El Go na Dos W tupela warkurai i stap

[Don Niles]

>Warkurai looks very Tolai-ish. Unfortunately I don't have my Tolai
>dictionary here with me in Paris ...
**Yes indeed! My Tolai colleague says Kuanua varkurai is 'law' or 'court'.

>So far as I know, _samsam_ (not in Mihalic) is extremely rare outside WNB.
>However, I'm pretty sure I heard it recently when a bracket was coming loose
>on a car: "Em i samsam i go i kam, na nau lus olgeta". However, the speaker
>was cross about the bracket so I couldn't exactly quiz him further.
**Certainly "samsam" is used widely in the Islands region to mean 'dance',
as opposed to "singsing" which is 'sing/dance'. Perhaps it is important to
distinguish dancers from singers in the Islands because often these
activities are performed by different groups, in contrast to many other
areas of PNG where there is not such a distinction. Any ideas on the origin
of "samsam"?

Don Niles
Head
Institute of PNG Studies
P.O. Box 1432
Boroko 111
PAPUA NEW GUINEA

tel: [675] 325-4644
fax: [675] 325-0531
email: ipngs at global.net.pg