Apma (or Abma or Central Raga) is the language of central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Apma is an Oceanic language (a branch of the Austronesian language family). Within Vanuatu it sits between North Vanuatu and Central Vanuatu languages, and combines features of both groups.
With an estimated 7,800 native speakers (in the year 2000), Apma is the most widely spoken of Pentecost's native languages, and the fifth largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. In recent times Apma has spread at the expense of other indigenous languages such as Sowa and Ske. Apma is increasingly mixed with words and expressions from Bislama, Vanuatu's national language.
Name of the language Like Pentecost's other languages, Apma is named after the local word for "what" or "something". Locally it is usually referred to simply as "language" or "our language". Many people from other areas of Vanuatu recognise the language by the catchphrase meaning "good" or "OK", or refer informally to its speakers as , an Apma term of address for brothers or friends.
Some linguists treat the Apma sound p as an allophone of b, and thus write the language's name as Abma. However, this interpretation of the language's phonology is disputed, and locally Apma is the preferred spelling.The details in the phonology section below are based on Gray (2013), who does not treat p as a straightforward allophone of b.
Dialects and range Modern Apma has three well-defined dialects:
Suru Mwerani, the southernmost dialect, is the most widely spoken and well-documented dialect. It is spoken in Melsisi, Tansip, Vanrasini and surrounding villages, and in the former Sowa area between Melsisi and Ranmawot. Suru Rabwanga (or Suru Bo), the central dialect, is spoken in the mountainous area between Bwatnapni and Namaram. It is very similar to Suru Mwerani, and the two dialects are mixed in villages such as Bwatnapni, Enaa, Wutsunmwel and Naruwa. Suru Kavian is a small, endangered and very distinctive dialect, spoken in the area to the north and east of Namaram. It is hard for speakers of the other two dialects to understand.
and are the words for "today" in their respective dialects, while and are the words for "pig".
Two other probable Apma dialects, Asuk (or Asa) in the south-west and Wolwolan (or Volvoluana) in the north, are now extinct.
Phonology The vowels of Apma are:p. ??
FrontCentralBackHigh Mid Low
The consonants in Apma are:
BilabialLabio-velarAlveolarVelarGlottalNasalPlosivevoicedvoiceless()AffricateFricativeFlapApproximant
The consonant phonemes of Apma are b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng (as in English "singer"), r, s, t, ts (or j), bilabial v, w, and labiovelar bw and mw. The consonants v and w are realised as p where they occur at the end of a syllable; b may also be devoiced to p when next to an unvoiced consonant, as in "lie down".
Clusters of consonants cannot occur within a syllable. Unlike in the closely related Raga language, word roots in Apma can end with a consonant.
In archaic and northern varieties of Apma, prenasalization of consonants occurs in some environments, so that b becomes mb, d becomes nd, and g becomes ngg. This feature has been lost in modern Suru Mwerani dialect.
Apma's five vowels come in short forms (a, e, i, o and u) and long forms (aa, ee, ii, oo and uu). Long vowels typically occur where a consonant (most commonly r) has historically been lost. Vowels can occur alone or in various combinations. A few words (e.g. "wild cane") contain a distinctive rounded high-front vowel, generally written as iu although perceived by speakers simply as a variant of u.
Stress is normally on the penultimate syllable of a word. However, syllables that end with a consonant or a long vowel take stress in precedence to other syllables.
Grammar Basic word order in Apma is subject–verb–object. Occasionally, a subject may occur out of its usual position, in which case it is marked with :
= The pig is eating papaya = It's eating papaya, the pig
Pronouns Personal pronouns are distinguished by person and number. They are not distinguished by gender. The basic pronouns differ substantially between dialects:
Person Apma(Suru Mwerani dialect) Apma(Suru Rabwanga dialect) Apma(Suru Kavian dialect) English 1st person singular "me" 2nd person singular "you" (singular) 3rd person singular "him / her / it" 1st person dual (inclusive) "us" (you and me, two of us) 1st person dual (exclusive) "us" (me and another) 2nd person dual "you (two)" 3rd person dual "them (two)" 1st person plural (inclusive) "us" (you and me) 1st person plural (exclusive) "us" (me and others) 2nd person plural "you" (plural) 3rd person plural "them"
The dual or plural form of "you" is occasionally used in place of the singular form to show extreme respect.
Nouns Nouns in Apma are generally not preceded by articles. Plurality is indicated by placing the pronoun ("them") or a number after the noun:
= [the] bird = [the] birds = three birds
Nouns may be either free, or directly possessed. Directly possessed nouns are suffixed to indicate whom an item belongs to. For example:
= my voice = your voice = his/her voice = the chief's voice = voice (generic)
Possession may also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:
for general possessions (, "my basket") for things that are cared for, such as crops and livestock (, "our pig") for things to be eaten (, "your sugarcane") for things to be drunk (, "their water") for associations, over which the possessor has no control (, "my home island")
The possessive suffixes are as follows:
Person Apma(Suru Mwerani dialect) Apma(Suru Rabwanga dialect) Apma(Suru Kavian dialect) English 1st person singular + vowel + vowel "of mine" 2nd person singular "of yours" (singular) 3rd person singular "of his/hers/its" 1st person dual (inclusive) + vowel + + vowel + "of ours" (yours and mine, two of us) 1st person dual (exclusive) "of ours" (mine and another's) 2nd person dual "of yours" (two of you) 3rd person dual lengthened vowel + lengthened vowel + lengthened vowel + "of theirs" (two of them) 1st person plural (inclusive) + vowel + vowel "of ours" (yours and mine) 1st person plural (exclusive) "of ours" (mine and others') 2nd person plural "of yours" (plural) 3rd person plural lengthened vowel lengthened vowel lengthened vowel "of theirs" Generic -
In Suru Kavian dialect, vowels in certain directly possessed nouns and possessive classifiers change according to the pattern illustrated below. This does not occur in other dialects:
1st person singular "my knife" "my hair" 2nd person singular "your knife" "your hair" 3rd person singular "his/her knife" "his/her hair" 1st person plural (inclusive) "our knife" "our hair" 1st person plural (exclusive) "our knife" "our hair" 2nd person singular "your knife" "your hair" 3rd person singular "their knife" "their hair"
A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix :
= to dance (verb) = a dance (noun)
Modifiers generally come after a noun, although those derived from nouns may come before:
= stone = four stones = big stone = small stone ( "small" comes from the noun "seed")
Verbs Verbs in Apma are usually preceded by a subject pronoun and by a marker indicating the tense, aspect and mood of the action.
The subject pronouns are as follows:
Person Apma English 1st person singular na- "I" 2nd person singular ko- "you" (singular) 3rd person singular - "he" / "she" / "it" 1st person plural (inclusive) ta- "we" (you and I) 1st person plural (exclusive) kaa(ma)- "we" (others and I) 2nd person plural ka-(ko… i in Suru Kavian dialect) "you" (plural) 3rd person plural ra- "they"
Apma has the following tense/aspect/mood markers:
Tense / Aspect / Mood Used for Marker (full form) Marker (short form) Imperfective Actions in the present tenseTemporary or changing statesA 'default' marker when the tense/aspect/mood has already been set mwa-, mwe-, mwi-, mwo-, mu- -m Perfective Actions in the past tenseFixed statesNegative phrases in either past or present tense te- -t Potential Things that may happen in the future mwan(e)-(northern dialects: nee-) -n(northern dialects: lengthened vowel) Prospective Things that are about to happen nema-(northern dialects: nene-) -ma(northern dialects: lengthened vowel + -na) Hypothetical Things that have not happened and probably won't bat(e)- -bat Imperative Direct instructionsOther actions that the speaker would like to initiate ne- (none) Apprehensive Bad things that might happen ba- ba-
The full forms of these markers are used in the 3rd person singular (where there is no subject pronoun):
mwe leli = he does it te leli = he did it mwan leli = he will do it nema leli = he's going to do it bat leli = he should do it ne leli = let him do it ba leli = he's in danger of doing it
Elsewhere, short forms of these markers are suffixed to the subject pronoun:
nam leli = I do it nat leli = I did it nan leli = I will do it nama leli = I'm going to do it nabat leli = I should do it na leli = let me do it naba leli = I'm in danger of doing it
The imperfective marker alters to some extent to match the sound of the verb it is attached to. It is usually absent altogether when the verb begins with b or bw. (In Suru Kavian dialect, it is absent when the verb begins with any consonant other than r.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:
mwi sip = he goes down mwo rop = he runs mu rus = he moves --- ban = he goes
Dual (two-person) forms consist of the plural forms with ru (or ri in Suru Kavian) inserted after the tense/aspect/mood marker:
ram leli = they do it ramru leli = the two of them do it
There is a pattern of verb-consonant mutation whereby v at the start of a verb changes to b, and w changes to bw, in certain aspects/moods:
nat van = I went na ban = I am going nan ban or nan van = I will go
In northern and archaic varieties of Apma, there is also mutation of k to g, and of t to d.
Particles that can occur in a verb phrase include:
a minimizing marker ga(m), "just" a partitive marker te, "partly" or "at all" an additive marker m(u), "furthermore" a completive marker, also te, "already"
The direct object, if one is present, immediately follows the verb. When the object is inanimate and already known, it need not be stated explicitly:
nat gita kik = I saw you nat gita = I saw [it]
The passive voice can be formed by attaching the suffix -an to the verb:
te lelian = it was done
When giving instructions, verbs are preceded simply by the 2nd person subject pronoun ko or karu "you":
Ko leli! = Do it! (to one person) Karu leli! = Do it! (to two people, or politely to a group) Ka leli! = Do it! (plural, considered impolite and usually heard only with children)
Many verbs in Apma have distinct transitive and intransitive forms. (These distinctions have been lost to some extent in Suru Kavian dialect.) For example, in Suru Mwerani:
Intransitive Transitive gan "to eat" gani "to eat something" min "to drink" -mni "to drink something" solsol "to do the sewing" -slo "to sew something" lehlehvik "to do the washing" lehvi "to wash something" diptsipmik "to perform a burial" dipmi "to bury something"
In Suru Mwerani dialect, and to a lesser extent Suru Rabwanga, vowels have been lost from a number of verb roots, producing 'bound verbs' which begin with a pair of consonants (such as -mni and -slo above). Since clusters of consonants within a syllable are prohibited in Apma, speakers usually cite these verbs with a prefix such as mwa- attached (mwamni, mwaslo), and do not identify them as words when unprefixed.