[Papuanlanguages] eat/drink/burn/sleep Natqgu, Solomon Islands

[Brenda Boerger]

FWIW -- 



Data for Natqgu, a disputedly Papuan language of Santa Cruz island, Temotu 
Province Solomon Islands



DIFFERENT WORDS FOR EAT/DRINK

mu – eat, intransitive

ngq – eat something solid, transitive

rmnq – drink, intransitive

mnq – drink, transitive [also required verb for moist foods, i.e. 
watermelon, oranges...]

yr – eat, consume used only of worms and insects



HUNGRY/THIRSTY

brtale – hungry, requires “belly”

brlxkz – thirsty, requires “neck”



MULTIPLE DISTINCTIONS FOR BURN

** fire and burn are different words

**fire does not “eat” things in Natqgu

**nor does it pattern with bite



ngc – burn, intransitive

angc – cause X to burn, transitive

teka – ignite X

wru – be burning, aflame

nyr – fire



ma – bite



SMOKING

malvz/rmalvz – transitive/intransitive, to smoke a cigarette or pipe, 
archaic



SLEEP ** not the same word as burn

mwi/rmwi – sleep





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alex Francois" <francois at vjf.cnrs.fr>
To: "Papuan languages discussion list" <papuanlanguages at anu.edu.au>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Papuanlanguages] 'Eat' and 'burn'


Dear Alan, dear all,

I am an Austronesianist/Oceanist specializing in the Oceanic languages of 
north Vanuatu -- as well as the languages of Vanikoro, spoken in the 
easternmost Papuan-speaking area (Temotu/ Santa Cruz, Solomons).
The languages I have data on (full list here) all distinguish 'eat' 
(generally a reflex of POc *kani) from 'drink' (generally <POc *inum), as 
well as 'hungry' from 'thirsty', or 'eat' from 'smoke'.

However, it is common for them to lexify in the same way 'eat' and 'burn', 
the latter always with 'fire' as its subject -- 
e.g. "My house has been burnt" will be Lit. 'My house, fire has eaten it'
        "He died in a fire"  => Lit. 'A fire ate him dead'

In this case, 'eat' may be either transitive (the fire consumes s.th. or 
s.o.) or intransitive ("the fire's eating" = it is lighted).
However, unlike Ku Waru, 'eat' cannot be used with other subjects than the 
fire, to translate the causative/agentive meanings of Eng. 'burn'  (e.g. 
They burnt my house)

As far as I can remember, I found the same polysemy in Teanu, spoken on 
Vanikoro. [a language supposedly Austronesian, but which might be in fact 
Papuan (?)]

If this case of "colexification" (as I call it) of 'eat' and 'burn' is 
common in PNG and in north Vanuatu, of course it would be interesting to 
know if this is also the case in the area in-between (i.e., Eastern PNG + 
Solomons) -- in which case this would be a nice case of a lexical isogloss 
encompassing a large area of the Pacific.

Best,

Alex.

********
Alex François
LACITO - CNRS
7 rue Guy Môquet
F - 94801  Villejuif
  FRANCE
tel. priv. +33 (0)1.64.46.61.47.
tel. prof. +33 (0)1.49.58.37.48.

email  <Alexandre.Francois at vjf.cnrs.fr>
http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/membres/francois.htm
http://alex.francois.free.fr/
  ----- Message d'origine ----- 
  De : Alan Rumsey
  Cc : papuanlanguages at anu.edu.au
  Envoyé : mercredi 13 septembre 2006 15:20
  Objet : 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

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
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