Kokota language
| Kokota | |
|---|---|
| Region | Santa Isabel Island |
|
Native speakers
|
530 (1999) |
|
Austronesian
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | koko1269 |
Kokota is an Austronesian language spoken by perhaps as many as 1,200 people in three villages on Santa Isabel in the Solomon Islands. These villages are, the villages of Goveo and Sisiga, which lie on the north coast, and Hurepelo which lies on the south coast. People in all three villages use the language daily, but may eventually shift to neighboring Cheke Holo to the west, a language spoken by many more people who have recently settled between Goveo and Sisiga (Palmer 2009:1–2).
The vowel inventory of Kokota is remarkably uninteresting - reflecting the Oceanic five-vowel system - but the actual sound of each may vary according to the phonetic environment. Despite a lack of phonemic length distinction in Kokota, one does find long vowels; however, this is due to a sequence of two identical vowels, rather than one long vowel – this distinction is demonstrated by the optional insertion of an epenthetic glottal stop between the two vowels ((Palmer 1999:20).
Kokota doesn’t contain any phonemic diphthongs; however they do occur in normal speech. Only certain vowel sequences are eligible for diphthonisation. Sequences may only diphthongise if the second vowel present is higher than the first. Front-back and back-front movements are not eligible to become diphthongs. This leaves six diphthongs able to occur (Palmer 1999:21–22): /ae/, /ai/, /ao/, /au/, /ei/ and /ou/. Diphthongisation is also not restricted by morpheme boundaries. Thus, any sequence of eligible vowels may diphthongise.
Kokota orthography is heavily influenced by that of Cheke Holo. For instance, glottal stops are not phonemic in Kokota but are often written with an apostrophe (as in Cheke Holo) when they occur in certain nondistinctive environments, such as to mark morpheme boundaries between neighboring vowels. Similarly, Cheke Holo distinguishes j and z but Kokota does not. Nevertheless, Kokota speakers tend to use either letter to write phonemic /z/. The macron is used to write the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ and the velar nasal /ŋ/.
Most consonants distinguish voiceless and voiced versions (left and right respectively in each cell in the table). Kokota presents a rather uncommon set of consonant phonemes in that each and every phoneme exists in a pair with its voiced or voiceless opposite. There are 22 consonant phonemes in total – 11 place and manner pairs of voiced and voiceless (Palmer 1999:12). The amount of voiced and voiceless consonants and vowels is nearly equal with the percentage being 52% voiced and 48% voiceless. There are 5 different manner classes in the Kokota language. Two are obstruent classes which are fricative and plosive and three are sonorant classes which are lateral, nasal, and rhotic. Its six fricative phonemes make Kokota a relative outlier in Oceanic, where 2-3 fricatives are usual.
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