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--></style><title>Re: [Mihalic] kapkap</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande" size="-3" color="#000000">Moses
Matamana Havini</font>, from Buka, uses the term on this Web
page:</div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande" size="-3"
color="#000000">http://www.amonline.net.au/snapshots/yumiyet/crown.htm</font
></div>
<div>"<font face="Lucida Grande" size="-3" color="#000000">The
Kapkap is an intricately carved turtle shell disc totem
surmounted on mother of pearl, and is equivalent to a
crown.</font>"</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The term also refers to Solomon Islands ornaments:</div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande" size="-3"
color="#000000"
>http://www.art-pacific.com/artifacts/nuguinea/solomons/jewelry.htm</font
></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Perhaps it is a reduplication of the Solomon Islands Pijin word
"kap" (English cap; Jourdan, p. 91)? (Though it can
also be worn on the chest.)</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#0000FF">This word for a particular type of shell-backed
tortoise-shell ornament seems to be widely used in the Pacific art
world. I came across it in a 1964 paper by H.D.Skinner, who apparently
considered it an established trans-national term. I don't find it in
Mihalic or on the revision web site, or in any other Melanesian Pidgin
source I've looked at. It's not in OED, though it ought to be if it is
as widely used as it appears to be.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#0000FF">Is this a Tok Pisin word?</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#0000FF">Can anyone pinpoint its origin? (Shameful confession:
I can't find my copy of Malcolm Ross's paper on AN words in
TP)</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#0000FF">Has anyone seen a documented use earlier
than 1964?</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#0000FF">Ross Clark</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>
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