| Hiw | |
| Pronunciation: | pronounced as /hiw/ |
| States: | Vanuatu |
| Region: | Hiw |
| Speakers: | 280 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| Ref: | [1] |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | Southern Oceanic |
| Fam5: | North-Central Vanuatu |
| Fam6: | North Vanuatu |
| Fam7: | Torres-Banks |
| Iso3: | hiw |
| Glotto: | hiww1237 |
| Glottorefname: | Hiw |
| Map: | Lang Status 60-DE.svg |
Hiw (sometimes spelled Hiu) is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of Hiw, in the Torres Islands of Vanuatu. With about 280 speakers, Hiw is considered endangered.[2] [3]
Hiw is distinct from Lo-Toga, the other language of the Torres group. All Hiw speakers are bilingual in Bislama, and most also speak Lo-Toga.
The language is named after the island.
Hiw has 9 phonemic vowels. These are all short monophthongs pronounced as //i ɪ e ʉ ɵ ə o ɔ a//:[4]
| Close | pronounced as /link/ (i) | pronounced as /link/ (u) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Near-close | pronounced as /link/ (ē) | |||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ (ë) | pronounced as /link/ (ö) | pronounced as /link/ (ō) | |
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ (e) | |||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ (o) | |||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ (a) | |||
The three central vowels pronounced as //ʉ/, /ɵ/, /ə// are all rounded.
pronounced as //i// becomes a glide pronounced as /link/ whenever it's followed by another vowel.
The high back rounded vowel pronounced as /link/ occurs, but only as an allophone of pronounced as //ʉ// and pronounced as //ə// after labio-velar consonants. pronounced as //ʉ// always becomes pronounced as /[u]/ after a labio-velar, while pronounced as //ə// only becomes pronounced as /[u]/ in pre-tonic syllables, and then only optionally.
Hiw has 14 consonants.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Dorsal | Labialized velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ (m) | pronounced as /link/ (n) | pronounced as /link/ (n̄) | pronounced as /link/ (n̄w) | |
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ (p) | pronounced as /link/ (t) | pronounced as /link/ (k) | pronounced as /link/ (q) | |
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ (v) | pronounced as /link/ (s) | pronounced as /link/ (g) | ||
| Prestopped lateral | pronounced as /link/ (r̄) | ||||
| Glide | pronounced as /link/ (y) | pronounced as /link/ (w) |
All plosives are voiceless.
The historical phoneme *l has shifted to pronounced as //j//, which is unique within the Torres–Banks languages.
Hiw is the only Austronesian language whose consonant inventory includes a prestopped velar lateral approximant pronounced as //ɡ͡ʟ//; this complex segment is Hiw's only native liquid. Historically, this complex segment was a voiced alveolar trill pronounced as //r// (which is why it is written as r̄). The voiced alveolar trill, spelt as r, appears in recent loanwords. In some other, perhaps older, loanwords, alveolar trills have been borrowed as velar laterals.
Stress is predictable in Hiw, except in the case of words which only contain pronounced as //ə//.
Generally, primary stress falls on the last syllable which does not contain pronounced as //ə//. For example: pronounced as /[mɔˈw'''ɪ''']/ 'moon', pronounced as /[ˈw'''ɔ'''təjə]/ 'maybe'. In the case of words whose only vowel is schwa, stress is unpredictable: thus pronounced as /[βəˈj'''ə''']/ 'pandanus leaf' is oxytone and pronounced as /[ˈt'''ə'''pjə]/ 'dish' is paroxytone. These are the only polysyllabic words that may have a stressed schwa.
Polysyllabic words have secondary stress, which falls on every second syllable from the primary stressed syllable, going leftwards. For example: pronounced as /[ˌβəɣəˈβaɣə]/ 'speak'.
The syllable structure of Hiw is CCVC, where the only obligatory element is V: e.g. pronounced as //tg͡ʟɔɣ// 'throw '; pronounced as //βti// 'star'; pronounced as //kʷg͡ʟɪ// 'dolphin'; pronounced as //g͡ʟɵt// 'tie'.
Hiw allows consonant gemination, word-medially and initially. These geminated consonants can be analyzed as CC consonant clusters in which both consonants happen to be identical. An example of gemination is in pronounced as //tin// 'buy' vs pronounced as //ttin// 'hot'. Consonants and vowels may also be lengthened for expressive purposes, for example: pronounced as //ne maβə// ‘it’s heavy’ becomes pronounced as /[ne mːaβə]/ ‘it’s so heavy!’.
Hiw's phonology follows the Sonority Sequencing Principle, with the following language-specific sonority hierarchy: In syllable onsets, C may not be more sonorous than C. Fricatives and plosives are not distinguished with regard to sonority.
Even though pronounced as //w// is always pronounced as an approximant, it is best treated as an obstruent with regards to sonority: this interpretation accounts for words like pronounced as //wte// 'small', which would otherwise constitute a sonority reversal.
Phonological evidence shows that pronounced as //ɡ͡ʟ// patterns as a liquid, more sonorous than nasals but less sonorous than the glide pronounced as //j//. Unlike the obstruents, pronounced as //ɡ͡ʟ// cannot be followed by a nasal. However, it can come after a nasal, as in pronounced as //mɡ͡ʟe// ‘wrath’. The only consonant found after pronounced as //ɡ͡ʟ// is pronounced as //j// - e.g. pronounced as //ɡ͡ʟje// ‘sweep’.
Hiw has a similar grammatical structure to the other living Torres–Banks languages.
In terms of lexical flexibility, Hiw has been assessed to be “grammatically flexible”, but “lexically rigid”. The vast majority of the language's lexemes belongs to just one word class (noun, adjective, verb, adverb…); yet each of those word classes is compatible with a large number of syntactic functions.
The language presents various forms of verb serialization.
Its system of personal pronouns contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes three numbers (singular, dual, plural).[5]
Together with its neighbour Lo-Toga, Hiw has developed a rich system of verbal number, whereby certain verbs alternate their root depending on the number of their main participant.[6] Hiw has 33 such pairs of suppletive verbs, which is the highest number recorded so far among the world's languages.
Spatial reference in Hiw is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals. That space system is largely reminiscent of the one widespread among Oceanic languages, yet also shows some innovations that make it unique.[7]