Natügu language

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Wikipedia

Santa Cruz
  • Natqgu
  • Natügu
Native toSolomon Islands
RegionSanta Cruz Islands, Eastern Solomons.
Native speakers
5,000 (2012)[1]: 100 
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
ntu – Natügu
npx – Noipx
Glottolognatu1246
Coordinates: 10°44′06″S 165°49′43″E / 10.73500°S 165.82861°E / -10.73500; 165.82861
A Natügu speaker, recorded in the Solomon Islands.

Natügu (locally spelled Natqgu), formerly known as Santa Cruz, is the main language spoken on the island of Nendö or 'Santa Cruz', in the Solomon Islands. It is one of the three languages of that island, together with Nalögo and Nanggu.

The language

Name

The name Natügu (new orth. Natqgu) comes from natq-gu [natʉᵑgu], literally "our language" – from natq "language, word" + -gu "1st + 2nd person augmented enclitic").

Genetic affiliation

Until the beginning of the 21st century, it was widely believed that Natügu was a Papuan language. In the 2000s however, it was shown to be a member of the Austronesian language family, like the rest of the Reefs – Santa Cruz languages.[2]

Dialects

Dialects of Natügu are Bënwë (Banua), Londai, Malo. Speakers of most dialects understand Lwowa and Mbanua well.

Nalögo, once considered a dialect of Natügu, is now recognised as a separate language.[1]

Phonology

Consonants

Natügu has 14 consonant phonemes.[1]: 112  They are indicated here, with the orthography in ⟨angled brackets⟩:

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial-velar
Stop voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ k ⟨k⟩
prenasalised ᵐb ⟨b⟩ ⁿd ⟨d⟩ ᵑɡ ⟨g⟩
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Fricative v ⟨v⟩ s ⟨s⟩
Approximant l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩

Prenasalized stops can optionally be realized as plain voiced consonants.[3]

Vowels

Oral vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ʉ u
Close-mid e ɵ o
Near-open æ ə ɔ
Open a
Nasal vowels
Front Central Back
Close ũ
Close-mid ẽ ɵ̃ õ
Near-open æ̃ ə̃ ɔ̃
Open ã


Orthography

The Natügu language has two orthographies. The old orthography uses diacritics to mark vowel quality and nasalization while the new orthography uses no diacritics. The new orthography was developed in 1994, motivated by concerns about the difficulty of reading and typesetting the old orthography.[4][5][6]

Consonants
Grapheme Phoneme
b /b/
d /d/
g /ɡ/
h[a] —
j[b] /dʒ/
k /k/
l /l/
m /m/
n /n/
p /p/
s /s/
t /t/
v /β/
w /w/
y /j/
Vowels
Grapheme (old) Grapheme (new) Phoneme
a a /a/
e e /e/
i i /i/
o o /o/
u u /u/
â[c] c /ɔ/
ü q /ʉ/
ö r[d] /ɵ/
ä x /æ/
ë z /ə/
◌̃ ◌' /◌̃/

In the old orthography, nasal vowels are represented with a tilde over the vowel letter. In the new orthography, nasal vowels are represented with a straight apostrophe after the vowel letter.

Grammar

Pronouns

Natügu has two sets of person and number enclitics: Set I is used to indicate subjects and third-person objects; Set II replaces Set I when marking subjects following peripheral applicatives and in passive clauses. Set II is also used for possessive constructions and free pronouns. Natügu pronouns have a minimal/augmented number system and four grammatical persons: first person, first and second person ("you and I"), second person, and third person.[4]

Natqgu enclitic pronouns
PersonSet ISet II
1st minimal=x=nge
1st+2nd minimal=ki=gi
2nd minimal=u=m(q)
3rd minimal=le=de
1st augmented=kr=gr
1st+2nd augmented=ku=gu
2nd augmented=amu=mu
3rd augmented=lr, =ng(q)=dr, =ng(q)

Notes

  1. ↑ The letter h is used only in English loanwords.
  2. ↑ The letter j is used natively in one dialect, and otherwise only used in English loanwords.
  3. ↑ The letter â was written o̲ in earlier versions of the old orthography.
  4. ↑ The letter r is also used as a consonant in English loanwords.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Boerger, Brenda H.; Zimmerman, Gabrielle (January 2012). "Recognizing Nalögo and Natügu as separate languages: Code-splitting in ISO 639-3". Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea. 30 (1): 95–132.
  2. ↑ Næss, Åshild and Brenda H. Boerger (2008). "Reefs – Santa Cruz as Oceanic: Evidence from the Verb Complex". Oceanic Linguistics. 47: 185–212. doi:10.1353/ol.0.0000. hdl:1959.13/1052427.
  3. ↑ Boerger, B. H. (2012). Sociological factors in Reefs-Santa Cruz language vitality: a 40 year retrospective. Walter de Gruyter.
  4. 1 2 Boerger, Brenda H., A Grammar Sketch of Natqgu [ntu]: An Oceanic language of Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands
  5. ↑ Boerger, Brenda H. (1996). "When c, q, r, x, and z are vowels: An informal report on Natqgu orthography" (PDF). Notes on Literacy. 22 (4). SIL: 39–44.
  6. ↑ Boerger, Brenda H. (January 2015). Bible translation as Natqgu language and culture advocacy.