[Mihalic] aniani

[linus digim'Rina]

This slipped my mind, and thanks to Robin's doirection towards Nicole's
publication, though still in support of what Martha has added on. In the
Kiriwina language (Trobriands), we certainly pronounce the round onion as
'aniani' however, do make a clear distinction between 'aniani' as a vegetable
(imported anyway), and 'aniani' as the Motuan word for the act of eating.  The
latter is generally understood as been around much earlier than the former - a
recent phonemic adaptation?

linus

Martha Macintyre wrote:

> As Linus has suggested the word 'aniani' in Motu is obviously cognate with
> the common term for food (starchy staples) in many (most?) Milne Bay
> languages. On Tubetube it is kankan and sometimes kanikan. In some of the
> close languages there is a shift whereby the 'k' sound is dropped and
> replaced by a glottal.
> On Lihir the Tok Pisin for onion is definitely pronounced 'anion'.
>
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