[Mihalic] Comments on November 2003 entries

[Thomas H. Slone]

As usual, examples are from Wantok newspaper's Stori Tumbuna.

Malira: This is not restricted to New Ireland. 
Here's an example from Southern Highlands 
Province, "Masalai i putim malira pinis long 
kapul ya."  I also have seen examples from Buka 
Island and East Sepik Province.

kol: non-archaic usage from 1986 in Morobe 
Province: "Masalai man ya i lukim pinis olsem em 
tupela meri na wantu em i tanim olsem wanpela kol 
pis na go i stap insait long wara."

kalakala: This has the same meaning in Bislama (Crowley, 1995: 108).

kokoros: Kakros  has the same meaning in Bislama (Crowley, 1995: 107).

arawawe: Narawe has the same meaning ("in another 
way") in Bislama (Crowley, 1995: 164)

katu:
1) Mihalic is actually somewhat inconsistent 
about this term; on p. 351 he defines it as 
"hermit crab", on p. 108 he defines it as "a 
shell, a crab", on p. 240 he defines it as "crab".

2) Schmid 
(http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/Rainforest/frp-website/Publications/worksheets/SHEET3/biopidg_5.html) 
defines "katul" as hermit crab.

3) An alternative meaning for katu is female 
genitals (Tok Piksa) (Mosel, 1980: 29).  I don't 
have a copy of Mosel with me.  Does anyone know 
if he refers to the primary meaning of katu as 
being crab or clam?

4) As to whether the primary meaning is clam or 
crab, it could be both:  A) Mühlhäusler (1979: 
336) reported "kina" and "kramsel" as Tok Piksa 
for female genitals. B) There are 4 Stori Tumbuna 
which ostensibly involve a crab (kuka) but seem 
to be referring to a vagina dentata folktale 
motif (numbers 894, 962, 965 and 1047).

New Reference
Mosel, Ulrike (1980). Tolai and Tok Pisin: The 
Influence of the Substratum on the Development of 
New Guinea Pidgin. Series B, No. 73. Canberra: 
Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National 
University.

--Tom Slon
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