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Maskelynes (/ˈmæskəlɪns/), or Kuliviu (Uliveo), is an Oceanic language spoken on the Maskelyne Islands off south Malekula, Vanuatu.

Maskelynes
Kuliviu, Uliveo
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Malekula
Native speakers	1,100 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic Central Vanuatu Malakula Eastern Maskelynes
Language codes
ISO 639-3	klv
Glottolog	mask1242

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Coronal	Dorsal
		plain	labiovelarized
Nasal		m	mʷ	n	ŋ
Plosive	unvoiced	p	pʷ	t̪	k
	voiced	ᵐb	ᵐbʷ	ⁿd̪	ᵑg
Fricative		β	βʷ	s	x~ɣ~ʀ
Approximant			w	l	j
Rhotic				r~ɾ

• /ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑg/ are in free variation as unreleased [ᵐb̚, ⁿd̚, ᵑg̚] or unvoiced [p, t, k] word-finally or before a consonant[2]
  • /ᵑg/ is also in free variation as nasal [ŋ] word-finally, especially among young speakers[3]
• /ᵑg/ is realized as a voiceless [k] among some speakers, especially young[3]
• /p, pʷ, t/ are unreleased [p̚, p̚, t̚] word-finally or before a consonant (though /p/ has never been recorded before a consonant)[4]
• /mʷ, pʷ, ᵐbʷ, βʷ/ lose their labialization word-finally when not followed by a vowel and before /o, u/[5]
  • /ᵐbʷ/ is in free variation as trilled [ᵐʙ] (tapped [ᵐⱱ̟] in Peskarus) before /u/ and sometimes before /ə/[3]
• /βʷ/ is [β] before voiced consonants[6]
• /β, βʷ/ are [ɸ] before voiceless consonants and word-finally[6]
• /β/ is in free variation with [ɸ] for some speakers[6]
• /w, j/ are vocalic [u, i] when in nucleus following /e, a, o/[7]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u (u̥)
Mid	ɛ	ə	o
Open			ɑ

• /i/ is near-close [ɪ] between front consonants[8]
• /ɛ/ is close-mid [e] word-finally[8]
• /ə/ is [ɵ] after labiovelarized consonants or before /xu̥/[8]
• /əj, əw/ are realised as single morphemes, [i, u][7]
• /u/ is realised as front [y] between front consonants, and near-close [ʊ] when proceeded or preceded by back consonants[9]
• /o/ is front [ø] between front consonants[9]

Voiceless vowel

A voiceless [u̥] occurs at the ends of words. It is uncertain if it is an allophone of /u/ or a separate phoneme[10]

Phonotactics

Possible syllable structures in Maskelynes: (C/S)V(S)(C)[11]

Letter-to-phoneme correspondence

Maskelynes alphabet

Letter	a	b	b̃	d	e	ǝ	g	h	i	k	l	m	m̃	n	ŋ	o	p	p̃	r	s	t	u	w	v	ṽ	w/u	y/i
IPA	ɑ	ᵐb	ᵐbʷ	ⁿd̪	ɛ	ə	ᵑg	x	i	k	l	m	mʷ	n	ŋ	o	p	pʷ	r	s	t̪	u	u̥	β	βʷ	w	j

Grammar

Verbs

The verbs of Maskelynes are agglutinative, mostly being modified by prefixes, though the stem of a verb can stand on its own. These prefixes encode for, in order of appearance in verb: 1. tense-aspect-modes; 2. subject, person and number; 3. various modes, including realis and irrealis; 4. two tense-modes; 5. reduplication. The object of a sentence is encoded by a suffix.[12]

Examples of verbal agglutination:[13]

Reduplication

Reduplication in Maskelynes has various usages, and can encode for e.g. plurality, habituality, iterative aspect, etc.[14]

External links

• Resources in and about the Maskelynes language at OLAC
• Paradisec has a number of collections that include Maskelynes language materials
• Maskelynes (Kuliviu) at Omniglot

References

Bibliography

На других языках

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- [en] Maskelynes language

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[fr] Maskelynes

Le maskelynes, ou kuliviu, est une langue océanienne parlée par 1 100 locuteurs[2] au sud de Malekula, dans les îlots Maskelyne.

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