Te taetae ni Kiribati

The language of Kiribati

Grammar Handbook

 

Lesson 1 SOUNDS AND SPELLING Vowels Nasals Consonants Nasals before other consonants When studying a language, it is often useful to remember that the writing system is a set of symbols which attempts to represent the sounds of the language which are distinctive – those sounds which indicate changes in meaning. In practice it is not always easy to come up with a set of symbols which everyone agrees on, and this has been the case with Kiribati, which was first written in the mid-19th century by missionaries translating the Bible. Since that time, various writing systems have been proposed and used, and while a great deal of regularity has emerged, there is still no complete agreement on how certain sounds should be written. The spelling system used in this text does not deviate much from those in general use, but it does attempt to make the differences in pronunciation as explicit as possible. (Specifically, this means that you will find many doubled vowels and nasals in this text, where in most other writing you would find only a single form e.g. marooroo / maroro). On the following pages the sound and spelling system of Kiribati is described in some detail. You are not expected to master all of the intricacies of pronouncing and spelling Kiribati in his one lesson; please consider this lesson as an introduction only. You will probably find yourself referring back to this lesson as you work through the language program. To examine the sounds of Kiribati, it is convenient to group them into vowels, nasals, and consonants. 1. The Vowels a aa     e ee     i ii     o oo     u uu Kiribati vowels may appear as both long and short sounds, and meanings of words will often be distinguished by this difference. As this is not a characteristic of English, some difficulty may be expected in this area. It is in the representation of vowel length that many of the spelling systems differ. Often, length is not indicated at all, or only in some words. In this text length will be indicated by a doubled letter; it may be thought of as the sound followed by itself. There is no restriction on vowel combinations; therefore long vowel strings may occur, such as in the word ruoia, a kind of Kiribati national dance. These vowel combinations may also be expected to provide some difficulty. (Note: The following description of Kiribati sounds should be considered as a reminder rather than as a guide. Actual pronunciation should be learned from a native Kiribati speaker.) a aa This is pronounced like the a in father, or the vowel sound of hot, spot, not. While it keeps this pronunciation after b' and m', after b and m it has a sound more like that in cat, bat, or hat. man   from; animal maan   long time; animals   m'ata   caterpillar mata   eye; color   baba   board; fool b'ab'a   to drown e ee This is generally pronounced like the vowel in hate, cane, make. ben   coconut been   coconuts   tebe   to jump, dart, bounce up enga   to be where? reke   gotten uee   flower i ii This has the sound of the vowel in heap, meet, speak. ika   fish iika   fish (plural)   ingaabong   morning tiku   to stay riki   to become aiine   women o oo This is like the vowel of hope, coat, smoke. ota   residue of scraped coconut oota   light   koro   husking stick roki   curtain ongo   to hear tooro   slaves u uu This usually has the sound of the vowel in moon, soup, boot. When it appears immediately before another vowel, it is difficult to distinguish from w. taku   to say takuu   curved   uee   flower bua   lost ruuruu   cleaning out a shell um'a   house 2. The Nasals m mm     m' mm'     n nn     ng ngg Like the vowels, the nasal sounds may also occur lengthened, which may provide some difficulty for English speakers. This is another area in which spelling systems do not agree, often failing to indicate the additional length. For the most part these sounds are similar to those occurring in English. m mm Except when lengthened, this is basically as in English. Unlike the other nasals, it may occur directly before any nasal or consonant sound, providing some combinations which are rare or non-existent in English. (A following a has the vowel sound of hat, cat, rat.) mate   death mmanii   thin mka   rotten m'baa   to kiss mronron   round mte   small, fine nama   lagoon koom   comb m' mm' This symbol is only used before a, in which case the vowel sound remains like that in hot, top, or mock. (Some systems write ma for both sounds ma and m'a. In others, m'a is written mwa. It never occurs before o or u.) um'a   house mm'aane   male mm'akuri   work kanimm'a   adhere it m'ai   cooked n nn The n sound is basically that of English, except that it too can be lengthened. It can also occur alone however, as in, the word N, (the pronoun "I"). nako   to go kana   to eat nnewe   lobster ntabena   kind of crab man   from; animal N   I (before future) nrairai   exhaustion ng ngg Although written with two symbols, ng is also a single sound, quite similar to that appearing in the English word singer (though not the sound in finger). ngai   I ngare   to laugh kangaa   how ang   wind eng   yes ngka   give me ngenge   a begging look uringga   remember it 3. The Consonants b     b'     t     k     r     w The Kiribati consonants may only appear at the beginning or middle of a word, never finally. They never occur adjacent to each other (although b' is usually spelled bw before i and e). The spelling symbols for the consonants are not always good indicators of pronunciation, as quite a bit of variation occurs before different vowels, so some care must be taken to memorize the correct sound/symbol correspondences. b This sound is somewhere between the English b and p, and was often spelled with a p in some earlier systems. It is rather like the p in spit. (The sound of a following a is as in cap, hat, back.) bane   finished beebete   easy, light koobe   coffee buoka   to help biri   to run b' (bw) Like m' this symbol only appears before a, where it has the effect of retaining the 'hot, stop, lock' sound of a. (Some writing systems don't use a separate symbol for b', using b for both sounds. It is written bw before i and e. It never occurs before o or u.) b'aka   to fall rab'a   thanks bwe   oar, paddle bwia   floor b'aa   rock, oil mb'aa   to kiss t This sound is some where between the English t and d, rather like the t in stick. When it occurs before i it is pronounced as an s (so that ti, 'only, we', is pronounced like see). In the Northern dialect it has this s pronunciation before u as well. (see next chapter on dialects. ) toka   to get on tiku   to stay matuu   to sleep tei   to stand mata   eye, color k This is pronounced somewhere between the English g and k, but rather similar to the k in skill. karea   to throw bike   beach kiika   octopus tiku   to stay korea   to cut r A somewhat difficult sound for English speakers, it is made with a tap of the tongue, and sometimes sounds like a d or dr. roko   come, arrive rama   outrigger boom bure   error ririki   year reirei   school w This is usually pronounced similarly to w in English, but is often between w and v. Before e it is always pronounced as a v. (It never occurs before o or u.) waa   canoe wetea   to call kewe   to lie wii   tooth rawa   passage Exercises In many cases these exercises illustrate contrasts in pronunciation as well as the simple pronunciation of a symbol. Practice reading the lists both down and across, getting the correct pronunciation from your teacher. After completing the pronunciation drills, practice hearing the contrasts by taking dictation from your teacher with the text closed. a - aa man   maan b'ab'a   b'aab'aa baba   baabaa maama   maamaa b'a   b'aa kana   kanaa bana   baana bao   baao tan   taan m'ane   m'aane b - b' baba   b'ab'a baabaa   b'aab'aa baa   b'aa bata   b'ata bai   b'ai raba   rab'a baka   b'aka m - m' mata   m'ata mane   mane rama   ram'a mai   m'ai maaka   m'aaka   mka   mwenga mb'aa   mwi mronron   m'ai mnaao   m'aane mrara   moko taamnei   mm'akuri maninga   kanimm'a e - ee ben   been beka   beeka bebe   beebee i - ii ika   iika tiku   tiiku tibu   tiibu o - oo ota   oota rota   roota bora   boora koro   kooro toro   tooro u - uu taku   takuu ruru   ruuruu bubu   buubuu bua   buua tua   tuua t toka   katea taka   roota tiku   toto tua   matuu tei   matie k karea   roko ke   ngkoe kiika   bike ko   baka kuuka   toki kunea   tiku r rama   rawa rere   bure riki   taari roko   baro rao   Beru ruura   uraura w waa   rawa wetea   kewe wii   Rewii wati   wene n nako   konaa   ben nete   wene   kan nii   kani   on noku   bono   un nuuka   benu   in n - nn na   nna n   nne karina   karinna kana   kanna nete   nnewe ng ngare   kangaa   bong ngea   kangeri   kiing ngio   manging   ung ngongo   ongo   tang ngure   ibengu   eng ngg - ngk ngai   ngkai ngkoe   tiringga riingga   uringga vowel combinations ae   ai mai   m'ai bai   b'ai aera   aira taetae   taitai tuae   tuai aea   aia bua   burae   tou   too routa   roota ao   au mao   m'au aoraki   auti tao   tau aon   karau aue   uee   uota   ruoia uaa   waa aua   aoa tua   tuae bue   bwe   uia   wii meang   aea keu   ruoia ia   ie tai   tia tia   tie bia   matie   tei   ririu nei   ngkoe Section 2 - Nasals before other consonants Some nasals before other nasals or consonants require the insertion of i. Some variation exists as to whether the inserted i is written, but in this text it will always be shown. m m' This is the only nasal which does not require the insertion of i before other nasals or consonants. (m' is not distinguished from m before nasals or consonants.) ng Ng requires the insertion of i when it appears before another nasal (m, m', n), or before any consonant except k. This is the case both internally or at the end of the word before a word starting with m, m', n, b, b', r, t, w. nang   about to N nang kiitana Betio.   I'm about to leave Betio. N nangi nako.   I'm about to go.   kang   eat kangkang   delicious   tang   cry tangitang   complaints, crying n N requires the insertion of i before the other nasals, and before all the consonants except t and r. (Nor before itself: taian nati.) Because of the frequency of occurrence of n as a linking particle or genitive marker, it is often necessary to decide between n and ni, and so the environments for the change should be carefully studied. rang + n + bati + n + raoiroi very+ n +   much+ n + good rangi ni bati n raoiroi = very very good   rang + n + bati + n + kukurei very+ n +   much+ n + happy rangi ni bati ni kukurei = very very happy   rua ni mate   grave (pit of death) nati n uea   prince (child of king) nuuka ni bong   midnight (middle of the night) baba n takataka   copra board (board of copra)   kaain Onotoa   person of Onotoa kaaini Kiribati   person of Kiribati kaain Taiti   person of Tahiti kaaini Buritan   person of Britain kaain Ruutia   person of Russia kaaini Wereti   person of Wales kaain Nauru   person of Nauru kaaini Maiana   person of Maiana   I konaa n tiku   I can stay i konaa ni karaoia   I can do it   I kan tiku   I want to stay I kani karaoia   I want to do it Exercises Insert the i into the following phrases where appropriate: um'a n kuuka tang n ataei bong n kukurei burae n moa oti n tai kaain Amerika boki n te reirei mane n kirabu kaibuke n kamb'ana tang n kitaa bong n te namakaina Aro n Katorika tabo n mm'akuri kona n tiku kan mm'akuri taan reirei taan mm'akuri taian titooa taian kiika taian boom

© 1979, 2003 Stephen Trussel, ACTION / Peace Corps, The Experiment in International Living. The Experiment in International Living, Inc., prepared this handbook for the U. S. Government under ACTION Contract number 78-043-1037. The reproduction of any part of this handbook other than for such purposes as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research, or other "fair use" is subject to the prior written permission of ACTION.