Vamale language

Vamale (Pamale) is a Kanak language of northern New Caledonia. The Hmwaeke dialect, spoken in Tiéta, is fusing with Haveke and nearly extinct. Vamale is nowadays spoken in Tiendanite (called "Usa Vamale"), We Hava, Téganpaïk and Tiouandé. It was spoken in the Pamale valley and its tributaries Vawe and Usa until the colonial of war of 1917, when its speakers were displaced.

Not to be confused with Hmwaveke language.
Vamale
Hmwaeke
Native toNew Caledonia
Native speakers
180 (from 2016)[1]
Dialects
  • Vamale
  • Hmwaeke
Language codes
ISO 639-3mkt
Glottologvama1243
ELPVamale

Phonology

Vamale has five phonemic vowel articulations, and 35 consonant phonemes.

Vowels

While Vamale distinguishes five vowel phonemes, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/, nasality and length are phonemic as well. Compare /tã/ 'oven' and /ta/ 'go up', /ˈfa.ti/ 'speech' and /ˈfaː.ti/ 'to stick, to glue'.

Depending on the length of the vowel, and on the final consonant of the syllable, /e/ and /o/ can be realized more open: plosives and short syllables trigger open vowels (e.g. [tɔːt] 'grass' [sɛn] 'poison'), while open syllables, and long ones closed by nasals, feature closed vowels.

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-Mid e o
Open-Mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

Consonants
The estuary and mangrove of Tiouandé, a major village of Vamale speakers

As is typical of Northern New Caledonian languages, Vamale has a wealth of consonants. The distinction reconstructible since Proto-Oceanic is between nasals, semi-nasals (pre-nasalized voiced plosives, i.e. /ᵐb/, /ⁿɟ/ etc.), and orals.

Consonants in Vamale. Non-phonemes are in brackets.
Bilabial Labiovelarized Bilabial Labiodental Labiovelarized Labiodental Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelarized Velar Glottal
Plosive pʰ p ᵐb pʰʷ pʷ ᵐbʷ tʰ t ⁿd (cʰ) c ⁿɟ kʰ k ᵑg
Nasal m̥ m m̥ʷ mʷ n̥ n ɲ̥ ɲ (ŋ̥) ŋ
Tap (ɾ)
Fricative f v fʷ vʷ x ɣ xʷ h
Approximant j w
Lateral Approximant l̥ l

Syntax

Pronouns
Personal pronouns
1 inclusive 1 exclusive 2 3
SG yo go ya
DU gasu abu gau lu
PL gase/gaa abe gavwe le
Demonstrative pronouns
Proximal Distal
SG ehni ena
DU muuhni muuna
PL niehni niena

Possession
Possessive suffixes
Inalienable Alienable
SG 1 -ong -(e)ong
2 -m -go
3 -n -(e)a
DU 1 incl -(a)ju -gasu
1 excl -(a)bu -abu
2 -(a)u -u
3 -(a)lu -lu
PL 1 incl -(a)je -gaa
1 excl -(a)be -abu
2 -(a)vwe -gavwe
3 -(a)le -le

References
  1. Vamale at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

ELAR archive deposit containing recordings and other resources (dictionary, grammar)


CREM archive deposit including poetry and songs in Vamale


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