Exclamations!

[Thomas H. Slone]

>Thomas
>
>Help, I can't keep up! (I don't have daily access to an FTP-enabled 
>machine because we have a fussy firewall.)

John,
If this is a problem, you could email the updates to a trusted 
third-party without firewall restrictions for the third-party to do 
the updates.


>Eh!      How do you spell it?

Examples from Wantok newspaper (used like English "Hey"):

Eh meri!  Yu i gat sampela kaikai?
Eh poro em i 11 klok nau ya, mitupela bai lusim hia na go dring pastaim.
Eh, em wanem samting i pairap olsem?

>Ei!     No, I think 'Hai!' below is more believable (Not Hi!). As in 
>Hai! Yu husat? etc of someone passing through the edge of one's 
>vision, garden, hamlet area without permission.

Examples from Wantok newspaper (also used like English "Hey") (also 
see Paloso, 1971):
Ei kandere yu traim dispela wara em sol tru.
Ei, tupela papa, yutupela kam.
Ei yutupela i mekim wanem long ston hia?

>Ha!      ?

Examples from Wantok newspaper (also used like English "Huh" or "Ah ha"):
Ha yu tasol yu kilim meri bilong mi.
Klostu ol i kaikaim yu pinis, tasol mi karim blut i kam na yu stap 
tasol, yu kros long mi ha?
Ha, yupela oltaim kaikai ol gutpela kaikai.
Ha, ha, nau bai mi go holimpasim dispela meri na bringim i go long ples.
Yutupela i laik painimaut moa long mi ha?

>Hei!     This is a special one, as in "Ol gel 'hei hei hei' na ol 
>manki bagarap". That is the girls were doing their Manus dance (in 
>which 'hei hei hei' seem to be the only words) ...

But also used like English "Hey".  Examples from Wantok newspaper:
Hei bai mitupela i go kisim kindam.
Hei, bambai mi mekim wanem long ol?
Hei, yu kam we?

>Hoi!     ?

I only have two separate examples of this exclamation from Wantok 
newspaper (also used like English "Hey"):
Hoi, yu stap we?
Hoi Waluame!  Mi sut nating long ol abus na spia i no kisim wanpela.

>nainsi: an effeminate man (Murphy, 1985: 92)  Tick
>Nensei! "Expression of desire to a girl" (Smith, 1990: 283)     ?

For an example of this usage, see the so-named poem in Paloso (1971):
"Mi lukim meri i gat longpela gras / Ei! Nansei!"

Paloso [spelling? My copy clipped the name.], Lamech Lee (1971). 
"Nansei" In: Nansei: An Anthology of Original Pidgin Poems, Tawali, 
Kumalau, ed. Port Moresby: Papua Pocket Poets.

>Oi!  (Also, I've heard something like "Woi!" as an oral exclamation 
>by a Nissan Islander speaking Tok Pisin to his son.  I haven't seen 
>it in writing.     ?

Examples of "Oi" from Wantok newspaper:
Oi yu gutpela poroman bilong mi, mi singsing i go na hangre i kilim 
mi nogut tru ya.
Oi, oi, Dan yu stap ah?

>Skin dai!: boring, hopeless (Smith, 1990: 283)     ?

I only have examples meaning physical exhaustion.  This meaning is 
also absent from Mihalic.  Example from Wantok:
Mekim na em pilim skin dai olgeta long wokabaut.

Stail mangi!: "stylish young person" (Smith, 1990: 2 83)  Tick. 
However, although it is common enough I don't go for the "mangi" 
spelling. What's most common in Wantok?

Manki is definitely more common in Wantok, but mangi is not uncommon.

>Question: Are "donabeta", "donakai", "dumekerl", "dumkop", 
>"haltmunt" "papelu", "rintfi", "saise" and "stupit", "yakabor" 
>archaic or are they localized?     We can't tell without getting 
>some blari PNGeans on board. I keep emailing people but it's like 
>getting blood out of a stone. THIS IS AN ALL STATIONS CALL FOR 
>PNGEANS TO GET INVOLVED. However, bear in mind that we need old 
>fogies not young whipper-snappers for these. (The whipper-snappers 
>can tell us about the new slang.)

Have you tried posting to Wantok's Forum?  This probably won't get 
any elderly speakers, but there are a lot of younger PNGeans who post 
there:

http://www.niugini.com/wwwboard/index.html

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