[Papuanlanguages] 'Eating water' and elsewhere: a summary

[Alexandra Aikhenvald]

 Dear Alan,

Thanks for this! Manambu has several A=S ambitransitive verbs for 'burn'; 'eat' used with fire appears to be like a more metaphorical usage. I will check all the dictionaries of Ndu languages, and send more info as soon as I can.

Best

Sasha


Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald, PhD, DLitt, FAHA
Associate Director and Postgraduate Coordinator
Research Centre for Linguistic Typology
La Trobe University
Victoria 3086
Tel: 61-(0)3-9479 6402
Fax: 61-(0)3-9467 3053
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rclt/StaffPages/aikhenvald.htm 
-----Original Message-----
From: papuanlanguages-bounces at anu.edu.au [mailto:papuanlanguages-bounces at anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Alan Rumsey
Sent: Wednesday, 13 September 2006 11:20 PM
Cc: papuanlanguages at anu.edu.au
Subject: Re: [Papuanlanguages] 'Eating water' and elsewhere: a summary

A further twist on all this eating and drinking:  as I have pointed out to Sasha, in Ku Waru (Western Highlands Province, PNG) the verb for 'eat'/'drink' (no-)is also the ordinary word 'burn' (in both the intransitive/unergative sense and the transitive/causative one). I would be interested to know how widespread that pattern is. If you have information to offer about this, please post it to the whole list as Martin has suggested.

Alan

Alexandra Aikhenvald wrote: 

	Dear fellow Papuanists,
	
	As promised here is a brief summary of the wonderful responses to my query posted a month or so ago.
	
	Summary: 'Kaikaim wara' in Tok Pisin, and associated expressions elsewhere in the New Guinea area: a summary
	
	The original questy concerned a weird expression 'kaikaim wara' used in a word list of Boikin (Yengoru dialect), compiled by A. Freudenburg (1975; SIL archives) as a Tok Pisin equivalent of the English verb 'drink'. Boikin, like most (though not all) Ndu languages has one word covering 'eat', 'drink', and perhaps also 'smoke'. Manambu, also Ndu, has one verb, kə- meaning 'eat, drink, smoke' and also 'suck' and 'consume (mortuary payment)' (and 'drown' and 'burn, that is, be devoured by fire').
	
	I am very grateful to everyone who reacted to this query.
	
		The majority reply was that of surprise at this aberrant usage: Jan Gossner suggested that this could be 'an instance of the language speakers, if they are the source of the gloss, modifying their Tok Pisin usage to fit their grammar, especially if their Tok Pisin wasn't very strong'. Liisa Berghäll suggested that it may have made its way to the local variety of TP. Les Bruce hypothesized: 'Perhaps this type of substratum influence showed in in the past in the Pidgin of the Yengoru area if those languages have a similar generic term. Pidgin speakers in that same region, or perhaps around Maprik, use the expression harim smel , which is the same Pidgin verb for hearing sounds, through influence of the vernaculars there.' 
	
	Most interestingly, Carol Priestly has heard 'kaikai wara' (not 'kaikaim wara') in the past (1960-70s) in the Eastern Highlands area. She hypothesises that this usage may have been restricted to the times, and the locations 'when was less influence from English, no primary schools etc'. So, it is possible that A. Freudenburg did indeed hear 'kaikai wara', or even 'kaikaim wara' (as he documented it) back in 1975!
	
		The existence of a single 'ingest/consume' verb was pointed out for the following languages:
		Kalam (Kalam-Kobon) - Andy Pawley 
		Yahang (Torricelli) - Colin Filer
		Ku Waru (East New Guinea Highlands) - Alan Rumsey
		Duna (Duna-Bogaya) - Lila San Roque
		Kewa (Engan) - Karl Franklin
		Orokaiva (Binanderean) - Lise Dobrin
		Korafe Yegha and Tafota Baruga (Binanderean) - Cindi Farr
		Arapeshan languages (Torricelli) - Lise Dobrin
		Biangai (Goilalan) - Ngawae Mitio
		Alamblak (Sepik Hill) - Les Bruce
		Koromu (Evapia group, Rai Coast, Madang)- Carol Priestley
		Awiyakay (Arafundi) - Darja Hoenigman
	
		This polysemous pattern can be considered an areal feature shared by many New Guinea languages. Andy Pawley suggests that this is a feature shared by all languages of the hypothetical Trans-New Guinea Phylum. An example of a similar polysemy outside New Guinea is ngarni in Warlbiri (Australian: Mary Laughren, p.c.).
		It is absent from a few languages in the Sepik area, such as Sare (or Kapriman: Sepik Hill - Ken Sumbuk), and two Ndu languages, Yelogu (according to Laycock 1965: 165), and Gala (also known as Ngala, or Swagup; pace Laycock 1965). Kwoma has one word, a- which covers 'eating' and 'drinking' but not smoking (Ross Bowden, and Renée Lambert-Brétière).
		An interesting turn for this topic was offered by Darija Hoenigman. She pointed out that in Awiakay (Arafundi) the same term is used for 'hungry' and for 'thirsty', which is rather logical given that 'eat' and 'drink' are expressed with the same term. This is definitely not the case in Manambu, where 'hungry', 'thristy', and 'hungry for a smoke' are expressed with different lexemes.
		Any further ideas?
		Les Bruce commented: 
		'A comparative semantic study of such concepts would be interesting. This summer I have been collecting samples from different languages for concepts for hair (head and body hair), feathers, fur, and grass. Pidgin uses gras for all of these referents. How about starting a database for semantic typology to map different concepts around the world? I'd be interested.'
		We would be, too!
	
	Very best wishes
	
	Sasha
	
	Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald, PhD, DLitt, FAHA
	Associate Director and Postgraduate Coordinator
	Research Centre for Linguistic Typology
	La Trobe University
	Victoria 3086
	Tel: 61-(0)3-9479 6402
	Fax: 61-(0)3-9467 3053
	http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rclt/StaffPages/aikhenvald.htm 
	
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