Rotuman language

Rotuman, also referred to as Rotunan, Rutuman or Fäeag Rotuạm (citation form: Faega Rotuma), is an Austronesian language spoken by the Indigenous Rotuma people in the South Pacific. Linguistically, as well as culturally, Rotuma has had a Polynesian influence in its culture and was incorporated as a dependency into the Colony of Fiji in 1881. Contemporary Rotuman is a result of significant Polynesian borrowing, following Samoan and Tongan migrations into Rotuma.

The Rotuman language has sparked much interest with linguists because the language uses metathesis to invert the ultimate vowel in a word with the immediately preceding consonant, resulting in a vowel system characterized by umlaut, vowel shortening or extending and diphthongization.

Unlike its Pacific neighbors, Rotuman is typically considered an AVO (agent–verb–object) language.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Coronal	Post- alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Stop	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
Liquid		Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Open		Template:IPA link

Rotuman has no phonemic vowel length and is underlyingly a language of open syllables. Thus, only consonant + vowel syllables exist in the underlying syllable structure, although phonological processes provide for more variation. A minimal word constraint that disallows words of less than two moras also alters this underlying representation. Except for words from non-lexical categories, a word like ('tomorrow') is realized as . That constraint applies before word compounding (including reduplication as well): ('coral reef') + ('deep sea') → ('deep sea pool'). Vowels are also lengthened when both final and stressed.

Non-high vowels are raised when they are followed by a syllable with a high vowel.

• →
• →
• →

Generally speaking, when is followed by within a metrical foot, it is fronted to .

complete	incomplete	gloss
		'post...'
		'to sleep...'
		'lazy'

An important aspect of Rotuman morphonology is what could be called the "incomplete" and "complete" phases although they have also been referred to as "long" and "short" forms, "primary" and "secondary" forms, "absolute" and "construct" cases, and "proper and original" and "altered or construct" forms. The complete phase applies to semantically-definite or specific terms. Otherwise, in normal conversation (excluding song, poetry and chant), the incomplete phase applies to all but the last morpheme of a word and all but the last word of a phrase. That can lead to syllable-final consonants in the language, which has an underlying all-open syllable system.

• ('eyes') + ('take off') → → ('minutely')

i	iC	jɛC	jɔC	juC	iC
ɛ	eC	ɛC	jaC	ɛC	ɛC
a	æC	æC	aC	aC	ɔC
ɔ	øC	œC	waC	ɔC	oC
u	yC	wɛC	wɔC	wɔC	uC

The above table (C indicates any consonant) shows that metathesis and deletion are important parts of incomplete phase formation. The final vowel and the immediately-preceding consonant metathesize from V₁CV₂#, to V₁V₂C# where V₁ is any underlying penultimate vowel, V₂ is any underlying ultimate vowel, C is any consonant, and # is the word, phrase, or morpheme boundary.

After metathesis, "V₂ is deleted if V₁ is not further back than V₂ and if V₂ is not lower than V₁" or if the two vowels are identical. Further processes of elision result in coalescence or spreading of features: back vowels are fronted before front vowels of equal or greater height ( and/or affect and just affects ) before the latter are deleted.

• →
• →

In addition, the → rule takes effect again, now outside of the moraic foot, and can occur with a following and both . Also, becomes after a syllable with a high vowel ( or ). When V₁ is higher than V₂, it is devocalized to the corresponding semivowel; for front vowels and for back vowels.

Word stress is associated with left-dominant bimoraic feet. The penultimate mora of nonderived words carries the stress. Other than the nominalizing suffix and the causative suffix , stress is assigned before additional morphemes are affixed and before incomplete phase morphonology.

Orthography

Upon missionary contact, various orthographies abounded on the island of Rotuma. The French Catholic missionaries devised an orthography based on their own alphabet, and the primarily-English Wesleyan Methodist preachers developed their own orthography to write in Rotuman. The prevalent one used today is one from the Australian Methodist Reverend C. M. Churchward, whose knowledge of linguistics devised the Tongan orthography as well. Here is the alphabet, as it appears in Churchward's seminal work, "Rotuman Grammar and Dictionary":

• a –

• ȧ or ä – ~
• ạ –

• e –
• f –
• g –
• h –
• i –
• j –
• k –
• l –
• m –
• n –
• o –

• ö –

• p –
• s –
• t –
• u –

• ü –

• v –
• ʻ – the glottal stop

For the variations to the vowels a, o and i, Churchward's dictionary treats these letters as if no variation between the species occurred within the base letter: the word päega, meaning seat, appears before pạri meaning banana, which, in turn, appears before pau, meaning very much.

In addition, there are instances of all original vowels above appearing with a macron, indicating that they are longer, although vowel length is arguably a phonological process.

Because Churchward's alphabet was created before a sufficient analysis of Rotuman phonology, it is not purely phonemic. George Milner proposed a more phonemic spelling without diacritics, which incorporates the understanding of vowel allophony as having to do with metathesis (see above)

Churchward		IPA	Milner	Gloss
complete	incomplete		incomplete
mose	mös		moes	'sleep'
futi	füt		fuit	'pull'
a+su	ạ+s		aus	'steam'
a+ti	ȧt		ait	'gather (shellfish)'

Samples

This is the Rotuman language version of the Lord's Prayer, as found in the translation of the Bible published in 1975 (Matthew 6:9–13). It is written using the diacritics of Churchward's orthography:

ʻOtomis Öʻfaat täe ʻe lạgi,

ʻOu asa la äfʻȧk la maʻmaʻ,

ʻOu pureʻaga la leum, ʻou rere la sok,

fak ma ʻe lạgi, la tapeʻma ʻe rän teʻ.

ʻÄe la naam se ʻạmisa, ʻe terạnit ʻe ʻi,

ta ʻetemis telaʻa la tạumar,

Ma ʻäe la fạuʻạkia teʻ ne ʻotomis sara,

la fak ma ne ʻạmis tapeʻma re vạhia se iris ne sar se ʻạmisag.

Ma ʻäe se hoaʻ ʻạmis se faksara; ʻäe la sạiʻạkia ʻạmis ʻe raksaʻa.

Ko pureʻaga, ma neʻneʻi, ma kolori, mou ma ke se ʻäeag, se av se ʻes gataʻag ne tore. ʻEmen

External links

• Rotuma Website Rotuman Language Page
• Rotuma Website Bibliography of Rotuman Language Studies
• "Rotuman" Page on Metathesis Site of Ohio State University's Language Department
• Rotuman dictionary online (select simple or advanced browsing)
• 605 index cards of plant and animal names, labeled 'Rotuma' archived with Kaipuleohone
• Audio recordings of Rotuman language archived with Kaipuleohone