Within that group, it has traditionally been considered one of the Futunic branch, but a 2008 study (exclusively based on lexical evidence) concluded that this membership is weakly supported.
[GVT 1] Vowel sequences in Vaeakau-Taumako are typically not treated as diphthongs, as they are not fully reduplicated, as shown in the word "holauhola".
However, the use of aspirated sounds varies across dialects, enough that it is difficult to identify a consistent pattern aside from noting they always occur at the start of stressed syllables.
[GVT 5] The language also features bound subject pronouns which act as clitics to the tense-aspect-mood marker of the verb of the constituent.
[GVT 7] When the subject and direct object of a sentence are the same thing, repetition of the independent pronoun in place of both argument positions is typically used.
Negation morphemes behave similarly to verbs in many respects although they do not take tense-aspect-mood markers or form independent predicates.
[GVT 17] However, there are instances of their taking complement clauses and for this reason negation morphemes might be considered a sub-class of verb.
Negated declarative clauses typically occur with either perfective ne or imperfective no, with other options only marginally represented in collected data.
Other grammatical morphemes such as articles or markers of tense, aspect or mood may not precede it which excludes auā from the verb category of Vaeakao-Taumako.
[GVT 19]However, auā behaves like a verb in that it may take clausal complements, which are then often either nominalised or the irrealis marker na is present (see table 1.1.3).
1st Person tatu1PL.INCL.HORTnohostaythemu,quietauāPROHhat=noPL.INCL=IPFVholongāmake noisetatu noho themu, auā hat=no holongā1PL.INCL.HORT stay quiet PROH PL.INCL=IPFV {make noise}'We should all sit still and not be noisy.
'[GVT 20]3rd Person oCONJia3SGauāPROHnoIPFVkute-asee-TRmaicomet-o-kuSG.SP-POSS-1SG.POSSmataeyeiaCONJa iauPERS 1SGauāPROHt-a-kuSG.SP-POSS-1SG.POSSkut-asee-TRangego.alongo-naPOSS-3SG.POSSmataeyeo ia auā no kute-a mai t-o-ku mata ia {a iau} auā t-a-ku kut-a ange o-na mataCONJ 3SG PROH IPFV see-TR come SG.SP-POSS-1SG.POSS eye CONJ {PERS 1SG} PROH SG.SP-POSS-1SG.POSS see-TR go.along POSS-3SG.POSS eye'She is not allowed to look at my face, 'and I cannot look at her face.'
[GVT 19] auāPROHalaHYP SG.SP-POSS-2SGt-a-uPOSSfai-ado-TR.eSG.NSPangaworkeGENRtapeobadiLDAtahasideauā ala t-a-u fai-a e anga e tapeo i tahaPROH {HYP SG.SP-POSS-2SG} POSS do-TR.
'[GVT 20]Irrealis na and imperfective no adheres to a common pattern of appearing in 2nd person in dual or plural within prohibitive clause structure.
'[GVT 23]Verbal negation is made up of three morphemes which act independently and may be understood as the English equivalents to siai 'not', sikiai 'not yet',and hiekh 'not at all'.
[GVT 28] aPERSthatou1PL.INCLhiekhiēnot.at.allpoCOMPnoIPFVkuteasee-TRisomemuiplacethatu=no1PL.INCL=IPFVutu~utuREDUP~drawaiOBL.PROnaDEM.2a thatou hiekhiē po no kutea i mui thatu=no utu~utu ai naPERS 1PL.INCL not.at.all COMP IPFV see-TR some place 1PL.INCL=IPFV REDUP~draw OBL.PRO DEM.2'We had no idea where to draw water.
These spatial-deictic forms "allow the speaker to point to spatial locations" and encode the context of utterances or speech events.
[GVT 34] This three-way distinction is so common in Oceanic languages that it is "virtually certain" that Proto-Oceanic also adopted a person-based demonstrative system.
[9] However, discourse analyses of current demonstrative usage indicates that the system may be shifting to one that is distance-based and therefore not dependent on the speech-act participants.
[GVT 35] The following example shows the demonstrative 'na' ('that'), being used in conjunction with the prefix 'te' to denote singularity: KoTOPte-naART-DEMeARTikaFishefa.bg.Ko te-na e ika efa.TOP ART-DEM ART Fish bg.
'[GVT 40]In Vaeakau-Taumako, the formal class of adverbs is limited, so manner adverbial demonstratives with the meanings 'do/be like this, do/be like that' are regularly utilised.
[GVT 41] These verbal demonstratives are cross-linguistically rare, however Boumaa Fijian and Dyirbal also exhibit similar forms.
[GVT 41] The Vaeakau-Taumako forms are created by attaching the prefix 'p(h)e' to the core demonstrative particles: This first example shows the adverbial demonstrative 'phe-ne' being used to convey the meaning 'do like this': nohositphe-nelike-DEM.1noho phe-nesit like-DEM.1'Sit like this!’[GVT 41]Secondly, verbal demonstratives also function to mean 'be the same as, in the same way': eGENRphe-nalike-DEM.2maicomeiLDAKahulaKahulahanogo.SGmaicomekitonghautashoree phe-na mai i Kahula hano mai ki nghautaGENR like-DEM.2 come LDA Kahula go.SG come to shore'It was the same as in Kahula, he went to the village there'[GVT 42]Thirdly, the verbal demonstratives can function as modifiers of nouns to mean 'an X like that' (Figure 7.4) or 'a certain X' (Figure 7.5): thatu=nolPL.INCL=IPFVhe-hengaREDUP~searchangego.alongeSG.NSPniucoconutbohoyoungeSG.NSPtavelibananaaCOLhingathingphe-nalike-DEM.2thatu=no he-henga ange e niu boho e taveli a hinga phe-nalPL.INCL=IPFV REDUP~search go.along SG.NSP coconut young SG.NSP banana COL thing like-DEM.2'We have looked for coconuts, bananas, things like that.
Dyirbal and Boumaa Fijian only adopt a single verb to denote 'do it like this' in comparison to Vaeakau-Taumako's three-way system.
[GVT 42] Vaeakau-Taumako also has deictic adverbs that are formed by applying the prefixes 'a-’, 'i-'or 'e-’ to the core demonstrative particles.
Furthermore the usage of 'ena' seems restricted to colloquial contexts:[GVT 44] athenko-iINCEP-3SGtaku-asay-TRangego.alongpoCOMPīINTRJe-naPREF-DEM.2naDEM.2poCOMPniPL.NSPvaiWateraiOBL.PROa ko-i taku-a ange po ī e-na na po ni vai aithen INCEP-3SG say-TR go.along COMP INTRJ PREF-DEM.2 DEM.2 COMP PL.NSP Water OBL.PRO'And he said, "Oh, somewhere here there is water".’[GVT 44]Demonstrative particles commonly occur at the end of phrases.
'In addition to demonstratives, Vaeakau-Taumako also has a set of morphemes that indicate verbal deixis (i.e. the physical or metaphorical direction in which an action is being carried out).
'[GVT 49]The second category of directionals is summarised below: The following examples show 'iho' ('down') and 'oho' ('up or down') following another verb and marking the vertical direction in which the respective verb occurs: tatulPL.INCL.HORTnohostayihogo.downiLDAteSG.SPlakautreeaPOSSnghaPL.SPlepūratnaDEM.2tatu noho iho i te lakau a ngha lepū nalPL.INCL.HORT stay go.down LDA SG.SP tree POSS PL.SP rat DEM.2'Let us sit down on the rafter of the rats.
In the example below (Figure 2.4), 'mai' denotes 'towards me' in a metaphorical sense that is 'for me; for my benefit; on my behalf':[GVT 53] oi-nahelp-TRmaicomeaPERSiau1SGoi-na mai a iauhelp-TR come PERS 1SG'Help me!
This is shown in the below example (note: 'poi' is a prenuclear modifier that precedes verbs):[GVT 52] aPERSkoe2SGpoilittleatugo.outa koe poi atuPERS 2SG little go.out'You get away!