The Tigak language of New Ireland

Ti gak i s an Aus t rone s i an language sp oken in the north-e as t o f Pap ua New Guine a . Thi s t agmemi c de s crip t i on of Ti gak i l lus t rat e s the gene ral grammat i c al and phonologi cal nat ure o f t h e language . Ch ap t e r 1 indi c at e s the l o c at i on and lingui s t i c c l as s i fi c at i on o f Ti gak and re fe rs t o the s ma l l amount o f de s crip t ive work on the language . The the o re t i c al p os i t i on unde rly ing the de s c rip ti on and min o r modi fi c at i ons whi ch are made are then set out . Chap t e r 2 out line s the phon o logy o f the language . The re are 12 c ons onant ph oneme s and 5 vowe l phoneme s . Sy llab le s may h ave c omp le x vowe l nuc lei , b ut c ons onant c lus te rs o c cur on ly acros s s y l lab le b oun darie s . Words may end with op en or c l os e d sy l lab le s . The s ynt ax o f T igak s enten c e s is di s c us s e d in Chap t e r 3. Thi s is the fi rs t o f four chap t e rs whi ch de al with the grammar . At c l aus e le ve l ( Ch ap t e r 4 ) , four typ e s o f c l aus e b as e are de s c rib e d . The s e rep re s ent the s t ruct ure c ommon t o al l the s e ven c l aus e type s . Five of the c laus e type s h ave s ub ordinating c onj unct i ons whi ch p re ce de the c l aus e b as e . The othe r two type s , Independent and Re lat i ve C laus e s , are s imi lar t o e ach other in s t ruct ure , b ut di ffe r in fun c t i on and dis t rib ut i on . Re lat i ve C l aus e s are n ot ab le for the l ack o f any re lat i ve p ronoun or marke r . Phras e leve l i s c ons i de re d in Chap t e r 5. Noun Phras e s h ave a c omp le x s y s tem o f art i c le s and quant i fi e rs . Thre e types o f Ve rb Phras e s are s e t up , b ut a s the s e h ave many fe at ure s in c ommon they are di s cus s e d t oge the r . The main c omp li c at i on is the variety o f p art i c le s whi ch may p re ce de the ve rb . Sub j e ct p ronouns o c cur ob ligat ori ly in the ve rb phras e , e ven when the re i s a noun as s ub j e ct . Ob j e ct s uffi xe s are affi xe d t o the ve rb