Lengo language

Lengo is a Southeast Solomonic language of Guadalcanal.

Phonology

Vowels

Lengo has 6 vowels (Unger, 2008:5).

	Front	Near-Back	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e		o
Open-Mid	ɛ
Open		ɑ

Vowel sequences occur commonly for nearly all combinations of these vowels, with the exceptions of /ɑe/ and /uo/. The front open-mid vowel /ɛ/ never occurs in sequence.

Consonants

Lengo has 15 consonants (Unger, 2008:4).

	Labial	Coronal	Velar
Nasal	m	n	ŋ
(prenasalized) Plosive	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᵑɡ
	p	t	k
Spirant	v	ð	ɣ
Sibilant		s
Trill		r
Lateral		l

Voiced stops are prenasalized. Two instances of regional variation in these phonemes have been observed. These are /v/ becoming /β/, and /ð/ becoming /z/.

Morphology

Pronominal Systems

Lengo has five sets of pronominal forms. These are emphatic, subject reference, object, direct possessor, and indirect possessor. These distinguish maximally between four persons (first person inclusive and exclusive, second, and third person), and four numbers (singular, plural, dual, and paucal). There is no grammatical gender distinction, but there is an animacy distinction in the object paradigm. Two further uses of these pronominal forms occur - a reflexive pronoun, and a set of interrogative pronouns (Unger, 2008:27-29).

The dual and paucal forms are derived from the plural forms by the addition of ko- and tu- respectively. The dual forms are used only to indicate 'two and only two', whilst the plural and paucal forms mean 'two or more' and 'three or more' respectively. First person exclusive excludes the addresse(s).

Emphatic Pronouns

The emphatic pronoun in Lengo is optional, and can occur in combination with obligatory pronouns that may occur with subject or object function. It can also appear without other pronouns. It is used to emphasize the semantic role of a noun in a clause (Unger, 2008:29).

	1st Inclusive	1st Exclusive	2nd	3rd
Singular	inau		ighoe	igeia
Plural	ighita	ighami	ighami	igeira
Dual	i-ko-ghita	i-ko-ghami	i-ko-ghamu	i-ko-ira
Paucal	i-tu-ghita	i-tu-ghami	i-tu-ghamu	i-tu-ira

(Unger, 2008:29)

Examples:

(1)	ara	gito-a	t-i	m-ara	lavi	dea-a	na	kei-gu	inau
	3PL	steal-o:3SG	RL-LOC	CONJ-3PL	take	go-o:3SG	ART	basket-PS:1SG	EP:1SG
	"They stole it and they took it away my basket - mine."

(Unger, 2008:32)

(2)	ara-ko	gara	iti-a	na	thinaghe	i-ko-ira	m-u	ghe	tapa	inau
	3PL-DU	pull	up-o:3SG	ART	canoe	DU.EP:3PL	CONJ-1SG	continue	run	EP:1SG
	"they two pulled up the canoe and I continued to run."

(Unger, 2008:30)

Subject Reference Pronouns

The subject reference pronoun appears as the first element in a verb phrase. It is obligatory in any main clause, but can be excepted in subordinate clauses. It is optional in imperative sentences (Unger, 2008:34).

	1st Inclusive	1st Exclusive	2nd	3rd
Singular	u		o	e
Plural	a	ami	amu	ara
Dual	a-ko	ami-ko	amu-ko	ara-ko
Paucal	a-tu	ami-tu	amu-tu	ara-tu

(Unger, 2008:37)

Example:

(3)	i-ko-ghami	a P.	ami-ko	dea	i	nughu.
	DU:EP:1EX.PL	ART P.	1EX.PL-DU	go	LOC	river
	"We two, P. and I, we two went to the river."

(Unger, 2008:37)

Object Pronouns

The object form in Lengo is identified using a set of pronominal suffixes, which index the object arguments on the verb. In instances where a verb takes both a direct and indirect object, only the indirect object is marked. The third person plural object form is marked for animate or inanimate objects (Unger, 2008:39).

	1st Inclusive	1st Exclusive	2nd	3rd
Singular	-u		-gho	-a
Plural	-ghita	-ghami	-ghamu	-ra (animate), -i (inanimate)
Dual	-ko-ghita	-ko-ghami	-ko-ghamu	-ko-ira
Paucal	-tu-ghita	-tu-ghami	-tu-ghamu	-tu-ira

(Unger, 2008:39)

Example:

(4)	ara	pitu-u
	3PL	wait-o:1SG
	"They await me."

(Unger, 2008:39)

Direct Possessor Pronouns

The direct possessor form is used for inalienably possessed nouns. It is a suffix on the possessed noun that indicates the possessor. In the case of the dual and paucal forms, number is indicated as a prefix on the noun, and the plural form of the possessive suffix is used (Unger, 2008:42).

	1st Inclusive	1st Exclusive	2nd	3rd
Singular	-gu		-mu	-a, -na
Plural	-da	-mami	-mu	-dira
Dual	ko- -da	ko- -mami	ko- -miu	ko- -dira
Paucal	tu- -da	tu- -mami	tu- -miu	tu- -dira

(Unger, 2008:41)

The third person singular direct possessor appears in two forms, with '-a' being more prevalent than '-na' (Unger, 2008:41).

Examples:

(5)	na	vae-gu
	ART	house-PS:1SG
	"My house."

(Unger, 2008:42)

(6)	A	ko-dae-mami	e	belo
	ART	DU-child-PL:1EX.PL	3SG	ring.bell
	"our two's child is ringing the bell."

(Unger, 2008:49)

Indirect Possessor Pronouns

The indirect possessor form is used for alienably possessed nouns. It occurs as a free morpheme preceding the possessed noun. There are two categories distinguished - 'oral consumable' and 'general'. The oral consumable category includes items that are able to be eaten, drunk, or consumed via the mouth, such as tobacco (Unger, 2008:42).

	General				Oral Consumable
	1st Inclusive	1st Exclusive	2nd	3rd	1st Inclusive	1st Exclusive	2nd	3rd
Singular	ni-gu-a		ni-mo-a	ne	gha-gu-a		gha-mo-a	ghe
Plural	no-da	ni-mami	ni-miu	no-dira	gha-da	gha-mami	gha-miu	gha-dira
Dual	ko-no-da	ko-ni-mami	ko-ni-miu	ko-no-dira	ko-gha-da	ko-gha-mami	ko-gha-miu	ko-gha-dira
Paucal	tu-no-da	tu-ni-mami	tu-ni-miu	tu-no-dira	tu-gha-da	tu-gha-mami	tu-gha-miu	tu-gha-dira

(Unger, 2008:42)

Oral Consumable form:

(7)	gha-mu-a	na	vudi	lepa
	oral.CLF-PS:2SG-O:3SG	ART	banana	ripe
	"[Here is a] ripe banana for you to eat."

(Unger, 2008:44)

General form:

(8)	ne	na	be	O.
	PS:3SG	ART	pig	O
	"O's pig."

(Unger, 2008:43)

Reflexive Pronouns

A reflexive pronoun is composed when a direct possessor suffix is added to the stem 'tibo'. This results in a valency decrease of the verb (Unger, 2008:44).

Examples:

(9)	u toka	tibo-gu.
	1SG cut	REFL-PS:1SG
	"I cut myself."

(Unger, 2008:45)

(9)	u toka	na	ghai
	1SG cut	ART	tree
	"I cut the tree."

Interrogative and Relative Pronouns

Lengo has two pronouns that have interrogative or relative uses. 'thi' is used if the reference is human, and 'tha' if the reference is non-human (Unger, 2008:45).

Relative use:

(8)

na

tinoni

ketha

a thi

ga

deni

ba

k-e

mai

lau-a

pile-a

na

vanga

de

ART

person

different

ART REL

there

DEM

FUT

IRR-3SG

come

take-o:3SG

little.bit-o:3SG

ART

food

DEM

"a different person who is over there will come take a bit of this food."

(Unger, 2008:45)

Interrogative use:

(9)	na	tha	t-o	goni-a?
	ART	INT	RL-3SG	do-o:3SG
	"What are you doing?"

(Unger, 2008:46)

References

Unger, Paul (2008). Aspects of Lengo Grammar, Canada Institute of Linguistics at Trinity Western University.