[Mihalic] Wantok niuspepa

Thomas H. Slone THSlone at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 24 22:37:39 EST 2003


Good to hear from you Vince!

The examples that I have given were from Wantok 
newspaper readers who sent their folktales to 
Wantok to be published under the column "Stori 
Tumbuna", so they are not reporters.  When I gave 
an example from as being from a particular 
location, I was careful to do so only when it was 
clear that the story itself was from there and 
not just being written from there by a migrant.

I would suspect that these stories received 
fairly minimal editing (e.g. spelling consistency 
with Wantok style), but if you remember anything 
about this, please let us know.

You're right about "l" and "r frequently being 
interchangeable.  I noticed it as I was 
translating the Stori Tumbuna into English.  In 
the case of malira, it only occurred in 4 
separate stories.  Suzanne Romaine (1995) also 
discussed this in a book chapter.

--Tom Slone

Reference
Romaine, Suzanne (1995). Lice he no good. On [r] 
and [l] in Tok Pisin. In: A. Werner, T. Givón & 
S. A. Thompson, eds. Discourse Grammar and 
Typology: Papers in Honour of John W. M. Verhaar. 
Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 309-318.

>Your examples from Wantok niuspepa seem strange to me.
>
>Malira - "an example from Southern Highlands." 
>The stori may have been from the southern 
>highlands but more emphasis should be given to 
>who the reporter was that prepared the article 
>for publication. Where was that reporter from? 
>He/She may have been from New Ireland or from 
>Buka, who knows.
>
>The same holds for all the other references to Wantok niuspepa examples.
>
>Then also you must remember that Word Publishing 
>does not have a proof reader for Wantok. Each 
>reporter/typist or who ever can spell words as 
>they think they sound to them and remember these 
>people have no training in linguistics.
>
>Then malira is a special example because of the 
>interchanging of l and r: marila, marira, 
>malila. I am no linguist and my hearing is bad. 
>Same holds true for staff at Wantok niuspepa.
>
>Vince Ohlinger - former general manager of Word Publishing.
>
>Thomas H. Slone wrote:
>
>>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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>
>
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