lingvo.wikisort.org - Language

Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken by about 580 people on the islands of Lo and Toga, in the Torres group of northern Vanuatu.[2] The language has sometimes been called Loh (sic) or Toga, after either of its two dialects.

Lo-Toga
Loh, Toga
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Torres Islands
Native speakers	580 (2012)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic Vanuatu North Vanuatu Torres–Banks Lo-Toga
Dialects	Lo, Toga
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lht
Glottolog	loto1240
ELP	Lo-Toga

Name

The language is named after the two islands where it is spoken: Lo and Toga.

Situation and dialects

Its 580 speakers live mostly in Lo and Toga, the two main islands in the southern half of the Torres group. The same language is also spoken by the small populations of the two other islands of Linua and Tegua.

Lo-Toga is itself divided into two very close dialects, Lo (spoken on Lo island) and Toga (spoken on Toga). The inhabitants of northern Vanuatu generally don't draw a distinction between dialects and languages.[3]

Conversely, Lo-Toga is a distinct language from the other language of the Torres group, Hiw.

Phonology

The Lo dialect of Lo-Toga phonemically contrasts 16 consonants and 13 vowels.[4]

Consonants

Lo-Toga consonants[4]

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Dorsal	Labialized velar	Glottal
Nasal	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		ŋ ⟨n̄⟩	ŋʷ ⟨n̄w⟩
Plosive	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	ʈ͡ʂ ⟨d⟩	k ⟨k⟩	kʷ ⟨q⟩
Fricative	β ⟨v⟩	s ⟨s⟩		ɣ ⟨g⟩		h ⟨h⟩
Rhotic		r ⟨r⟩
Lateral		l ⟨l⟩
Glide					w ⟨w⟩

Vowels

The 13 vowel phonemes of the Lo dialect include 8 monophthongs /i e ɛ a ə ɔ o ʉ/, and five diphthongs /i͡e i͡ɛ i͡a o͡ə o͡ɔ/.[5][4]

Lo-Toga vowels

	Monophthongs				Diphthongs
	Front	Central	Back		Front	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩	ʉ ⟨u⟩
Close-mid	e ⟨ē⟩		o ⟨ō⟩		i͡e ⟨iē⟩
Mid	ə ⟨e⟩					o͡ə ⟨ōe⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨ë⟩		ɔ ⟨o⟩		i͡ɛ ⟨ië⟩	o͡ɔ ⟨ōo⟩
Open	a ⟨a⟩				i͡a ⟨ia⟩

Grammar

Lo-Toga presents various forms of verb serialization.[6]

The system of personal pronouns contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).[7]

Together with its neighbour Hiw, Lo-Toga has developed a rich system of verbal number, whereby certain verbs change their root depending on the number of their main participant.[8] Lo-Toga has 18 such pairs of verbs.

Spatial reference in Lo-Toga is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is in part typical of Oceanic languages, and yet innovative.[9]

References

Bibliography

• François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of vowels in seventeen north Vanuatu languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.395.4359, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID 131668754
• —— (2010), "Pragmatic demotion and clause dependency: On two atypical subordinating strategies in Lo-Toga and Hiw (Torres, Vanuatu)" (PDF), in Bril, Isabelle (ed.), Clause hierarchy and Clause linking: The Syntax and Pragmatics interface, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 499–548
• —— (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF), Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra, hdl:1885/29283
• —— (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012 (214): 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022, S2CID 145208588
• —— (2015). "The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF). In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137–195. hdl:1885/14819. ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5.
• —— (2016), "The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF), in Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.), Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles, Faits de Langues, vol. 47, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 25–60
• —— (2019). "Verbal number in Lo–Toga and Hiw: The emergence of a lexical paradigm" (PDF). Transactions of the Philological Society. 117 (3): 338–371. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12168..
• —— (2021). "Presentation of the Lo-Toga language and audio archive". Pangloss Collection. Paris: CNRS. Retrieved 21 Feb 2022.

External links

• Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Lo-Toga.
• Audio recordings in the Lo-Toga language, in open access, by A. François (source: Pangloss Collection).
• Online Lo-Toga—English dictionary by A. François (work in progress)
• Ne Vavatema Vivda Pah Tage Vivda Volquane Lema Rua Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Toga (1907)

На других языках

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- [en] Lo-Toga language

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[fr] Lo-toga

Le lo-toga est une langue parlée par 580 personnes[1] au nord du Vanuatu dans les îles Torres, sur les îles Lo et Toga.

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[ru] Ло-тога

Ло-тога — один из восточновануатских языков, на котором говорят около 580 человек, живущие на островах Ло и Тога в группе островов Торрес на севере Вануату[2].

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