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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Hi Robin and others</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>No, megapodes are not <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>faol</span></i>. Two terms for megapode are <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>namalao</span></i> (from a vernacular term, ultimately
from a well-established Oceanic reconstruction) and <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>skrabdak</span></i> ("scrub-duck").</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I'm still trying to get some "explanations"
for <i><span style='font-style:italic'>sik blong faol</span></i>, and am also
having trying - but experiencing considerable difficulty- to track
down the Solomons Pijin term for epilepsy.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>J</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original
Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> Robin Hide
[mailto:rhide@coombs.anu.edu.au] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, October 19, 2006
1:50 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> mihalic@anu.edu.au<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [Mihalic] sik muruk</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bryant suggests that <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>sik muruk </span></i>reference in relation to
epileptic seizures <i><span style='font-style:italic'>"is used because the
fit is similar to what a cassowary does when it is hit with an arrow and thrashes
about as it dies".<br>
<br>
</span></i>However, other aspects of cassowary behaviour may be more relevant.<br>
<br>
For instance, Brian Coates (<u>The Birds of Papua New Guinea </u>Vol 1 1985,
pp. 57-8) describes the display of the Double Wattled Cassowary as including, <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>"the body trembles with the effort of producing
the (deep booming) sound"</span></i>, and similarly for the Dwarf
Cassowary. <br>
<br>
I also asked two seasoned observers of cassowaries, Andy Mack (AM) and Debra
Wright (DW), for their experience of possibly relevant muruk behaviours, and
they responded:<br>
<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>"... we have seen a small chick
with what seemed like a neurological disorder where it got very tipsy and
uncoordinated and died a few days afterwards." DW<br>
<br>
"...in both captive birds and wild ones, I have seen them running around
in a frenzy, kicking trees and bashing into things. Could be a conceptual
link to epilepsy... " AM<br>
<br>
</span></i>"<i><span style='font-style:italic'>And ours would jump into
the air and come down into somersaults!.. They are nutty when they are
adolescents!" DW<br>
<br>
</span></i>So on the face of it there seems to be certain muruk behavioural
traits, other that their death throes, that may be what <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>sik muruk</span></i> is referring to in the context
of epilepsy.<br>
<br>
Two other points: <br>
<br>
1. The description of epilepsy in East New Britain by Hoskin and colleagues in
(Hoskin, J. O., et al. (1969). "Epilepsy and <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>guria</span></i>: the shaking syndromes of New
Guinea." <u>Social Science and Medicine</u> <b><span style='font-weight:
bold'>3</span></b>: 39-48. makes no mention of <i><span style='font-style:italic'>sik
muruk</span></i>.<br>
<br>
2. The two firm accounts (Bryant A and Rick S), other than the
Post-Courier one, so far originate from the one region of Maprik-Dreikikir in
East Sepik - is the term restricted to that part of PNG?<br>
<br>
And- a final query to John Lynch re: <i><span style='font-style:italic'>The
Bislama equivalent is "sik blong faol" (faol = chicken - we dopnlt
have cassowaries in Vanuatu!). <br>
</span></i>Does "faol" include other species, for instance megapodes?
(as in wail paul in tok pisin?)<br>
<br>
<br>
Robin Hide<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
At 12:27 PM 18/10/2006, you wrote:<br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I heard this at Tumam
(Dreikikir, East Sepik) in 1971-72, where there were two male maternal cousins
(mothers were sisters) who had severe epilepsy to the point where they were
badly burned and severely brain damaged. At first I thought it was a reference
to a 'spirit' cassowary who was causing the fit doing bad things deep in the
forest, but later I realized it is used because the fit is similar to what a
cassowary does when it is hit with an arrow and thrashes about as it dies. I
have not heard "sik muruk" used anywhere else, but then I have not
had too many conversations about epilepsy either.<br>
B<br>
<br>
<br>
At 12:05 PM 18/10/2006 +1000, you wrote:<br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> 1. sik muruk
= epilepsy (Robin Hide)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
Dr Bryant Allen<br>
Senior Fellow<br>
Land Management Group<br>
Department of Human Geography<br>
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies<br>
The Australian National University<br>
ACT 0200 Australia<br>
<br>
ANU CRICOS Provider Number is 00120C<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Mihalic mailing list<br>
Mihalic@anu.edu.au<br>
<a href="http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/mihalic" eudora=autourl>http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/mihalic</a></span></font></p>
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