[Papuanlanguages] Inanwatan eat/drink/smoke again
Lourens de Vries
lj.de.vries at let.vu.nl
Tue Sep 26 21:24:57 EST 2006
Dear Sasha, when I mentioned Inanwatan ni- 'to
eat/drink/smoke' to you I forgot to mention another
idiomatic meaning of that glorious verb in Inanwatan: to
have a sexual relationship with someone. (e.g. uto
we-ni-nita, fish they-eat-HAB=they have a sexual
relationship) Eating together or sharing food with someone
of the opposite sex who is a possible marriage partner in
terms of the local kinship and marriage practices is a
symbol of sexual relationships in quite a few New Guinea
communities, so it is not surprising that the generic
consume verb is extended to the domain of relationships in
Inanwatan.
In Awyu languages the noun for water (Korowai akh, Kombai
ok) is also used generically, not just to include all
liquids, whether fit for human consumption or not, but all
bodies of water (sea, river, lake). Generic nouns for food
come in two types in Awyu languages: they are either based
on nominalizations of the eat verb (e.g. Korowai
lu-ngga/eat-NOM) or sago terms turned generic (Korowai
dau), with compounds denoting imported food (e.g. Korowai
laleo-dau, demon-sago for bread).
Given the fact that quite a few Papuan languages like to
creatively combine highly generic verbs with more specific
lexical items (e.g. consume water=drink) to extend the
vocabulary in a syntagmatic fashion, I would not be too
disturbed to find on the one hand just a generic verb of
consume/ingest covering eating and drinking and on the
other multiple generic food nouns reflecting culturally
significant food distinctions (such as
imported/outsiders'food versus 'our'or locally originating
food). Best, Lourens
On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:57:53 +1000
"Alexandra Aikhenvald" <A.Aikhenvald at latrobe.edu.au>
wrote:
> Dear Lourens, and Matthew,
>
> My summary on 'eating water' mentioned three (not two)
>languages in the Sepik area which distinguish different
>terms for eating and drinking (Sare, or Kapriman, from
>Ken Sumbuk; Gala, or Ngala, from my own work; and Yelogu,
>from Laycock 1965).
>
> This takes us to another issue.
>
> What I found somewhat disturbing in Manambu is that
>while there is no dedicated term for 'eating' rather than
>'drinking', there are several generic terms for food.
> Here is an extract from Chapter 21 from THE MANAMBU
>LANGUAGE OF EAST SEPIK (by myself, with the assistance of
>Yuamali Jacklyn Benji Ala and Pauline Agnes Luma Laki) (E
>stands for a schwa)':
> 'The term kamna:gw or its phonetic variant kamna:
>refers to food prepared for eating. The term
>kami-kamna:gw (literally 'fish-food') is used to refer to
>provisions, or foodstuffs, to be stored, or procured. The
>term mEy-a-kamna:gw (real-LK-food) 'real food' refers to
>traditional Manambu foods rather than the opposite,
>wali-kamna:gw (white.person-food) 'white people's food',
>typically store-bought. (This is similar to how
>traditional thread is referred to as mEy-a-mæj, and
>store-bought thread as wali-mæj). Saying kamna:gw ma:
>(food NEG) implies the lack of protein food (on several
>occasions, this was said when there was plenty of sago,
>rice and bananas in the house, but not meat or fish).
> The etymology of kamna:gw is unclear: this form bears a
>striking similarity to Iatmul compound kami-nau
>(fish-sago) 'fish and sago'. The noun nau 'sago' in
>Iatmul is used in a more general meaning of 'food' (e.g.
>gabi-nau 'morning food', 'breakfast'), while its Manambu
>cognate na:gw is not. (Both nau and na:gw can refer to
>baked goods involving flour, e.g. Iatmul walinEba-nau
>'white.people-sago', Manambu wali-na:gw).
> The term for 'raw food' is kEkEpa:t (see 20.58 and
>20.65). Synchronically, this form is not segmentable.
>However, it has a cognate in Iatmul (Gerd Jendraschek,
>p.c.), kE-kE-va:k (eat-eat-DER) 'food' (Iatmul v
>corresponds to the Manambu p whose allopone
>intervocalically is v; and a word-final Iatmul k
>corresponds to Manambu t). While the Iatmul -va:k is a
>productive derivational suffix, its Manambu cognate -pa:t
>is found only in this term.
> The term kEja:p refers to protein food, such as game or
>fish. Speakers conceive of this word as unsegmentable;
>etymologically it may be a compound (kE- 'consume'- ja:p
>'thing'). If this is so, this form would be structurall
>reminiscent of Iatmul kE-kE-da (eat-eat-thing) 'food'.
>Unlike Manambu, in Iatmul kE-kE-da (eat-eat-thing) 'food'
>and kE-kE-va:k (eat-eat-DER) 'food' appear to be full
>synonyms.
> Manambu has no general word for a drink - the word gu
>'water' covers all liquids, including beer and wine, and
>even petrol. An alternative term for alcoholoc drink is
>either wali-gu 'white person's water' or kuprapE gu, or
>even kuprapE-saprap gu 'really bad water', depending on
>the speaker's attitude.'
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows of anything similar?
>
> 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
> -----Original Message-----
>From: papuanlanguages-bounces at anu.edu.au
>[mailto:papuanlanguages-bounces at anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of
>Lourens de Vries
> Sent: Monday, 25 September 2006 7:26 PM
> To: Papuan languages discussion list
> Subject: Re: [Papuanlanguages] 'Eating water' and
>elsewhere: a summary
>
> 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
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>
> 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
> _______________________________________________
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>
> _______________________________________________
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> PapuanLanguages at anu.edu.au
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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
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