[Mihalic] More on Lattas

[Thomas H. Slone]

Here are some more possible entries from definitions in Lattas 
(1998).  David Counts kindly pointed out in an email to me that he 
and Dorothy Counts had critiqued this book both as to the 
interpretation of West New Britain cargo cults and as to the 
translation of Tok Pisin (Counts & Counts, Paideuma: Mitteliungen zur 
Kulturkunde 46: 323-328, 2000; 
http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/ANTHRO/rwpark/WNB/Lattas%20review.htm).

The translation problems in Lattas (1998) should be fairly obvious to 
any member of this mailing list who reads Lattas.  The translations 
are too literal and cause one to doubt how well Lattas understood the 
meaning of the Tok Pisin he was translating.  So, it would probably 
be advisable not to take these definitions as definitive without some 
sort of corroboration.  Because most of these definitions are 
secretive (Tok Bokis), it may be that few people will have 
encountered them, except David & Dorothy Counts, who did field work 
among the Kaliai.

Lattas, Andrew (1998). Cultures of Secrecy: Reinventing Race in Bush 
Kaliai Cargo Cults. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

bisnis: cash crops, trade stores (p. 339)

boi: additional meaning, "companion" (p. 339)

kis: synonym of "kisim" (p. 339)

pipia: euphemism for cargo (p. 340)

poroman: "in Censure's cult one's poroman was one's underground 
double, an underground namesake from whom on eexpected cargo in the 
future" (p. 340), spirit ally (p. 176)

ruru: to salute, to pay respect (pp. 165, 186, 340)

stori: "a narrative about the secrets underpinning existence; also 
can refer to the movements that organize around such narratives.  All 
Kaliai cargo cult movements refer to themselves as a stori-people 
come into and join a stori, leave the stori, and the the stori falls 
down (disbands)." (pp. 340-341)

tambaran: "an angry ghost or primordial superhuman being that tries 
to eat humans; also refers to masks, bull roarers, and bamboo wind 
instruments that belong to the men's house and with which men perform 
sectretly in an attempt to trick women and children into believing 
that these instruments are real beings." (p. 341)

tewel [dewel]: 1) "a ghost that seeks to eat the living; also the 
word for soul or a picture or representation that resembles an 
original" (p. 341) 2) "Villagers who are selfish, greedy, and do not 
share with others are sid to be tewel." (p. 202)

lo bilong gavman: mock military routines performed by cargo cultists (p. 37)

rel/reil: a piece of iron (p. 92). This seems plausible since there 
have been several tramways on New Britain (e.g., see 
http://www.pngbuai.com/300socialsciences/transport/railway-history/EOL-rail-history/EOL-PDF/RAILWAYChronologyEd3.pdf).

namba: mark or sign that would open up a door to cargo (p. 103)

mani dabol / famili moni: a unit of currency that would belong to 
Melanesians (p. 123-125). The word "dabol" refers both to the Tok 
Pisin ("double") and the Kaliai word for a riverine black clamshell

famili: "matrilineal totemic-moiety groupings" (p. 170)

mankimasta: women who performed domestic work for Censure (p. 186)

skulmeri: female cult members who performed rituals as proxies  for 
the female Christ (p. 159, 187)

unisman: honest man (p. 219)

sting: first ancestor (p. 295)
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