Tolai language

The Tolai language, or Kuanua, is spoken by the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province.

Nomenclature

This language is often referred to in the literature as Tolai. However, Tolai is actually the name of the cultural group. The Tolais themselves refer to their language as , which translates as 'the real language'. is apparently a word in Ramoaaina meaning 'the place over there'.

Classification

Tolai belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family. The most immediate subgroup is the Patpatar–Tolai group of languages which also includes Lungalunga (also spoken on the Gazelle Peninsula) and Patpatar (spoken on New Ireland).

Characteristics

File:Bible in Tinata Tuna, Maynooth University.jpg

New Testaments in Tolai: A Buk Tabu Kalamana Ure Iesu Karisito: "The New Holy Book about Jesus Christ."

Unlike many languages in Papua New Guinea, Tolai is a healthy language and not in danger of dying out to Tok Pisin, though Tolai has many loanwords from Tok Pisin; e.g. the original has been completely usurped by the Tok Pisin for 'brown', and the Tok Pisin for 'bicycle' has replaced the former . It is considered a prestigious language and is the primary language of communication in the two major centers of East New Britain: Kokopo and Rabaul.

Tolai lost the phoneme . For instance, the word for 'sun' in closely related languages of South New Ireland is , and this has been reduced to in Tolai. However, has been reintroduced through numerous loanwords from English and Tok Pisin.

Geographic distribution

Tolai is spoken on the Gazelle Peninsula in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea.

Derived languages

Tolai is said to be one of the major substratum languages of Tok Pisin. Some common Tok Pisin vocabulary items that likely come from Tolai (or a closely related language) include:

(from ) - Hibiscus manihot

- 'betelnut'

(from ) - 'tree, wood'

- 'earthquake'

(from ) - 'ginger'

- 'egg'

- 'elderly person'

(from ) - 'small'

(from ) - 'fishing net'

Phonology

Phonology of the Tolai language:

Consonant sounds

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Plosive	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Liquid	rhotic		Template:IPA link
	Lateral		Template:IPA link
Semivowel		(Template:IPA link)

Vowel sounds

	Front	Central	Back
High	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Low		Template:IPA link

Vowel sounds can also be realised as can be pronounced as in word-initial position.

Grammar

Independent pronouns

Tolai pronouns have four number distinctions (singular, dual, trial and plural) and three person distinctions (first person, second person and third person) as well as an inclusive/exclusive distinction. There are no gender distinctions.

		Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1st	exclusive	(I)	(he/she and I)	(both of them, and I)	(all of them, and I)
	inclusive	-	(thou and I)	(both of you, and I)	(all of you, and I)
2nd		(thou)	(you two)	(you three)	(you guys)
3rd		(he/she)	(they two)	(they three)	(they)

The plural pronouns lose their final -t when used before a verb.

• - 'Let's go!'
• - 'We didn't see.'
• - 'They have already arrived.'

Syntax

The usual word order of Tolai is agent–verb–object (AVO/SVO).

Morphology

There is an irregular pattern involving the prefix , which changes a verb to a noun. Ordinarily, the prefix is added to the verb, as in 'to live' → 'the life', 'to eat' → 'the food', 'to pray' → 'the prayer'. However, in some cases it becomes an infix Template:Angbr: 'to fight' → 'the fight', 'to talk' → 'the language', 'to chew betelnut' → '(a small supply of) betelnuts for chewing'. This infix is inserted after the initial phoneme of the verb. It could also be described as the prefix being added as a prefix, and the initial phoneme of the verb changing places with the n of the prefix.

External links

• Tolai Language Course
• Language Museum page on Tolai
• A number of collections in Paradisec include materials in Tolai