The island of stone money

Only a few days before my departure from Uap, I received through the kindness of Padre Cristobal de Canals, a grammar, written in Spanish, of the language of the island. The small volume of a hundred and forty-four pages bears the following title: Primer Ensayo de Grammatica de la lengua de Yap (Carolina Occidentales) con un Pequeno Diccionario y varias Frases en forma Diálogo. Por un Padre Capuchino, Misionero de aquellas islas. Manila. Imprenta del Collegio de Santo Tomas, á cargo de D. Gervasi, Memije, 1888.

In a short preface the Padre tells us that the modest treatise is the work of a residence in the island of Uap of about a year.

It is almost needless to remark that when a language has never been set forth in writing, its forms and even its pronunciation are as shifting as the sands of a beach. The only object of those to whom it is native is to understand and be understood. Let these two ends be gained, and all the accidents of grammar are superfluous and pronunciation will fall under no critic’s condemnation. That this is true as regards pronunciation, sufficient proof is come under my own observation; in the twenty years that elapsed between the date of the Padre’s grammar and my sojourn in the island, the pronunciation showed marked variation between that recorded in the Grammar and that current in the island when I visited it.

Furthermore, it may be noted, I fear, that the Padre, in certain cases, especially in the conjugations of verbs, failed to observe that what he assumes to be a variation in structure decided enough to constitute a separate conjugation, is, after all, merely a change due to euphony, or due to a colloquial contraction, as we find it in all languages, such as, for instance, we have in English in our familiar haven’t, where, of course, n’t is not a part of the verb.

In these circumstances I have deemed it wisest to set forth the Etymology and Syntax in the briefest and most concise way, and trust to phrases and the vocabulary as supplemental to the mother wit of the traveller in his communications with the simple-minded natives of this truly charming island, and I am bound to add that the novice will never find there severe critics of grammatical or linguistic blunders.

It is to be borne in mind that the language of Uap belongs, certainly to a large degree, to the Agglutinating Group; and, possibly, the more intimate our familiarity with it, the more distinctly we should recognize as compounds words, which we now regard as simple, and analyze them into their component parts. For instance, the definite article “the” is faré; “those,” fapi; “those two,” fagali. Here fa is evidently a root and the affix pi we know to be the sign of the plural, but the meanings of ré and gali are lost.

There are no grammatical genders, that is, there are no affixes, suffixes, or terminations to indicate genders, but pumawn, man, and pin, woman, follow the noun when sex is to be emphasized. We have the same poverty in English in expressing the gender of certain animals, such as: she-wolf, he-goat, she-bear, etc.

There appears to be no Indefinite Article, and for even a Definite Article there seems to be no very great use. It is as follows, for all genders:

The second syllable of the plural fapi is also used to express the plural, e.g., the children—pi abetir; the people in a village—pi u binau.

Before going further into the maze of Uap words and their arrangement in sentences I am impressed with the advisability of quoting from Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain’s “A Hand-Book of Colloquial Japanese” (page 11) in order to give an excuse and to ask pardon for giving a comparison and classification of one of these Far Eastern languages in terms used in the grammars of the other side of the world.

PRONOUNS

The PERSONAL PRONOUNS are igak—I, igur—thou, tsanem—he, she or it. Igak is thus declined:

Singular:

A curious refinement is to be noted in the dual and plural of this first personal pronoun; each possesses two inflections, namely, one conveying the ordinary idea of duality or plurality, such as gadou—we two, and gadad—we; and a second conveying the idea that the present company is alone referred to and that all others are excluded. For instance, gadou u Rul means simply “we two men of Rul,” but should the two men be joined by a third whom they did not wish to be included in the pronoun, the phrase would be gomou u Rul, that is, “we two men, and we two men alone, of Rul.” Thus, also, should a man happen to address the assembled people of his district, he would say: Gadad pi u Rul, i.e., “We the people of Rul,” but if he wished to express the idea that he refers to their own district, to the exclusion of all others, he would say, Gomad pi u Rul.

The two numbers, dual and plural, of the first person, are thus declined:

Dual (Exclusive Form):

Plural:

Plural (Exclusive):

The second person is thus declined:

Singular:

Dual:

Plural:

The third person:

Singular:

Dual:

Plural:

Demonstrative pronouns are of three kinds, namely, personal, impersonal (i.e., relating to things animate and inanimate), and partitive (i.e., relating to parts or pieces of objects). The personal demonstrative pronouns are:

Singular:

Dual:

Plural:

Impersonal demonstrative pronouns, referring to animals and things: binei—this; binir—that; binem—that yonder; tinei—these; tinir—those; tinem—those yonder.

Partitive demonstrative pronouns: kinei—this piece of; kinir—that piece of; kinem—that piece yonder of. Tsikinei (if the piece is very small); tsikinega (if the piece is very large).

The POSSESSIVE PRONOUN, when applied to anything which has no relation to our body, is the genitive of the personal pronoun, placed after the noun: purpur rak—my hat; naun rom—thy house; ton rok—his hatchet; mad romad—our clothes; domunemun romed—your food; uelduk rorou—the field of those two.

The possessives of nouns signifying parts of the body, or things relating to or proceeding from it, are formed as follows: the noun loses its last letter, when this is an i, and sometimes the last syllable, when it happens to be ngin, and then the last syllable of the genitive of the personal pronoun is used as a possessive suffix. For the first or second person singular, the suffix is -ak or -ek for the first person, -am or -em for the second person. I cannot, however, detect any rule whereby the vowel should be changed, nor can any rule be given for the third person.

Relative Pronouns.—The idea of relation is expressed by the particle ni. Thus, faré abetir ni ior—the child that cries; nu ni keb—rain that falls.

By means of this ni, is formed the interrogative mini, which may be placed either before or after the noun. Thus, mini igur—who art thou? mini e romed—which of you? pianir mini—who are those women?

The following interrogative particles are used for animals and inanimate objects: mang—what? benin̄ḡan—which one? tinin̄ḡan—which ones? Galinin̄ḡan—which of those two?

When mini precedes a demonstrative personal pronoun, beginning with a consonant, and mang precedes a neuter demonstrative pronoun, they are followed by the particle e. Thus, mini e tsanei—who is this person? mang e binei—what is this (thing or animal)?

The INDEFINITE PRONOUNS are the following: tareb, or tab—one, the one; be—the other; dari—no one, no thing. Thus, tareb e pumawn ni keb—the man who comes; bine e naun, naun ku bë—this house is the house of the other man; dari pumawn u naun—there is no man at home.

VERBS

There is no substantive verb. The past, present, and future state must be gathered from the drift of the sentence. Its place is filled, however, by two particles ni and e; of which we have already had examples. Thus, faré māāb ni bin—the door is open; matsalabok e naun—clean is the house.

N. B. After the three personal pronouns, these particles are omitted. Thus, igak alid—I am dirty; igur matsalabok—thou art clean; tsanem fel—he is good. They are also omitted in negative sentences when dagathi, not, is used. Thus, dagathi alid—it [is] not dirty; dagathi Tomak—it [is] not Tomak; faré abetir dagathi fel—the child [is] not good; faré gatu dagathi baga—the cat [is] not large. When, however, for the sake of emphasis, the predicate precedes the subject, then these particles are used. Thus, dagathi fel e abetir—it is not a good child; dagathi baga e gatu—it is not a large cat.

“It is,” “there is,” “there are,” are sometimes expressed by kabai. Thus, kabai u nifi—it is in the fire; kabai bȯȯr wu—there are many betel nuts.

When kabai is used in the sense of “to have,” it is followed by the genitive of the possessor. Thus, kabai debdeb rak—I have a box; kabai piri olum rok—he is very cold.

“Not to be,” and “not to have,” when referring to inanimate objects, or to the dead, are expressed by dari. Thus, dari e lugud rok—I have no cigarette; dari e morau—there is no [ripe] coconut.

When they refer, however, to animate objects, dari may be also used, but likewise demoi (sing.), darmei (dual), and darmed (plural). Thus, pumawn demoi u mu—the man is not in the canoe; fouap darmei fakam ni fel—yesterday your two children were not good; darmed fapi abetir u naun—the boys are not in the house.

In the little Spanish and Uap Grammar, of which I have already spoken, and to which I wish always to express my obligation, though I have by no means followed it, verbs are divided into six conjugations, and paradigms of all are given. For reasons which are to me sufficient, this division appears too elaborate, and a little arbitrary in dealing with an unwritten language, which varies from generation to generation. Inasmuch as there is no Uap literature and the only object in learning the language is for the purpose of conversation, I think it better, to judge by my own experience, to learn these various inflections from phrases and a vocabulary, rather than to memorize page after page of paradigms. Accordingly, the conjugation of only one verb is here given, merely to show the general inflection,—premising that there are, what we might naturally expect, only three tenses: the present, past and future. Thus, we may conjugate non, to speak, where non is not an infinitive, but merely a root:

Present Tense

Perfect Tenses

Future Tense

Imperative

It is not to be supposed that these hyphens are observable in the spoken language. “In forming the dual from the plural,” says the Padre, “it is to be observed that it is necessary to change only the suffix ad into on wherever it occurs. It may be noticed also that the difference in the tenses is marked by the prefix to the root and its prefix in the present tense and not by the termination: the prefix ke or ka (ke gu-non) for the present perfect and preterite, and bai (bai gu-non) for the future.”

ADVERBS

There is a certain class of words, which in Uap, but not in English, serve as adverbs, as follows: baiu or bau—where, or wherein; urai—here; uara—there; uaram—yonder; ulang—above; ubut—below; butsugur—near; uen—outside; urun̄ḡin or ebinau—everywhere; utoluk—in the middle; lan̄ḡin (lang-u-in)—inside; dekem (dek-u-em) on the top of; tan̄ḡin (tang-u-in)—underneath, below.

It will be noticed that in all these words the vowel sound of u is present. When this vowel sound is doubled it conveys the idea of “from,” as follows: uuroi—from here; uuro—from there; uurom—from yonder; uubut—from below; uulang—from above; uubutsugur—from near; uubutorel—from far; uulan̄ḡin—from inside; uuen—from outside.

The interrogation bau, or danduu, or darduu may be used, as meaning, whither does the road lead to such and such a house or village.

Again the prefix n̄ḡa means “toward.” Thus n̄ḡan—toward where; n̄ḡarai—toward here; n̄ḡara—toward there; n̄ḡaram—toward yonder; n̄ḡalang—toward above; n̄ḡabut—toward below; n̄ḡalangin—toward inside; n̄ḡauen—toward outside.

Time is expressed adverbially, thus: dain—when (if used of future events); uin—when (if used for past events); man̄ḡial—at what time (of to-day); kakarom—before; fouperen̄ḡan—two days ago; foupelen—day before yesterday; fouap—yesterday; doba, diri—to-day; tsine—now; kabul—to-morrow; lan̄ḡilat—day after to-morrow; dukuf—three days hence; kanin̄ḡek—four days hence (by prefixing ka to the cardinal numbers (see below), after and including the number four, the idea is conveyed of so many days hence; thus, kaärgak—ten, days hence); bai-non, baibiid—afterward; baikatabots—soon, immediately; foun̄ḡan—last night; fouepnep—night before last; kaforombots—not long ago; kaargon—from the beginning; kakarom-ni-kakarom—formerly (see degrees of comparison, below); pirieiai—often; tamathath—seldom.

Again, there is a class of words indicative of modes or manner, which more closely than others resemble our adverbs; such as fel, kefel—well; felnifel—very well (see degrees of comparison, below); kirifel,—most perfectly; bikireb—badly; tsidiri—instantly; papai—soon, quickly; soath—slowly; arragon—thus, in this manner (if used interrogatively, in what manner? how? we have uargon) tarebarragon—as, the same as; susun, ued—equally; urungin-e-ran—continually.

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are used adverbially. Thus: botsu—little; raau—abundant; boör—many; biltsilits—few; also, piri—very; dari—nothing; bots—something; kaiuk—enough.

Affirmative and negative particles are as follows: hu, hei—yes; dan̄ḡai—no; riul—really; arragon—it is so; iya—it is that; sorom—you are right; riul-ni-riul—most certainly; dari—there is no; dakori—there is no more; dagathi—it is not; auna—perhaps.

Degrees of comparison are not indicated by any inflection of the adjective; where, however, the idea of superiority or of increase is to be expressed, the particle ko is used as the comparative degree, thus: bilibithir solap ko abetir—the old man is more skillful than the youth; baut ren, tomal e kobre—wood is lighter than iron.

The superlative is expressed either by prefixing ri before an adjective, or by a repetition of the adjective connected by ni. As thus: ri-manigil—most excellent; manigil ni manigil—most excellent; pachijik ni pachijik—very very small; riguchigur—the nearest.

PREPOSITIONS AND POSSESSIVES

Of prepositions n̄ḡa is used where we use “to,” denoting tendency.

Ni corresponds to our genitive defining the material, as, debdeb ni kobre—box of iron; naun ni ren—house of wood.

When, however, a partitive genitive is intended, ne represents “of,” as logoru eduk ne merau—two baskets of coconuts.

Nu expresses our genitive of origin, as fak nu Tomak—child of Tomak; mokuf nu Uap—flower of Uap.

Ku is used for our possessive genitive, when the thing possessed is inanimate, but when animate, then e is used. Thus: thauei ku pumawn—necklace of the man; otofin ku pin—charcoal of the woman; gatu e olakem—cat of your brother; babi e Pilun—pig of the Chief.

CONJUNCTIONS

The conjunctions are as follows:

CARDINAL NUMBERS

Ordinal numbers are not used. We have, however, mon—first, in the front; toluk—in the middle; uoriel—last, lastly.

Ordinal numbers are not in reality lacking; yai—time, when joined to the cardinal numbers by the article e provides them. Thus: tareb-e-yai—once; logoru-e-yai—twice; adolib-e-yai—thrice; etc.

It remains only to add a reference to the curious word mere, which, to quote the words of the Padre, “is constantly heard and is a necessary adjunct in speaking the language colloquially. It may be placed at the beginning of any speech and before any noun or verb in a sentence; it is especially useful in orations, being placed before ideas which are interpolated and which explain or connect the whole account.

“Example: Tsine mere keb e Ronoboi, mere Lian denang!—Now there comes Ronoboi and Lian doesn’t know he’s coming!

“This sentence would be perfectly correct without mere, but strength and eloquence are added by putting it in these two places.”

MEASUREMENTS

Terms used for small measurements:

TIME

Terms used in denoting the time of day:

VOCABULARY

ENGLISH—UAP

PRONUNCIATION OF VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

• a as in hat.
• ā as in father.
• e as in pen.
• ë as in the French le, barely audible at the end of a word.
• i as in ill, always short.
• o as in pot.
• ō as in only.
• u as in plum. Initial U never has the sound of y preceding as in unicorn.
• ū as in plume.
• ụ as the oo in foot.
• ei as ey in they.
• ai as the i in sigh.
• oi as oy in boy.
• au as ow in how.
• aw as in awning.
• n̄ḡ like the ng in singer, when there is a hard sound as in finger or anger it is indicated by ngg.
• ṯẖ as in thin.
• ch as in charred.

The other consonants are pronounced as in English.