[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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