when a syllable is added to a word. In some words no apparent stress can be heard, except in combination. The stress can also be altered when the word is shouted.[citation needed]
Morphology
Tense
Simple present, simple past, and present continuous tenses marked on subject person markers. The markers a, o, ka, de, and e are placed after a noun to indicate these three tenses.
Past continuous tense uses the subject person markers lau a'o, oni o'o, i'a' e'o, ita ka'o, lai-lai a'o, oi-oi, i'a de'o. Remote past tense uses the marker ani. Future tense uses the subject markers lau ba, oni bo, i'a be, ita eka, lai-lai ba, oi-oi bo, and i'a be.
Affixes
Object suffixes are often used with transitive verbs. These object suffixes are u, mu, a, i'a, ta, lai-mai, mu'i. Because the object pronoun usually comes in order after the subject pronoun, the object suffix is sometimes dropped without confusing the meaning. If the object pronoun comes first because of emphasis, the correct object suffix must be used to make the meaning clear.[citation needed]
The causative prefixva- changes a root to a causative verb or noun. An example of this is va'ika 'to show', which is based on the root ika 'to look'.
The nominalizing prefixi- changes words to nouns. An example of this is ivaku 'woven', from vaku 'to weave'.
The prefix vi- does not take the object suffixes and is not used with the causative va-, nor does the duplication of the verb root occur with vi-.
Modifiers
Negative modifiers are the general negator si'a 'not', asi'i 'no', and asido'o 'not yet'. Verbal modifiers of manner and time are presented in the following two charts.
Verbal modifiers of manner
Lala modifier
English gloss
vaka
also
dokadoka
definitely
maka'imaka'i
slowly, softly, or carefully
kavei
carefully
ali
fast
alimo
fast only
molau
fast
molaumolau
very fast
kaukau
fast
si'asi'a
savagely
Verbal modifiers of time
Lala modifier
English gloss
si'ako
already
melala bounai
always
mealala vaida
sometimes
melala dounamo
often
vali'unai
now
lavi
yesterday
mala
tomorrow
koma
today
avu'avu
tomorrow morning
avu'avuni
this morning
Possession
The Lala language distinguishes alienable from inalienable possession, the latter of which refers to relatives, parts of the body, and close extensions of the body.
Plural forms
Some nouns can be pluralized by reduplication. Examples of this are manu 'bird' and manumanu 'birds', and vato 'girl' and vavato 'girls'.
There are exceptions to this rule, for example the reduplicated word ate'ate 'woman' is singular, while the corresponding plural form is simpler a'ate 'women'.
Syntax
The basic constituent order in most sentences follows the structure subject–object–verb.
Clause types
The following clause types can be distinguished:
Purpose clause e.g. Motuka itavana ounai lai a da'a tauni. 'We went to the town to buy a truck.' In this sentence the stated purpose is to buy a truck.
Reason clause e.g. Bo vina'ula kakamu be badu makaumuna. 'Work hard lest your father get cross.' In this sentence the reason is to avoid the father's getting cross.
Coordinate clause e.g. Da'a sinamu dulu'a. 'Go and help your mother.' In this sentence the two actions of going and helping your mother are conjoined.
Time clause e.g. Lamu be aku mulinai eka aniva. 'After the rain stops we'll go hunting.' The important word to note in this sentence is 'after'. The use of the word 'after' makes the listener know when the action can or should take place.
References
Notes
^Lala at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Sources
S.P., Clunn (1977). A Lala Grammar Sketch and Vocabulary.
