Book 1 Lesson 2 — ngaran ko (Self-Introduction)

ngaran ko ｜ Self-Introduction.

On the road, Masaray (Ma) and Sompo (So) meet Sompo's female cousin on her father's side, Kanigan (Ka). Masaray introduces herself.

🔊
Ka: kaka kong, nokango o kai mo ya?
Hey, cousin, when did you arrive?
🔊
So: ko nimai nokakyab.
I just got here yesterday.
🔊
Ka: kagagan mo o ito?
Is that your friend?
🔊
So: nohon.
Yes.
🔊
Ka: sino o ngaran na?
What's her name?
🔊
Ma: kókay, si Masaray ko, kararay na yaken ni Sompo do ilaod a nimivatvatek.
Hello, I'm si Masaray, Sompo's college classmate in Taiwan.
🔊
Ka: si Kanigan ko, ka mównay do irala?
I'm si Kanigan. Will you be on Orchid Island for long?
🔊
Ma: ala makasa aka piweywalam.
Probably about a week.
🔊
Ka: ya apira o kakteh mo?
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
🔊
Ma: ya doa o kakteh ko, si kaka a mehakay am, kisat, si wari a mavakes am, ya pa mivatvatek.
I have two siblings: an older brother who is a police officer, and a younger sister who is still in school.
🔊
Ka: ori-i, a imo am, ikong o vazay mo?
Oh. How about you—what do you do?
🔊
Ma: ko ji átenngi pa, ala mapivatvatek ko so kanakan.
I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'll teach in an elementary school.
🔊
Ka: kamo mangay jino?
Where are you two going?
🔊
So: namen mangay Jiayo.
We're heading to Jiayo.
🔊
Ka: ning, makapía kamo an!
Alright—have fun!

Grammar ｜ ngaran ko (Self-Introduction)

(1) Case marking

Yami determiners (traditionally called case markers) distinguish common nouns from personal names/kinship terms. The latter further distinguishes singular vs. plural. Determiners manifest four cases: Nominative, Genitive, Locative, and Oblique (Table 1).

Table 1. Case distinctions in Yami determiners
Nominative Genitive Locative Oblique
Common nouns o no do so
Singular personal names and kinship terms si ni ji —
Plural personal names and kinship terms sira nira jira —

Notes on the case markers in this lesson

Nominative NPs are definite:
1. si Masaray ko. I'm si Masaray.
2. si Kanigan ko. I'm si Kanigan.
3. si kaka a mehakay am, kisat. My brother is a police officer.
4. si wari a mavakes am, ya pa mivatvatek. My sister is still in school.
5. ya pira o kakteh mo? How many siblings do you have?
6. sino o ngaran na? What is her name?
Genitive marks possession:
7. kararay na yaken ni Sompo do ilaod a nimivatvatek.
I'm Sompo's college classmate in Taiwan.
Locative refers to places:
8. do ilaod. In Taiwan (on the mainland).
9. do irala. On Orchid Island.
10. kamo mangay jino? Where are you going?
11. namen mangay Jiayo. We are going to Jiayo.
Oblique is used for an indefinite complement of a transitive verb:
12. ala mapivatvatek ko so kanakan. Perhaps I will teach children.

(2) Yami personal pronouns

Yami personal pronouns (Table 2) distinguish number, case, and bound vs. free forms. Note that, as in many Austronesian languages, there is **no bound nominative 3SG** form in Yami.

Table 2. Yami personal pronouns
Nominative (Bound) Nominative (Free) Genitive (Bound) Genitive (Free) Locative (Free)
1S ko yaken ko niaken jiaken
2S ka imo mo nimo jimo
3S — iya na nia jia
1P‑EXCL namen yamen namen niamen jiamen
1P‑INCL ta / tamo / takamo yaten ta niaten jiaten
2P kamo / kanio inio nio ninio jinio
3P sia sira da nira jira

Nominative (bound)

When bound nominative pronouns are agents of intransitive verbs, they generally occur in Subject position. “Bound” means it is unstressed and cliticized to the preceding word.

Predicate Subject
13. si Masaray ko. I am Masaray.

As in Lesson 1, if a verb occurs clause-initially, the bound nominative pronoun appears in second position:

Predicate Subject
14. makapia kamo an. Walk well! / Take care!

However, when a sentence-initial element is an auxiliary with adverbial meaning (e.g., ala “perhaps”), the bound nominative pronoun still follows the main verb:

15. ala mapivatvatek ko so kanakan. Perhaps I will teach children.

A bound nominative pronoun can also be fronted to the sentence-initial position to refer to an event that just happened or is in progress:

16. kamo mangay jino? Where are you (pl.) going?
17. namen mangay Jiayo. We (excl.) are going to Jiayo.
18. ko nimai nokakyab. I just arrived yesterday.
19. ka mownay do irala? Will you be on Orchid Island for long?

Nominative (free)

Free nominative pronouns can occur in topic construction (see Lesson 4), followed by the topic marker am:

20. a imo am? How about you?

They can also be ordered after a sentence-initial noun phrase:

21. kararay na yaken ni Sompo do ilaod a nimivatvatek. I am Sompo's college classmate in Taiwan.
Movement ：
kararay na ni Sompo do ilaod a nimivatvatek yaken.

Genitive (bound)

Bound genitive pronouns often mark possession (“of”), and may serve as the agent of a transitive verb.

22. ya apira o kakteh mo? How many siblings do you have?
23. ya doa o kakteh ko. I have two siblings.
24. ikong o vazay mo? What do you do?
25. kagagan mo o ito? Is that your friend?
26. sino o ngaran na? What is her name?
27. ko ji átenngi pa. I don't know yet.

When a long constituent modifies a head noun (e.g., kararay ni Sompo do ilaod a nimivatvatek), the bound genitive pronoun na follows the head noun to introduce the long modifier:

28. kararay na yaken ni Sompo do ilaod a nimivatvatek. I am Sompo's college classmate in Taiwan.

(3) Perfective ni-

The perfective prefix ni- attaches to the stem: ni-mai “came; have come”, ni-mivatvatek “studied”. When asking “when (in the past)”, the question word in the predicate appears in the past form and the verb in the subject is nominalized:

Predicate Subject
29. [noka-ngo] [o k-ai mo ya?]
“When did you come?”

Activities ｜ ngaran ko (Self-Introduction)

  1. In pairs, ask each other about your name, number of siblings, where you live, and workplace/school.
  2. Each student gives a short self-introduction to the class.
  3. In pairs, ask and answer: when you arrived, how long you will stay, and where you are going now.

Demonstrate ｜ngaran ko (Self-Introduction)

（1）With two people in a group, ask each other for names, number of siblings, location of home, and workplace.

1.
sino ngaran mo? — What is your name?
si mapamiying ko. — I am si Mapamiying.
(=si masaray, si mawawa, si masaray...)

imo am? — What about you?
yaken am, si magaga ko, — Me? I am si Magaga.
(=si masaray, si mawawa, si masaray...)

2.
ya apira o kakteh mo? — How many siblings do you have?

ko maveyvo-ow. — I am a single child.
[ko sa ka tao] — [There is only me.]
[ji abo o kakteh ko] — [I don’t have any siblings.]

ya doa. — Two. [simple answer]

ya doa o kakteh ko. — I have two siblings.
ya lima o kakteh ko. — I have five siblings.

ya doa o mavakes a, ya asa o mehakay.
— Two girls and one guy.

ya asa o mehakay a, ya pito o mavakes.
— One guy and seven girls.

ya asa si kaka a mehakay a, ya doa sira wari a mavakes.
— I have one older brother and two younger sisters.

3.
ya apira o kakteh mo a mavakes?
— How many sisters do you have?
ya asa-a o kakteh ko a mavakes.
— I have only one older sister.

ya apira o kakteh mo a mehakay?
— How many brothers do you have?
ya doa o kakteh ko a mehakay.
— I have two brothers.

4.
kamo papira miketeketeh?
— How many siblings (including you) do you have?
namen lalima, ya doa o mehakay a, namen tatlo a mavakes.
— There are five of us: two guys and three girls.

5.
ikong o vazay na ni kaka mo?
— What does your older brother/sister do for work?
ya mikoysang si kaka. — My older brother is a doctor.
ya mapivatvatek si wari. — My younger sister is a teacher [is teaching].
ya manonotong si ina. — My mother is a cook.
ya mikisat si ama. — My father is a policeman.

6.
do jino na pivazayan ni kaka mo?
— Where does your older sister work?
ya mivazay do 台東. — She works in Taitung.
ya mivazay do gokosio. — She works at the Township Office.

7.
do jino mo pivazayan? — Where do you work?
ko mivazay do 台中. — I work in Taichung.

8.
ikong o vazay mo? — What is your job?
ikong mo vazay? — What do you do? What job are you in charge of?
ko mapivatvatek. — I teach.
ko pa mivatvatek. — I am a student.

（2）Every student should introduce him/herself to the class.

sira sinsi kong, sira kehakay kong, sira kavakes kong, kokay kamo,
— Dear teacher, fellow male students, female students, hello.

yaken rana am, si masaray ko.
— I am si Masaray.

namen tatlo sira kaka a mavakes, ko nianak na rana;
— I have three sisters; I am the youngest [among my sisters].

si kaka a rakeh am, ya mapivatvatek do 台中,
— My oldest sister teaches in Taichung.
si kaka a avak jiamen am, ya mivazay do 台東 do 工廠,
— My second older sister [the one in the middle] works at a factory in Taitung.
ko pa mivatvatek do 靜宜大學;
— As for me, I am a student at Providence University.
ya manonotong si ina do akakanan,
— My mother cooks at a restaurant [works as a cook],
ya mikisat si ama do irala.
— and my father is a policeman on Orchid Island.
ori rana, ayoy!
— That is all. Thank you.

（3）With two people per group, ask each other when they arrived in a certain place, how long they are going to stay, and where they are going now.

1.
nokango kai mo? — When did you arrive?
ko kai pa. — I just arrived.
ko nimai nokakyab. — I arrived yesterday.

2.
nokango kai nio? — When did you guys arrive?
namen kai pa. — We just got here.
namen nimai nokakyab. — We arrived yesterday.

3.
ka makapira araw do jia? — How long are you staying?
ko makadoa araw do jia. — I am staying for two days.
kamo makapira araw do jia? — How long are you guys staying?
namen makalima araw do jia. — We are staying for five days.

4.
ka mangay jino? — Where are you going?
ko mangay do ilaod. — I am going to Taiwan.
kamo mangay jino? — Where are you guys going?
namen mangay do gako. — We are going to school.