[Mihalic] New book: Tok Pisin Texts- aniani/yani yani and onions

[Robin Hide]

Does it depend on which kind of onions? see below-

>At 05:32 PM 4/04/04 +1000, you wrote:
>> >aniani: p. 13, the authors claim this is the Tok Pisin word for onion.
>>
>> >I only previously seen this in print except in the :
>> >title of the book Kaikai Aniani.
>> >Is this word really used (as opposed to "anian")?
>>
>>If so, it was an unstable usage that has gone away. (In 'Kaikai Aniani'
>>it's the Motu for 'food')
>>Re A Jablonko's memory, I've met Thomas Kavali and I don't remember him
>>saying it (but then again ...).
>>BTW He's the guy in the middle in the entry for 'namba'.
>>
>>Anian = onion.


In the early 1970s in Simbu, introduced 'spring' onions or shallots were 
known always, in tok pisin (at least I thought of it as tok pisin and 
remember using it, like Allison Jablonko, in the Simbai Valley in 1962/63), 
as 'yaniyani' (sometimes yani yani or yuni yuni).  This is documented in:

Hide, R.L., Kimin, M., Kora, A., Kua, G., and Kua, K. 1979. A checklist of 
some plants in the territory of the Sinasina Nimai (Simbu Province, Papua 
New Guinea), with notes on their uses, University of Auckland, Department 
of Anthropology, Working Papers No. 54. Auckland, University of Auckland, 
Department of Anthropology.  see page 18

and  in:

Sterly, J. 1997. Simbu Plant-lore: Plants used by the people in the Central 
Highlands of New Guinea 3 Vols. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer Verlag.
see Vol 3, p. 76.

Robin Hide