[Mihalic] words on the query list

BURTON John John.BURTON at tsra.gov.au
Wed Nov 26 13:24:24 EST 2003


Thanks for the list Eva. I'll post your corrections when I can, perhaps on the weekend.
You haven't missed discussions as we've been quiet.

Help me out with 'averis'.
J

-----Original Message-----
From: Eva Lindström [mailto:evali at ling.su.se] 
Sent: Tuesday, 25 November 2003 11:41 AM
To: mihalic at anu.edu.au
Subject: [Mihalic] words on the query list


Hello all,

here are some comments on the words on the General query,
based on some 20 months in a village on west coast New
Ireland (and really no time anywhere else in PNG).
Sorry if I've missed discussions on the list.

andaram  - don't know it

aninit  - (or ananit; this spelling is used in one of the
	examples), ananit long maunten would mean under the
	mountain I think; long as bilong maunten (or maybe
	daunbilo long maunten) would be at the foot of the
	mountain

arere - don't know the ambush sense, but there is an intransitive
	verb sense of reaching a particular point (such as a boundary)
	or coming to an end (... or is that 'go arere long'? - at
	any rate i don't mean go along an edge which is not verbal.)

baut1, bautim - unheard of. Sense 6 could have a reference to
	averis long

galip - I've only heard pinat for peanut. But galip is used also for
	a decorative thingy at the end of shell money strings (and
	local languages seem to use their own equivalents in that
	sense), this decoration adds a set value to the monetary
	value of the shell money string (mis). It seems to be
	sometimes used for seed, grain or little round thing more
	generally.

helpim (halivim in NI) - common in expression '[em i save] givim
	[planti] halivim long X', but I don't have authentic examples!

kanu (no comments, my Kuot speakers may live on the beach but they
	are not real boat people and there is only one kind of canoe
	in the area, incl neighbouring peoples)
kikbek (no comment)
kilman - not heard
kompas - no idea

kurita - it's definitely urita in NI

morota - not heard, in NI it's definitely somapim lip saksak, or
	somapim lipaus (roof, thatch)

muruk (none in NI)

nok - this is the midrib of the little leaves of the coconut
	frond in NI, what's used to make brooms etc. I haven't
	heard it used of roof ridges (which is het bilong haus)
	or anything else

se - everyone uses it in NI, and a better translation than 'say'
	would be 'that' (the English complementizer). - Em i
	tok se ol meri bai i go long Patlangat tomora. - Mi ting
	se ol i go pinis. (invented examples.) It can be used
	with driman dream, and harim hear as well, much like 'that'
	in English.

spia (no arrows in NI)
swainera (not heard)

tais - this is the only current word for tais (as Craig said),
	apparently replacing the older *buti* which is only used
	by a few elderly people. No idea of etymology.

tarangau (taragau or taranggau in NI), yes, but eagle is *manigulai*
	(stress on ni)

taunam - known in NI but giving in to moskito net. Never heard
	klambu. (Taunam sounds like a Kuot word (it would fit
	perfectly in one of the declensions form-wise) but I
	don't know enough about other NI languages to say it
	couldn't have a different source)

wilwil, wilwilim - wilwil is in use for bicycle.
	I learnt the transitive only recently: 2 separate speakers
	showed what is done to soften/squeeze leaves for various
	medical uses (without having the actual leaves at hand)
	by rubbing the palms of their hands against together in
	circular motions. That's the only use I know of but we
	don't have a lot of machines out there.

Eva

PS: the web site is looking really good, very well organised and well hacked, and it's nice with the pictures too! Amazing work!



http://ling.su.se/staff/evali



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