An Erromangan (Sye) Grammar

Book excerpt: The languages of southern Vanuatu are structurally different from other Oceanic languages. Sye has an unusually complex morphological system and it offers a number of typological surprises for Oceanic linguists. It differs syntactically from many other Oceanic languages of Melanesia in that it does not have widespread verb serialization, though it, along with the other languages of southern Vanuatu, has developed what can be referred to as a system of "echo verbs." This volume describes Sye's phonology and morphosyntax in terms that are intended to be accessible to followers of a variety of linguistic theories, with considerable exemplification of points to allow linguists to reanalyze data according to their own theoretical interests.