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Kokota (Ooe Kokota)
Native to	Solomon Islands
Region	3 villages on the Island Santa Isabel: Goveo, Sisiḡa, Honiara
Ethnicity	Kokota (people)
Native speakers	1,200 (2009)
Language family	Austronesian Oceanic Western Oceanic languages Meso-Melanesian New Ireland network South New Ireland/ Northwest Solomonic network Kokota (Ooe Kokota)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Northwest Solomonic (NWS)

Santa Isabel

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Location of Santa Isabel in Solomon Island Chain

Kokota (also known as “Ooe Kokota”) is spoken on the Island, Santa Isabel, which is located in the Solomon Island chain in the Pacific Ocean. Santa Isabel is one of the larger islands in the chain, but it has a very low population density. Kokota is the main language of three villages: Goveo, Sisigā, and Hurepelo, though there are a few speakers who reside in the capital, Honiara, and elsewhere as well. The language is classified as a 6b (threatened) on the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS). To contextualize '6b', the language is not in immediate danger of extinction since children in the villages are still taught Kokota and speak it at home despite English being the language of the school system. However, Kokota is threatened by another language, Cheke Holo, as speakers of this language move geographically closer to the Kokota-speaking villages. Kokota is one of 37 languages in the Northwestern Solomon Group, and as with many Oceanic languages, it had limited morphological complexity. Kokota uses little affixation and instead relies heavily on cliticization, full and partial reduplication, and compounding. Phonologically, Kokota has a diverse array of vowels and consonants and makes interesting use of stress assignment. Regarding its basic syntax, Kokota is consistently head-initial. The sections below expand on each of these topics to give an overview of the Kokota language.

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Kokota consists of 22 consonants and 5 vowels. Shown below are two phonetic charts that use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) format for displaying phonetic letters. One chart shows the vowel phonemes and the other displays consonant phonemes. Kokota does not make use of any diphthongs.

Vowels

Kokota has five vowel phonemes as shown in the IPA chart below. There are two front vowels, /i/ and /e/, one central vowel, /a/, and two back vowels: a maximally rounded (-̹) /u/ and a slightly rounded (-̜) /o/.

Vowel Phonemes   Front Central Back High i   u̹ Mid e   o̜ Low   a

Consonants

There are 22 consonants in Kokota. There are five contrastive places of articulation and five contrastive manners.

Consonant Phonemes   Bilabial Labiodental Post alveolar Velar Glottal Plosive p b   t d k g   Nasal m̥ m   n̥ n ŋ̊ ŋ   Rhotic (Tap)     ɾ̥ ɾ     Fricative   f v s [ʃ] z [ʒ] ɣ h Lateral Approximant     l̥ l

Syllable structure

Kokota uses three types of syllable structure for the most part: V, CV, and CCV. Most (88% of 746 syllables examined) are CV (V and CCV each represent 6%). However, there are also very, very rare cases where a CCVV or CVV syllable may occur. Thus, Kokota structure is: (C)(C)V(V). Final consonant codas occur non-naturally and are generally used in words borrowed from another language. The CCVV structure is extremely rare as Kokota does not use functional 'diphthongs' and the term simply refers to 2 vowels occurring in sequence in a single syllable. In CC initial syllables, the first consonant (C1) must be an obstruent or fricative, specifically: the labial plosives /p/, /b/, or /k/, /g/, labial fricatives /f/, /v/, or coronal fricatives /s/, /z/. The second consonant (C2) must be a voiced coronal sonorant ( /ɾ/, /l/, or /n/). The table below illustrates the possible CC onset cluster pairings.

	p	b	k	g	f	v	s	z
ɾ	pɾ	bɾ	kɾ	gɾ	fɾ	vɾ	sɾ	zɾ
l	pl	bl	kl	gl	fl	-	-	-
n	-	bn	kn	-	fn	-	sn	zn

The table below contains representations of the basic, useable syllable structures in Kokota.

Template	Instantiation	Translation
V	/ia/	'the' singular
CV	/na.snu.ɾi/	'word'
CCV	/sna.kɾe/	'allow'
CVV	/dou/	'be.big'

Stress

Kokota uses trochaic stress patterns (stressed/unstressed in sequence counting from the left edge of a word). Stress in the language varies widely among speakers, but there are patterns to the variation. Three main factors contribute: the limited morphology of Kokota, the fact some words are irregular by nature, and finally because of the present transition in stress assignment. The language is currently in a period of transition as it moves from relying on stress assignment based on moras (μ - small, linguistic sub-units of syllables and feet) and moves to stress assignment by syllable. The age of the speaker is a defining factor in stress use as members of older generations assign stress based on mora location (variable) while younger generations assign stress based on syllables, placing stress on the leftmost syllable of the word.

Example 1

Words can be divided into syllables (σ) and feet (φ) and those syllables and feet may be divided further into moras (μ). Two moras grouped together comprise a foot. An important restriction on foot formation is that their construction cannot split moras of the same syllable. For example, a word constructed as three syllables CV.CV.CVV has four moras CV, CV, CV, V. These moras are split into two feet CV.CV, CVV.

Assigning stress based on mora uses feet to determine where a word receives stress. In CVV.CV words like /bae.su/ ('shark') the syllables are split as bae and su. The word subdivides into three moras: ba, e, su. The first two moras ba and e become Foot 1 and su is a 'left-over' mora. The first mora is stressed (ba), though in speech the whole syllable receives stress so bae is stressed in this word (see below).

                                     baesu
                                     φ: bae,         -
                                     σ: bae,         su
                                     μ: ba, e,       su

In contrast, a younger speaker of Kokota would assign stress based on syllable. Following the syllable structure above, bae is again the stressed segment but this is simply coincidental as stress is assigned to the first syllable (of the two: bae.su). This coincidence will not always be the case as demonstrated in the next example, below.

Example 2

CV.CVV words like /ka.lae/ ('reef') show more complex stress assignment. ka.lae has three moras: ka, la, e and two syllables: ka, lae. The feet are assigned differently than in bae.su because ordinary foot assignment would take the first two moras and thus would split the lae syllable. Since this is impossible, foot assignment begins with the second mora and thus the foot becomes lae and stress falls on the first mora of that foot (and the rest of the syllable).

                                     kalae
                                     φ: - ,     la e
                                     σ: ka,     la e
                                     μ: ka,     la,  e

A younger speaker uses the simpler, syllable-based assignment: stress falls on the first syllable ka while the second syllable lae is unstressed.

Morphology

Morphology in the Kokota language relies on stress and tone shifts, cliticization, reduplication, and compounding as well as affixation in case/agreement marking.

Agreement

Kokota uses affixation and cliticization to mark gender and number of certain words. For pronouns, Kokota uses four 'person categories': first person exclusive (1EXC), first person inclusive (1INC), second person (2), and third person (3) and can be used to index subjects, objects, or possession.

Subject-indexing need not be affixed to any other words (see "n-e hure" example in Affixation below). The forms include:

1EXC	1INC	2	3
a	da	o	e

Object-indexing occurs as a post-verbal clitic. These also indicate singularity (SG) /plurality (PL) (see "hod-i=ø" example in Affixation below). The forms are listed in the table below.

	1EXC	1INC	2	3
SG	=au ~ =nau	-	=igo ~ =nigo	=i ~ =ni ~ =ø
PL	=ḡai	=gita	=ḡau	=di ~ =ri

Possessor indexing occurs as a suffix and also indicates SG vs PL of possessor (see "dadaraḡuine" example in Cliticization below). The following table illustrates the possible forms.

	1EXC	1INC	2	3
SG	-ḡu	-	-mu ~ -u	-na
PL	-mai	-da	-mi	-di

Affixation

Affixation in Kokota is used in the prefix n- which indicates realis or that the phrase deals with a concrete fact (e.g. something that has happened already). It is usually attached to a person-marker such as the subject markers outlined in the section above.

An example is:

n-e hure

RL-3S carry

'they carry'

Case marking example

Another example of affixation is the use of the transitivizing suffix. The process of converting the verb hoda is shown below.

Intransitive	Transitive [-3SGO]	Transitive [+3SGO]
n-e hoda RL-3S take 'He took.'	n-e hod-i=ri maneri RL-3S take-TR=3PLO they 'He took them.'	n-e hod-i=ø manei RL-3S take-TR=3SGO he 'He took him.'

Cliticization

Kokota uses cliticization more frequently than affixation.

For example, by adding two clitics on to the root noun /dadara/, Kokota specifies who possesses it as well as a more precise location of it as shown in the gloss below.

The gloss of /dadaraḡuine/ is:

dadara

blood

=ḡu=ine

=1SGP=thisR

dadara =ḡu=ine

blood =1SGP=thisR

'this blood of mine'

/Dadara/ is the root meaning 'blood'; /gu/ indicates 1^st person singular possessive ("my") and is inflectional, meaning that the category of the word does not change when it is added. /ine/ means 'this' (R= within reach) and again does not change category. This cliticization takes the word from 'my blood' to 'this blood of mine [here]' to add specificity as if referring to a specific pool of blood from a cut. Clitics that indicate pronominal possessives and number follow their head (the root noun).

Another example of this variety of cliticization is shown in the glossing of /historina/.

histori=na

history=3SGP

histori=na

history=3SGP

'history of it'

/histori/ is the root and it means 'history' and when /na/ is added after, it indicates 3^rd person singular possessive tense meaning ('of it') and thus we get 'history of it' with one clitic.

A more complex form of cliticization occurs in the example sentence below:

gure

nut.paste

foro

coconut.paste

ḡ-e=u=gu

NT-3S=be.thusCNT

ade

here

titili=o

titili=thatNV

gure foro ḡ-e=u=gu ade titili=o

nut.paste coconut.paste NT-3S=be.thusCNT here titili=thatNV

'They made nut and coconut paste here at those standing stones.'

(Notes: the standing stones 'titili' have spiritual significance; NT is the indicator of neutral modality; CNT is continuous; NV refers to something that is not visible)

Partial Reduplication

Partial reduplication in Kokota generally derives nouns from verbs. The repetition of the initial two letters of many verbs create a noun with a semantically associated meaning. Below are two examples:

Example 1	Example 2
/siko/ "steal" becomes /si~siko/ meaning "thief"	/lase/ "know" becomes /la~lase/ meaning "knowledge"

Compounding (nouns)

Compounding is the morphological process of taking two separate words and combining them to create a word of semantically different meaning coming from the constituent words.

Endocentric Compounding

Endocentric compounding in Kokota results in words that serve the grammatical purpose that one of its constituent words does. There are three examples below from Bill Palmer's Kokota Grammar.

Example 1	Example 2	Example 3
Noun + Noun = Noun /hiba/ + /mautu/ = /hibamautu/ "eye" + "right.side" = right eye	Noun + Active Verb = Noun /vaka/ + /flalo/ = /vakaflalo/ "ship" + "fly" = aircraft	Noun + Stative Verb = Noun /mane/ + /dou/ = /manedou/ "man" + "be.big" = important man

Exocentric Compounding

Exocentric compounding in Kokota results in words that do not serve the grammatical purpose that any of the constituent words do. There are two examples below.

Example 1	Example 2
Active Verb + Noun = Proper Noun /siko/ + /ḡia/ = /sikogia/ "steal" + "lime" = bird (specific species)	Active Verb + Stative Verb = Noun /ika/ + /blahi/ = /ikablahi/ "wash" + "be.sacred" = baptism

Syntax

Syntax in Kokota follows the basic sequential order: Subject -> Verb -> Object.

An example is shown in the gloss below.

ia

theSG

koilo

coconut

n-e

RL-3S*

zogu

drop

ka

LOC

kokorako

chicken

ia koilo n-e zogu ka kokorako

theSG coconut RL-3S* drop LOC chicken

'The coconut fell on the chicken.'

Subject: ia koilo n-e Verb: zogu Object: ka kokorako

^*RL-3S is the abbreviation for - realis 3rd person subject meaning that the sentence relates to a factual occurrence (realis) and the subject is third-person (s/he or it).

Headedness

Overall, the verb-object pair in Kokota is head-initial meaning that the head (the verb) precedes the complement (the object) as evidenced by "fell" preceding "on the chicken" in the example above.

Possession

In cases of expressing possession, the thing that is possessed (head) and possessor (complement) in Kokota have a head-initial relationship as well:

kala=ḡu=de 'my hair'

Head	Complement
kala=ḡu=de	ara
hair/leaf=1SGP=theseR	I

Determiners

Determiners (heads) also have head-initial relationships with their noun phrases (complements):

ia do 'the mosquito'

Head	Complement
ia	do
theSG	mosquito

Adposition

Kokota uses prepositions and the adposition (head) and noun phrase (complement) pair have a head-initial relationship.

ka kota=na suḡa=na 'outside that house'

Head	Complement
ka kota=na	suḡa=na
LOC outside=3SGP	house=thatN

References

Palmer, Bill (2009). Kokota Grammar. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 9780824832513.