[PapuanLanguages] Languages named "No"

Thu Feb 25 19:36:52 AEDT 2016

 Hi Tom,

I have heard a good paper in Leipzig last May by Jan Wohlgemuth which
was about language-naming principles. Very interesting stuff. you can
find his slides here: http://tinyurl.com/hwmdfku

I have heard people in Rouku (Komnzo, Yam-languages) draw a distinction
between languages of the Tonda subgroup and languages of Nambu subgroub
by calling them _keke_-language and _yao_-language respectively, which
is the word `no'. but it is not a widely used attribution, let alone a
language name.

cheers,
Christian

---
Christian Döhler

Department of Linguistics

School of Culture, History & Language

College of Asia & the Pacific
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200

http://people.anu.edu.au/christian.doehler
 [5]http://dobes.mpi.nl/projects/morehead [6]

Am 25.02.2016 05:57 schrieb Tom Honeyman: 

> Thank you all,
> 
> From a footnote (2) in Laycock 1968 "Languages of the Lumi-Subdistrict":
> 
> "It is rare for a language in New Guinea to have a genuine "name" in the sense that speakers of the language will be able to say, 'we speak x language'; usually, village names will be given, or a word that simply translates as 'language', 'speech', etc., or else clan and tribal names may be volunteered. Accordingly, the language names given here are arbitrary; some are from previously published sources such as the SIL surveys. For languages first encountered during the 1967 survey, I have followed the Lumi administrative habit of naming the languages by an anglicised version of the word for 'no'-except in the case of languages spoken by a single village, in which case the village name usually seemed preferable. In one case (Mende) the census division name Seim has been chosen, to avoid confusion with a Highlands language also known as Mende.
> 
> The alternative names are, for the most part, those in use locally; few have been published, except for those accompanying the map in Laycock 1965a, which are now to be regarded as being superseded by those given in the present article."
> 
> And so it seems that Laycock (via an administrative habit) may have been the source of some of the "no-name" languages.
> 
> I'll have to pop into the library to check Laycock 1975, but this Lumi-subdistrict reference is especially pertinent to what I'm working on.
> 
>> I've always wondered which came first: Laycock's written records, or the language names? I used to think Laycock started it, but now I'm thinking that the convention was established among the language speakers themselves, long before Laycock visited there. Info anyone?
> 
> In the case of Momu/Fas, the language was first named by patrol officers via a village name, but the speakers themselves later preferred Momu, supposedly because there are other languages that do this in the region. So it seems that the etymology would be on a case-by-case basis.
> 
> I'm aware of a few places dotted around Australia with "no-names". Most commonly either reduplicated no ("no-no"), or no with the comitative ("no-having"). In 2012, Claire Bowern was collecting etymologies for Australian language names via a survey, but I will have to check with her if she published anything.
> 
> Again, thanks everyone,
> 
> Regards,
> Tom Honeyman
> On 25 Feb 2016, at 3:31 PM, Aikhenvald, Alexandra <alexandra.aikhenvald at jcu.edu.au> wrote: This is not at all the case for any of the Ndu languages in the East Sepik (nor for many of their neighbours). A few Huon-Finisterre languages base their name on the word for what: Hannah Sarvasy (Hannah.Sarvasy at anu.edu.au) will be able to provide all the details. As a matter of comparison - I am aware of at least one set of languages in Amazonia, named after the form for 'no': Kurripako, Karutana, Karo - all dialects of the Baniwa of Içana/Kurripako continuum (North Arawak). Speakers are aware of this, and comment on this. Sacha Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, PhD, DLitt, FQAAS, FAHA Distinguished Professor and Australian Laureate Fellow Director of the Language and Culture Research Centre James Cook University PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia http://www.jcu.edu.au/faess/JCUPRD_043649.html [1] mobile 0400 305315, office 61-7-42321117 fax 61-7-4232 1880
http://www.aikhenvaldlinguistics.com/ [2] http://research.jcu.edu.au/lcrc [3] -----Original Message----- From: PapuanLanguages [mailto:papuanlanguages-bounces at anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Joyce Wood Sent: Thursday, 25 February 2016 2:29 PM To: papuanlanguages at anu.edu.au Subject: Re: [PapuanLanguages] Languages named "No" 'no' (English) / 'nogat' (Tok Pisin) is the naming convention for languages in the Sepik region of PNG. See Laycock 1975 in Pacific Linguistics. Sorry this is not a full citation. I've always wondered which came first: Laycock's written records, or the language names? I used to think Laycock started it, but now I'm thinking that the convention was established among the language speakers themselves, long before Laycock visited there. Info anyone? - Joyce Wood On 2/25/2016 1:24 PM, Tom Honeyman wrote: Hi All, I have often heard anecdotal evidence of a naming pattern, supposedly widespread, in various parts of both PNG and Australia of languages "named" for the word meaning
"no" (or "no-having", or the negator) in that language. I'm sure I have a memory of someone either publishing or at least blogging about this in the last 10 years or so, but I can't for the life of me find the source. "No" is of course not the only convention either. Can anyone please point me in the right direction? Regards, Tom Honeyman _______________________________________________ PapuanLanguages mailing list PapuanLanguages at anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/papuanlanguages [4] _______________________________________________ PapuanLanguages mailing list PapuanLanguages at anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/papuanlanguages [4] _______________________________________________ PapuanLanguages mailing list PapuanLanguages at anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/papuanlanguages [4]

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