 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
|
 Raga (Hano) languageLanguage code: lml Raga is the language of northern Pentecost Island, spoken by around 6,500 people. The language is thriving among young people today, although like all Pentecost's native languages it is increasingly being mixed with Bislama. The Turaga kastom movement, based at Lavatmangemu in north-east Pentecost, have attempted to stem this corruption of their language by inventing native words for new concepts such as "telephone" (gaingutulo, "whispering tool") and "battery" (vat bongbongi, "night stones"). Raga is widely considered the 'easiest' of Pentecost's languages, and is the most widely-known outside its native region. It was the language of Vanuatu's independence leader, Father Walter Lini, and several words that are in use today throughout Vanuatu come from Raga. These include the country's name (from vanua "island/place" and tu "remain forever") and the name of its currency (vatu meaning "stone"). Dialects and rangeRaga is spoken from the northern tip of Pentecost down to Singmwel (in the west) and Renbura (in the east). Its range includes the villages of Laone, Nazareth, Abwatuntora, Atavtabanga, Loltong, Latano, Nambwarangiut and Lavatmangemu. A small number of Raga speakers also live on neighbouring Maewo Island, as a result of emigration from Pentecost. Modern Raga has only a single dialect, with very minor regional variation. A distinctive southern dialect of Raga, Nggasai, is now extinct. An additional extinct 'language' formerly spoken in the far south of what is now the Raga area, Volvoluana (Wolwolan), was probably a dialect of Apma. LiteracyBy the standards of Vanuatu languages, there is a substantial history of writing in Raga. Quite a few printed materials have been produced in the language (see below), and unlike in other areas, there are many Raga speakers with experience of writing in their own language. Under pressure from the Vanuatu government, North Pentecost primary schools have now begun teaching vernacular literacy to younger pupils, though this has met with a surprising amount of resistance from the local community. Schools in North Pentecost have adopted vernacular literacy later and less enthusiastically than their counterparts in the South, even though the North has a much better-established tradition of writing in the vernacular (and, arguably, an easier language to write down). Raga has a reasonably well-established (although not fully standardised) orthography based on the Western alphabet. In addition to this, followers of the Turaga kastom movement write in Raga using Avoiuli, a local alphabet based on the same principles as the Western one but with letters inspired by designs in sand-drawings. Avoiuli is taught (to those willing to pay massive school fees) at Turaga's 'school of custom' at Lavatmangemu. References on RagaRaga is among the better-documented of the region's languages. Although no comprehensive description of Raga has ever been published, a fair amount of material describing the language has appeared in print, thanks both to the work of early Anglican missionaries and more recent linguistic and anthropological work by David Walsh, Richard Leona, Masanori Yoshioka and John P Taylor. GrammarNo detailed grammar of Raga has been produced, but short descriptions of the language have been published in several sources, spanning three centuries. Two of the earliest works on Melanesian languages - The Melanesian Languages More recently, The Oceanic Languages The introduction to The Story of Raga: A man's ethnography on his own society, edited and translated by Masanori Yoshioka, includes a summary of Raga grammar. This is available online, but may not display properly on non-Japanese computers. VocabularyThe Vanuatu National Library contains a long and impressive Raga dictionary written by "Miss Hardacre", who died in 1921. A shorter, more modern word list is A vocabulary of the North Raga language - Olgeta tok long lanwis blong Not Pentecost by Masanori Yoshioka & Richard Leona (1992). The Hano Translation Committee (see below) are working on a 10,000-word dictionary of Raga, which they hope to publish soon. David Walsh is also believed to be working on a detailed dictionary of Raga. Texts in RagaThe story of Raga: A man’s ethnography on his own society is a handwritten book in Raga by the late Rev. David Tevimule (1966), typed and translated into English by Masanori Yoshioka. The first two parts, "The Origin Myth" (1987) and "The Story of Raga Kin Relations" (1988), were published in the Journal of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Shinsu University. The second two parts, "The Story of Raga Marriage" (2003) and "The Story of Raga Man and Woman" (2005) were published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Studies at Kobe University. Another Raga text published and translated with the help of a linguist is: David Walsh & W. Hadye Lini (1981), Veveven bwatun tauvwa, ata la vanua Raga: a story about the beginning of creation, from Raga Island in Studies in Pacific languages and cultures in honour of Bruce Biggs, edited by Jim Hollyman & Andrew Pawley. Numerous translations of liturgical materials have been produced in Raga, mostly by the Anglican church, including the Book of Common Prayer (Book Tataro Ata Raga, 1970). More recently, a Hano Translation Committee has been formed to print and distribute translations of scripture into Raga, based on the work of Father Mark Gaviga. The four gospels (Roroi Tavuha Non Jisas Kraes) are already available - see Silas Tarilolo in the provincial government office in Angoro (near Nazareth, North Pentecost) if you want to buy a copy! Translations of the rest of the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament are promised soon. Other published material covering Raga
Raga names for local plants and trees are included in various botanical publications, including:
|
|
|
<< Languages of © Andrew Gray, 2008 |
by R H Codrington (1885), and Die melanesischen Sprachen by H von der Gabelentz (1873) - included descriptions of Raga. Another brief, early description of Raga is A grammar of the language of Lamalanga, North Raga, New Hebrides by W.G. Ivens (1937-39).
(2002) by John Lynch, Malcolm Ross, and Terry Crowley includes a summary of Raga grammar abstracted by Terry Crowley, based on work by David Walsh.
.
by J. I. Wheatley (1994), edited by the Vanuatu Department of Forestry. A fantastic book which includes the names of various trees in Suru Rabwanga.