Languages of Paama


A map of the languages of Ambrym and Paama by population
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Note that the spelling of language names in this map may not be the same as in the body of the text.

Paamese

Island name: Paama
Proto-language: PCV
Ross Clark (1985) local group / Tryon (1976) sub-group: Paama
Other names: Laul, Lopevi, Ngala
Reading:
Crowley, Terry 1982. The Paamese language of Vanuatu. Canberra: PL, B-87 * A quite detailed description of the phonology, morphology and syntax of Paamese, with an illustrative text. xii + 268pp.
Crowley, Terry 1987. Serial verbs in Paamese. Studies in Language 11,1:35-84 * A quite detailed discussion of verb serialisation and related syntactic phenomena in Paamese.
Crowley, Terry 1991. Linked nouns in Paamese: grammatical iconicity in part-whole constructions. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 22:21-49 * Examines two major ways in which part-whole relationships are expressed in Paamese, and shows that the "linked noun" construction usually expresses a relation between a separable part and the whole.
Crowley, Terry 1991. Paamese. In Darrell T. Tryon (ed.), Comparative Austronesian dictionary: An introduction to Austronesian studies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; pp.817-822.
Crowley, Terry 1992. A dictionary of Paamese. Canberra: PL, C-121 * A good-sized dictionary of Paamese, including some etymological information, with an English finderlist. xxi + 256pp.
Crowley, Terry F/c. Inalienable possession in Paamese grammar. In Hilary Chappell & Bill McGregor (eds.), The grammar of inalienability: a typological perspective on body parts and the part-whole relation. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter * Examines the question of the interrelationship, or lack of it, between semantic inalienability and morphological direct suffixation, and concludes that there are degrees of inalienability, with only the more inalienable relationships being marked by direct suffixation.
Gabelentz, H.C. von der 1873. Die melanesischen Sprachen nach ihrem grammatischen Bau und ihrer Verwandschaft unter sich und mit den Malaiisch-Polynesischen Sprachen. Abhandlungen der Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-Historische Klasse 7:30-31.
Ray, Sidney H. 1926. A comparative study of the Melanesian island languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; pp.311-329