[Papuanlanguages] 'Eating water' and elsewhere: a summary
Lourens de Vries
lj.de.vries at let.vu.nl
Mon Sep 25 19:26:27 EST 2006
Matthew, in Awyu family (Papuan, Merauke district of
Indonesian Papua) there are different verbs for eating and
drinking:
Wambon: mi/ami drink; ande/en eat
Korowai: mi drink; le eat
Kombai mi drink; ne eat
(Korowai: not sure whether Awyu family, but it shares eat
and drink verbstems with other Awyu languages)
Best, Lourens
On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 19:56:31 -0400
dryer at buffalo.edu wrote:
>
> This is a belated response to add two more languages to
>the list of Papuan languages using the same verb for
>'eat' and 'drink': Walman (Torricelli; aka Valman) and
>Poko-Rawo (Sko; aka Rawo).
>
> What wasn't clear from the responses was how many
>languages have DIFFERENT verbs for 'eat' and 'drink',
>since the query asked for cases where they are the same.
> Sasha mentioned some in the Sepik area, but I think
>there was only one response that identified such a case.
> Are there other languages that people on this list work
>on that employ different verbs for these?
>
> Matthew Dryer
>
> --On Tuesday, September 12, 2006 6:07 PM +1000 Alexandra
>Aikhenvald <A.Aikhenvald at latrobe.edu.au> 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, k?- 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
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Papuanlanguages mailing list
>> Papuanlanguages at anu.edu.au
>> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/papuanlanguages
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PapuanLanguages mailing list
> PapuanLanguages at anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/papuanlanguages
Prof.dr. Lourens de Vries
Faculty of Arts
Dept.of Language and Communication
Vrije Universiteit
De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
tel. +31.20.5986482
tel. +31.23.5278099
Room 11A-36
http://www.let.vu.nl/staf/lj.de.vries/pwp_en.htm
More information about the PapuanLanguages
mailing list