THE STORY OF RAGA: A MAN'S ETHNOGRAPHY ON HIS OWN SOCIETY
(I) TH ORIGIN MYTH

INTRODUCTION

1

　　　　This is an English translation of a hand-copied book which was written in “ Raga” by the late Rev. David Tevimule in 1966.１） The original title of the book is Vevhurin Raga(vevhuri = story, -n = of). “Raga" is a language spoken by the people of North Raga(northern part of Raga or Pentecost Island) in Vanuatu. The work consists of twenty chapters and concerns various aspects of North Raga culture: its origin myth, kin relations,initiation rite, rank-taking system, chiefs, and customs concerning birth, marriage, and death. North Raga has been known to anthropologists by the work of Codrington (1891) and Rivers(1914). I did my anthropological field work there in 1974, from 1981 to 1982,and again in 1985.The population is 3,125 according to the census of 1979. All of the people are now Christian: more than 94% of them are Anglican and less than 6% Catholic. Their subsistence mainly depends on slash-and-burn cultivation of taro and yam. There are matrilineal moieties and many matrilineal descent groups. Marriage regulation is a kind of prescription(Yoshioka 1985). As in the other parts of Northern Vanuatu, there is a rank-taking system in North Raga which is realized in a ceremony called Bolololi. The men of highest rank are called Jif (chief) in Bislama (Vanuatu Pidgin English). (Yoshioka 1983a,1983b,1986)
　　　　The Rev. David Tevimule was born in Asaosulu in North Raga. He was one of　my best friends while I was doing my field research. He was known to the people of North Raga by his wide knowledge of its customs. When I did my second field research he was called tamaragai, which means“ a very very oldman”. It is not clear when he was born. When I asked him about his age, he　pointed at a boy near him who looked fourteen or fifteen and told me that hehad been about the same age as the boy when the volcano of Ambrym
exploded. The explosion of Ambrym volcano he referred to seems to be that of1913(cf.O'Reilly 1955). If so, he may have been well over eighty at the timeof my second research. To our deep regret, he passed away in 1984.
　　　　Father David was brought up in North Raga and married there. He had been　married for many years before his first child was born in 1930２） (Aaron et al.1981:114). After that he went to Lolowai at Ambae to attend the training college. In 1940 he went to the Solomon Islands to take further training to　become an Anglican priest.He attended Siota College３） and became an Anglicandeacon. In 1946 he came back to Lolowai at Ambae and there became an Anglican priest. In 1947 he began to teach at the Anglican School at Bwatnapni in Central Pentecost. After retiring from the school, he came backto North Raga and lived in Tasvarongo village.

2

　　　　In this paper I translate the first five chapters of the original book in which Father David describes the origin myth４）. The paper has two purposes. The first is to present the origin myth as a text in the form of aliteral translation together with the original. The second purpose, which is　related to the first, is to present the raw data of the Raga language with some comments.
　　　　It is worth noting here that the origin myth was not spoken but written. The writing system of North Raga has not been thoroughly established yet but the letters are mostly written in accordance with the pholological system. According to Walsh ,the articulated values of the consonant phonemes are as shown in Table I(Walsh 1982:236-237). In writing, ／bwero／ is realized
as bwero(ear),／vwavwa／ as vwavwa (aunt),／sabuga／ as sabuga (tabooed) and　so on. The phonemes ／v／,／vw／,／t／,and ／g／ change into ／b／,／bw／,／d／, and ／ngg／　respectively under certain syntactic conditions(Walsh 1982:237). The same is true of the corresponding letters. Thus, when ／tai／changes into ／dai／in certain syntactic conditions, tai is replaced by dai(tai = dai = to cut).  An exception to such an orthographic principle appears in the case of the letters“g" and “k". The phoneme ／g／in Table I is composed of the voicedvelar fricative [γ], and the voiceless velar fricative [x]. In many cases ／g／ is realized as “g", but sometimes　as “k", especially when it is pronounced as [x]. In the following text, we　will find that for the word ／gea／, gea is used in some places and kea in　other places.

　　　　　　　　　　　V = voicing, L = labio-velarisation, P = homorganic pre-nasalisation

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Table I


　　　　Although great importance should be attached to the original writing of Father David, it seems to contain many writing and spelling mistakes.　Many corrections were made by Mr. Richard Leona and me. Mr. Richard Leona, who was the headmaster of Labultamata Primary School, is a native speaker of the Raga language and is linguistically the best trained informant in North Raga. Moreover he is also versed in many old Raga words,　some of which are found in the original５）.
　　　　According to Tryon,the Raga language is the Oceanic type in the Melanesianof Austronesian (1972:70). It is spoken in the area from the northern end of Raga(Pentecost) Island to Tasvarongo village６）. In most languages of the Oceanic type,personal pronouns are divided into cardinal and verbal pronouns(Tryon 1973:329). Raga personal pronouns are listed in Table II. We can see from the table that the verbal pronoun is a short form of the cardinal pronoun.
　　　　In the languages of Maewo, Ambae, Santo and Pentecost,vebal pronouns which semantically indicate the actor appear as nominative and they are combined with tense particles to make single units (Tryon 1973:331,1978:887).Such　units in the Raga language are listed in Table III. The basic tense particlesare mwa, nu,vi and men,which indicates neutral tense,past tense,future tenseand near-future tense respectively７）. They are subject to certain morpho-phonemic changes.To take nan as an example,it consists of the stem na- whichis the verbal pronoun in the first person singular and the suffix -n which is a morphophonemic realization of the past tense particle nu.No verbal pronoun is usually used when it is in the third personsingular nominative; in such a case, only the full form of a tense particle is used (Example 1).　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

 　　　　　　　　　　　　The letters “g" and “k" are both possible realizations of ／g／. But
　　　　　　　　　　　  ／gimiu／ is usually written not as gimiu but as kimiu and ／gera／ not
 　　　　　　　　　　　 as gera but as kera.
                　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   Table II

            　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Table III


1 Naturigi 　　nu　　　　　 vano.
　　child 　　φ-past 　　　　go
(A child went.)

　　　　The word nu is the full form of the past tense particle and the third person singular is shown by φ８）. In this paper, however, I will translate nu(or mwa or vi or men) as “he(or she or it)-past(or -neutral or -future or -near　future )" to make explicit what kind of actor is indicated by such a word.
　　　　There is also a word gem which is composed of ge-(probably a variant of　the verbal pronoun in the third person singular) and -m(neutral tense particle). Although ge-m is interchangeable with mwa, it is rarely used in daily conversation. It may be an old form. I am not certain whether the forms ge-n, ge-v, or ge-men are used or not.
　　　　In normal declarative sentences of the Raga language, the noun subject precedes the corresponding verbal pronoun(Example 1). Cardinal pronouns are　usually placed in the same position as noun subjects, though some cardinal pronouns are used as objectives in the same form (Table IV)９）.It seems proper to distinguish these two cases(Example 2 and 3), so I call the cardinal pronouns in nominative position independent pronouns.

   　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Table IV


2 Kimiu 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　gi-m 　　　bano.
you independent pronoun you-neutral 　　go
(You go.)

3 Na-n 　　gita 　　kimiu.
　I-past 　　see 　　you
(I saw you.)

　　　　The cardinal pronoun kea(or gea) is also used as a demonstrative pronoun,to point at something remote from the speaker.To point at something near the　speaker, keki (or geki) is used(Example 4). However, I will not refer to kea　(or gea) in such usage as an independent pronoun even though it is used in nominative position. Kea(or gea) and keki(or geki) are also used as demonstrative adjectives(Example 5). Moreover, kea (or gea) can be used as in　Example 6. In such cases, the meaning of kea (or gea) varies according to context.

4 Hano　 keki?
　what 　　this
(What is this?)

5 Na-m 　　doro 　　boe 　kea
I-neutral 　want 　　pig 　that
(I want that pig.)

6 Wangga 　nu 　　　　mai 　　　　kea 　　mwalanggelo　 nu 　　　　hivo　　　 an　 tahi.
　canoe 　it-past 　come, therefore 　young man 　he-past 　go down 　at　 sea
(A canoe came; therefore, a young man went down to the sea.)

　　　　The particles used in the possessive are listed in Table V. Their forms change in accordance with the kind of noun to which they attach. Nouns are classified into five categories. According to Tryon, these categories are: 1)inalienable objects, 2)a general category,3)edible objects, 4)drinkables and 5)prized possessions(Tryon 1973:314). The particles in column 1 in Table V are used as follows: tama-nggu(my father), bwatu-na(his head), or ratahi-n tarabe-ku(mother of my uncle). Those in columns 2 to 5 are used as
follows: no-nggu (mine), no-nggu buka(my book), no-n buka(his book), buka non　George(George's book), ga-ku (mine), ga-ku damu(my yam), ma-nggu(mine), ma-m　niu(your coconut), bila-ku (mine), or bila-n boe(his pig). It is interesting　to note that when people say ma-m wai(your water), the water is drinkable, while it may not be drinkable when they say no-m wai(your water). In an English version of the following text,however,I will not attempt to bring　out such delicate semantic differences.

　　　　�I1 Inalienable 2 General 3 Edible 4 Drinkable 5 Prized possessions
　　　　�IThe particles in parentheses are used in the absolute possessive. The other partilcles
　　　　　 in columns 2 to 5 are used even in the absolute possessive. The particles
　　　　　 in column 1 are not so used.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Table V


　　　　It is clear from the above tables that the Raga language distinguishes between inclusive“we" and exclusive “we". Thus, ta-m means “we"-neutral including the hearer, while ga-m means “we"-neutral excluding the hearer. The same holds in the case of possessives. Ga-da, for example, means “(food　of) ours(including the hearer)", while ga-mai means “(food of) ours (excluding the hearer)".

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Table VI
　

　 　　　Numerals are listed in Table VI. The upper row shows cardinal numerals and the lower ordinal numerals. For the numbers above ten, the same words are used for both cardinal and ordinal numerals.Thus“eleven" is hangvul-domwan-gaituvwa; “twelve" is hangvul-domwan-gairua; and so on.“Twenty" is ngavul-gairua and “thirty”is ngavul-gaitolu.Cardinal numerals are often combined with verbal pronouns to make single units. Suppose there are a speaker and two hearers. If the speaker wants to say something like“we three[you two and I] will do something", he can say:

7 ta-tol 　　　　　　　　　　　　　vi 　　　　　　　lol 〜
we-including hearer three 　we-future 　　　do 〜
(We three will do 〜.)

　　　　If example 7 is in the neutral tense, it will be ta-m dol lol 〜. When　there are one speaker and one hearer, the speaker says ta-mu-ru(ta- = we-including hearer, -mu- = nuetral, -ru = rua = two) if the tense is present, or ta-ru vi if it is past, or ta-ru-men if it is the near-future. The same can be said of possessives and objectives. “Our[you and me two]　book" is expressed as no-da-ru buka, while “the mother of us two(excluding　the hearer)" is ratahi-ma-ru(ratahi- = mother, -ma- = mai = our[excluding　the hearer], -ru = rua = two).“To you two" is expressed as lalai kimi-ru　(lalai = to, kimi- = kimiu = you, -ru = rua = two).　The plurality of nouns is generally shown by the form of verbal pronouns,　of objective particles, or of possessive particles. In example 8, the noun naturigi is singular, while in example 9, it is plural. However, there are cases in which a plural marker is placed in front of the noun in question.Inexample 10, ira is a plural marker.

8 Naturigi 　　　　　　mwa 　　　　　　bano.
　　child 　　he(or she)-neutral 　　　go
　　(A child goes.) 　　　　　　　　　　　　　

9 Naturigi 　　　　ra-m　　　　　　 bano.
　　　child 　　　　they-neutral 　　go
　　　(Children go.)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

10 　 Ira 　　　　naturigi 　　ra-m 　　　　　　bano.
plural markar 　　　child 　they-neutral 　　　go
(Children go.)

　　　　With regard to aspect I will give an explanation of the two Raga words vava and vuvuri. Vava is used to show that an action continues and the sentence following vava describes the result of the action. That is, it sometimes functions as a durative marker and sometimes as a conjunction likeEnglish “until"(Example 11). In this paper I call it an action-continuing marker. Vuvuri is used to show that an action is completed and the sentence　following vuvuri describes an action that follows thereafter. In this way it sometimes functions as a terminate marker and sometimes as an adverb like English “then"(Example 12). I call it an action-completing marker.

11 Mwalanggelo 　　　　nu　　　 lago 　　　　　vava 　　　　　　　　nu　　　　 hivo　　　 an 　　tahi
　　young man 　　he-past　　 walk 　action-continuing 　he-past 　　go down 　　at　　 sea
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　marker
(A young man kept walking until he reached the sea.)

12 Mwalanggelo 　　nu　　　　　 loli-a 　　　　　　vuvuri 　　　　　　　　　nu 　　　vano.
　　young man 　　he-past 　　　o it action-completing marker　he-past 　　　go
(A young man finished doing it; then he went.)

　　　　Negation is expressed by hav.....tehe(Example 13). Tehe sometimes takes　the shorter form te, so that negation is also expressed as hav.....te.　Moreover,tehe is sometimes omitted, though it is said that such an omission is incorrect. I will translate hav into “not" and regard tehe as a negative　marker.

13 Na-m 　　　hav 　gita-go 　　　tehe.
　I-neutral 　　not 　see you　　 negative marker
(I do not see you.)

　　　　In the Raga language the particle na is used to bring a certain word into　focus and I accordingly call this particle a focus marker. Compare examples　14 and 15. In both cases, nu, which is an actor-indicator,refers to niu. In　14 the subject niu is placed at the end of the sentence and focus is placed　on it by using the focus marker na.

14 Nu 　　　　halhala 　　na 　　　　　　　　　niu.
　　it-past 　　　float 　focus marker 　　coconut
(It is a coconut that floated.)

15 Niu 　　　nu　　　　 halhala.
coconut 　it-past 　　　float
(A coconut floated.)

　　　　Be and gabe should be explained here. Be is basically a conjunction, as　seen in examples 16 and 17. In 16 it is used as a complementizer. Example 18　also shows that be is used as a complementizer and in this case it introduces direct narration. Be can be used in both direct and indirect narration. When it introduces direct narration, I call it a direct narration marker to indicate the form of narration clearly. Example 19 shows that be is used also as a particle which identifies the following word or phrase as　a complement. In this case I call be a complement marker.

16 Mwalanggelo 　　　nu　　　　 hivo　　　　 an　　 tahi　　 be　　　　 vi 　　　　　　gagaru.
　　　young man　 he-past 　go down　　　 at　　 sea 　so that 　he-future 　　swim
(A young man went down to the sea so that he might swim.)

17 Mwalanggelo 　　nu 　　　gita-e 　be　　 nu　　　 tavuha.
　　young man 　he-past 　see it　 that 　it-past　　 good
(A young man found that it was good.)

18 Mwalanggelo　　 mwa 　　　　beve　　　　 be　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ue.
　　young man 　he-neutral 　say　　 direct narrative marker　　　　 “Yes"
(A young man says ,“Yes.")

19 Ra-m 　　　　　　uloi-nia 　　　　　be 　　　　　　　　　　　　Tabua.
　　they-neutral 　　call it　　 complement marker 　　　　Ambrym
(They call it Ambrym.)

　　　　Gabe is basically used as a relative(Example 20,21; as seen in the latter　example, Raga has no copula). Gabe is also used as a complementizer and as a　complement marker.

20 Vatu 　　　　nu　　　　 en　　　　　　 goro　　　　 lulu　　　 gabe　　　 ra-n　　　　 geli-a.
　　stone 　　it-past　　 lie down　　 shutting 　　　hole　　 which　 they-past　　　 dig it.
(A stone stopped up the hole which they dug.)

21 Go-m　　　　　　 lol 　　　nggagarasi 　no-m　　 mwlanggelo 　　　gaituvwa　　 gabe　　 George.
　　you-neutral 　　make　　　　 cruel 　　your　　 young fellow　　　　one 　　　who　　 George
(You commit a folly to your only subordinate who is George.)

　　　　There are no words in the language for North, South, East and West. Moving　to the north is expressed by the verb hivo, the literal meaning of which is “to go down", while moving to the south is expressed by hae, the literal meaning of which is “to go up". Moving to the east and moving to the west are expressed by hivo , hae, or vano(= to go). Regardless of such direction(east or west), hivo is used if the place the speaker is about to go to is lower than the place he is now,and hae if it is highter. Vano makes no
reference to relative height.

The following abbreviations, signs, and marks are used in the text;
1. -n. Neutral tense.
2. -p. Past tense.
3. -f. Future tense.
4. -nf. Near future tense.
5. -in. Including the hearer.
6. -ex. Excluding the hearer.
7. neg. Negative marker.
8. pl. Plural marker.
9. ind. Independent pronoun.
10.foc. Focus marker.
11.dn. Direct narrative marker.
12.cont. Action continuing marker.
13.copl. Action completing marker.
14.cm. Complement marker.
15.[ ],＃ ＃ The bracketed word or mark is one which Mr. Leona substituted for Father David's original word or mark,directly in front of 　　it. If two or more words or marks are replaced by those in brackets,　they are enclosed with ＃ ＃. For example,“＃ nu to ＃[mwa 　　　do]" 　means that though Father David wrote“nu to", Mr.Leona suggested　that such words should be replaced with “mwa do”.
16.( ) Forms in parenthses were added to the original by Mr.Leona.
17.{ } Forms in braces are in the original but Mr.Leona suggested that they should be omitted for better understanding of the text.

3

　　　　The leading characters in the following story are Tagaro and Bwatmahanga.　They are spirits.(In the text, Rev. David Tevimule himself translates Tagaro as “God", and Bwatmahanga as Holy Spirit(vui sabuga[vui = spirit, saguba = tabooed, holy]). The story of Tagaro has many variations in the Northern Vanuatu islands. In Banks, Qat plays a paramount role in the story.Codrington wrote that in the northern Vanuatu islands south of Banks,“Qat,　though not unknown, is not recognised as a spirit, but Tagaro takes his place."(Codrington 1891:168). But Bwatmahanga in North Raga is clearly the counterpart of Qat. For the sake of comparison, I will quote the story of Tagaro in North Raga described by Codrington.

“Tagaro has ten brothers, besides Suqe, who accompanies and thwarts　him. Tagaro came down from heaven, made men and other things, and went back again to heaven. Suqe belonged to the earth; his head was　forked, therefore he had two thoughts in it. Whatever Tagaro did or　made was right, Suqe was always wrong; he would have men die only　for five days; he wanted to have six nights to one day; he planted　the scooped meat of the yam, not the rind. Tagaro sent him to a place　where is a bottomless chasm, somewhere inland in Araga, where he rules over the ghosts of the dead. Tagaro when on earth, though,　a wui, had a human form, with superhuman power. He made the plain　country by treading the ground with his feet; where he did not tread　are the hills. He had no wife or children of his own kind, but he　became the father of a boy on earth"(ibid;169)１０）.
　　　　As we will see later, the story written by Father David explains why Suqe　(Sukwe) was always wrong. In that story, Sukwe is not the brother of Tagaro　but the only subordinate of Bwatmahanga. An informant told me that Sukwe isthe bad personality of Bwatmahanga.This is the same explanation as the one in the story above, that is, Suqe's head had two thoughts in it.

NOTES

1)I am grateful to Mr.J.Okamoto, Dr. Y.Hirose, and Mr. P.E.Davenport, all of Shinshu University, for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. I also wish to express my gratitude to Dr.K. Sudo of the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan for his advice.
2)His first child is now the Anglican Bishop of Vanuatu.
3)D. Aaron et al.(1981:115) says that the college is Maka Collge in Malaita.
4)To be precise, I translate the first five chapters and the first two sections of Chapter 6 of the original. The latter tell about the origin myth, while the other sections of Chapter 6 tell about the kin relations.
I treat the first two sections of Chapter 6 of the original as sections 8 and 9 of Chaper 5.
5)Richard Leona is a collaborator of the linguist Walsh,who did his field research in North Raga.
6)Tryon says that the southern boundary of the language runs roughly from Namaram on the west coast to Aligu on the east coast(Tryon 1972:59-60). But as far as I know, they do not speak the Raga language in Namaram. The boundary seems rather to run roughly to Tasvarongo on the west coast,
although in the small hamlets immediately south of Tasvarongo they do speak Raga.
7)Tryon points out only three basic tense particles, namely, ma(neutral), nu(past tense), and vi (future tense)(1973:332). The near-future tense particle men is used as follows; Na-men vano I am about to go.). It is important to distinguish namen from nam en. The latter is a short form of nam eno(I lie down).
8)Walsh describes nu itself as -nu(1978:191).
9)I am not certain about the difference between the dative and the accusative.
10)Codrington continues to descibe the story as follows;

“The boy kept asking his mother who his father was, and was told that he was in heaven. Then he must need go to heaven to see his father, and his mother made him a bow and an arrow of an ere, a flowering reed. He shot up and hit the sky; his ere turned into something like the aerial root of a banyan, up which the two climbed to heaven. There they found Tagaro sitting in a salite-tree, and fashioning images of himself out of the fruit. One of these he threw to the boy, who took it to his mother. She recognised the features, and told the boy it was his father. Tagaro consented to go back with them; but as he descended he cut the line above them and below himself, and went back to heaven, while they came down to Atambulu, the original seat of men in that island"(ibid;169).

Such a story has nothing to do with David Tevimule's srory but it is nearly the same as the latter part of the angel-legend I collected in NorthRaga(See Apendix I).

REFERENCES

Aaron, D. B. et al.
　　1981 Yumi Stanap: Some people of Vanuatu. Suva:Institute of Pacific Studies.

Codrington, R. H.
　　1891 The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore. Oxford:Clarendon Press.(Repr. New York: Dover Publications, 1972).

Gowers, S.
　　1978 Some Common Trees of the New Hebrides and their Vernacular Names. Port Vila. Forestry Section, Dept. of Agriclture.O'Reilly, P.
　　1956 Essai de Chronologie des Nouvelle-Hebrides. Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes 12:5-61.

Rivers, W. H. R.
　　1914 The History of Melanesian Society. Cambridge:Cambridge Univ.Press.

Tryon, D. T.
　　1972 The language of the New Hebrides:a checklist and general survey. Pacific Linguistics A-35:43-84.
　　1973 Linguistic Subgrouping in the New Hebrides:A Preliminary Approach. Oceanic Linguistics 12:303-351.
　　1978 The Languages of the New Hebrides:Internal and External Relationships. Pacific Linguistics C-61:877-902.

Yoshioka, M.
　　1983a Bororori I- Hokubu Raga ni okeru buta ni matsuwaru gishiki-.(Bolololi I: A ceremony centering around pigs in North Raga.) Annual Review of Social Anthropology 9:167-190.
　　1983b Bororori II - Hokubu Raga ni okeru riidaashippu -.(Bolololi II: Leadership in North Raga.) Japanese Journal of Ethnology 48:63-90.
　　1983c Ninshikijinruigaku no chiheisen.(The Horizon of Cognitive Anthropology.) Gendai Shiso Vol.11-1:105-113.
　　1985 The Marriage System of North Raga, Vanuatu. Man and Culture in Oceania 1:27-54.
　　1986 A Report on Bolololi: Rank-taking Ceremony in North Raga, Vanuatu.( Not published. A report dedicated to the Vanuatu Cultural Centre.)

Walsh, D. S.
　　1978 Tok Pisin Syntax - The East Austronesian Factor.Pacific Linguistics A-54:185-197.
　　1982 Variation of Verb-Initial Consonants in Some Eastern Oceanic Languages. Pacific Linguistics C-74:231-242.