ROTUMAN LANGUAGE LESSONS.pdf

ROTUMAN LANGUAGE LESSONS

PREPARED BY

MARIT VAMARASI

AND

JOTAMA VAMARASI

Introduction . These lessons are being prepared in order to help overseas Rotumans

who either do not know the language or feel they do not know it well enough. It is

hoped that these lessons will be a first step toward the maintenance of the Rotuman

language and culture into the next century and beyond. Please consider this Lesson

1 to be a draft only. Feel free to give a copy to anyone who might be interested.

Feedback is welcome. Please send your comments to: Marit Vamarasi, 3538 Grove

Street, Evanston, IL 60203, U.S.A. Or e-mail to: m-vamarasi@neiu.edu.

Instructions. These lessons are meant to be used with a native speaker, who can

read the Rotuman and provide a pronunciation model to the learner. For that

reason, there is not much information about pronunciation here. (Eventually, we

would like to put these on CD-ROM, but this more traditional style of lesson is an

important first step.)

The boldface items in the dialogue indicate that those words and structures

will be explained in the Grammar section which follows. The lines in the Dialogue

are numbered so they can easily be referred to in the Grammar Section.

I have tried to follow the Rotuman writing system where the symbols are

available on my computer keyboard. Instead of the macron (the line that goes over

vowels to indicate length) I have reduplicated the letter.

--Marit Vamarasi

--Jotama Muahea’he’a Vamarasi

ROTUMAN LESSON #1

1. Person A: Noa’ia ko håntei, ka ‘äe taptapen?

Hi, dear, how are you?

2. Person B: Fãi’åkse’ea ka gou ne’ne’ lelei, ka tapen ‘äe?

Thanks, I’m fine, and how are you?

3. A: Gou ne’ne’ lelei tape’ma. Av roa het gou kat räe-räe ra se ‘äe.

I’m fine too. I haven’t seen you for a long time.

4. B: Kota ho’i-m, ko håntei.

I just got back.

5. A: ‘E tei? Ka ‘äe la’ se hanua?

From where? Did you go abroad?

6. B: Gou la’ ma ås se ‘oto räi’ ta ‘e Setnê.

I went to visit my children in Sydney.

7. A: ‘Uh tauag, ka tapen iris?

No wonder. And how are they?

8. B: Fãi’åkse’ea ka iris ne’ne’ lelei tape’ma. ‘Oto hån folu ‘inos ‘atakoa, ka ‘oto fâ

haharåg ta rak la’ mo. ö’-fâ ta ne’ne’ tape’ma.

Thank you, they are well too. My three daughters are all married, but

my youngest son is still in school. Dad is well too.

9. A: Gagaja noa’ia. ‘Oto fâ ta täe ‘e Lepanoni.

Thank God. My husband is in Lebanon.

10. B: Ka ia la’ ma roa?

Did he go long ago?

11. A: Fau-t ‘el la pô.

Close to a year.

12. B: Noa’ia ma ‘itar ôr se’, ka gou la’ la hoa’-kia ‘oto ‘af ta ‘e ‘ofes ne ‘Ea

Pasifiak ta.

It’s been good to talk to you, but I’m going to take my bag from the Air Pacific

office.

13. A: Lelei,’itar la ôr hoi’åk. ‘äe täla la’-au?

Good. We’ll chat again. Good-bye.

14. B: ‘I, ‘äe täla fu’u-ou.

Good-bye.

Grammar Notes

• The word håntei, glossed in 1 as ‘dear’, is related to the word hãni; both mean

‘woman’ or ‘wife’. Hence, this expression could only be directed to a female.

• The conjunction ka is sometimes translated as ‘and’ (2, 7), sometimes as ‘but’

(12), but usually it is best left untranslated into English (1, 5, 8). In 5 and 10

ka functions as a sort of question marker.

• Rotuman has a 2-part negative; kat (or kal in the future) goes before the verb

or adjective ; ra follows the verb or adjective (3). The ra part sometimes

follows a postverbal adverb. For example, hoi’åk ‘again’ and ma roa ‘for a

long time’ both occur before the ra part of the negative.

• Rotuman has a set of 3 verbal suffixes that are called ‘directionals’ which

indicate the direction of the action expressed by the verb in relation to the

speaker. The suffix –m (seen in 4) shows that the action is toward the

speaker. The suffix –of(o) is used for actions away from the speaker.

• Prepositions often differ greatly between languages. In this conversation, you

see examples of three Rotuman prepositions: se (3, 5, 6), in each case

translated as ‘to’ or, with some verbs, it requires no English translation; ‘e (5,

6, 9, 12), translated as either ‘at’, ‘in’, or ‘from’; and ne ‘of’ (12). In most

cases, the context will determine which meaning a certain preposition has.

• One cannot speak a language without using pronouns. In this conversation

you see several pronouns being used: ‘äe, meaning ‘you’ (singular only) (1, 2,

4, 14); gou ‘I, me’ (2, 5, 12), iris ‘they, them’ (7, 8), ia ‘he, she’ (10); and ‘itar

‘we two’ (13, 14). The possessive pronoun for ‘my’ is ‘oto (6, 8, 9, 12).

• The article ta occurs at the end of a singular noun phrase and means

something like ‘the’. See examples in 6, 8, 9, and 12. The other article,

meaning ‘a’, is the suffix –t or the particle het, both of which follow the last

word of a noun phrase (11).

• Intransitive verbs (that is, those that do not take a direct object) often have

suffixes which indicate who is the subject. In 13 you see an example of the

‘you’ suffix (-au) and in 14 an example of the ‘I’ suffix (-ou). The verb la’ ‘go’

is one that often takes these subject suffixes.

• Past, present, and future tenses are not indicated by affixes on Rotuman

verbs. Rather, when tense is expressed at all, it is expressed by a preverbal

particle. In this dialogue you see future indicated by la (13) and täla (13, 14).

Useful Vocabulary Words and Expressions. Try to memorize these.

Noa’ia

Hello. Hi.

Fãi’åkse’ea.

Thank you.

‘äe taptapen/tapen ‘äe?

How are you?

Gou ne’ne’( lelei).

I’m fine.

Av roa het gou kat räeräe ra se ‘äe.

It’s been a long time since I last saw you.

Av roa het

a long time

gou kat räeräe ra se ‘äe

I haven’t seen you

Gagaja noa’ia.

Thank God.

Noa’ia ma ‘itar ôr se’.

It’s been good to chat (with you).

‘Itar la ôr hoi’åk.

Let’s chat again.

‘äe täla la’-au?

Good-bye. (Literally, will you go?). This

is said only to the one who is leaving.

‘äe täla fu’u-ou.

Good-bye. (Literally, you will stay). This

is said only to the one who is staying.

Exercises on Grammar and Vocabulary. Answers follow in the next section.

1. Practice Rotuman negatives by negating the following sentences. Give the

meanings of the new sentences.

a. Ia la’ ma roa.

b. ‘Oto fâ ta ne’ne’.

c. ‘Itar la ôr hoi’åk.

d. ‘Oto hån ta ‘inos.

e. Gou la’ se hanua.

2. Fill in the correct prepositions. Choose from se, ‘e and ne.

a. ‘äe leum_____ tei?

‘Where are you from?’

b.’äe la’ _____ tei?

‘Where are you going?’

c. Gou la la’ _____ ‘ofes ta.

‘I am going to the office.’

d. Ia hoa’kia ‘on ‘af ta _____ ‘ofes ta.

‘He took his bag from the office.’

e. famör _____ ‘oto hanue ta

‘people of my land’

f. Gou kat räe ra _____ ‘äe.

‘I didn’t see you.’

3. Give the correct Rotuman for the following noun phrases, paying special attention

to the articles. (Remember that there is no article with plural nouns.)

a. a year

b. the year

c. the father

d. an office

e. my husband

f. my youngest daughter

g. my three daughters

h. a bag

4. Match the terms for family members.

a. mother

ö’fâ

b. son

o’honi

c. father

räi’

d. daughter

le’ fâ

e. children

le’ hån

Answers to Exercises

a. Ia kat la’ ma roa ra.

‘He/she did not go long ago.’

b. ‘Oto fâ ta kat ne’ne’ ra.

‘My husband is not well.’

c. ‘Itar kal ôr hoi’åk ra.

‘We won’t chat again.’

d. ‘Oto hån ta kat ‘inos ra.

‘My daughter is not married.’

e. Gou kat la’ ra se hanua.

‘I didn’t go abroad.’

a. ‘e

b. se

c. se

d. ‘e

e. ne

f. se

a. faut

b. fau ta

c. ö’ fâ ta

d. ofes het

e. ‘oto fâ ta

f. ‘oto hån haharåg ta

g. ‘oto hån folu

h. ‘af het

a. o’honi

b. le’ fâ

c. ö’fâ

d. le’ hån

e. räi’

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