Tolo Dictionary
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PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Series C - No. 91 TOLO DICTIONARY by Susan Smith Crowley Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Crowley, S.S. Tolo dictionary. C-91, xiv + 129 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1986. DOI:10.15144/PL-C91.cover ©1986 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is issued through the Linguistic Circle of Canberra and consists of four series: SERIES A - Occasional Papers SERIES B - Monographs SERIES C - Books SERIES D - Special Publications EDITOR: S.A. Wurm ASSOCIATE EDITORS: D.C. Laycock, C.L. Voorhoeve, D.T. Tryon, T.E. Dutton EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B. W. Bender K.A. McElhanon University of Hawaii Summer Institute of Linguistics David Bradley H.P. McKaughan La Trobe University University of Hawaii A. Capell P. MUhlhausler University of Sydney Linacre College, Oxford Michael G. Clyne G.N. O'Grady Monash University University of Victoria, B.C. S.H. Elbert A.K. Pawley University of Hawaii University of Auckland K.J. Franklin K.L. Pike Summer Institute of Linguistics Summer Institute of Linguistics W.W. Glover E.C. Polome Summer Institute of Linguistics U ni versity of Texas G.W. Grace Malcolm Ross University of Hawaii Australian National University M.A.K. Halliday Gillian Sankoff University of Sydney University of Pennsylvania E. Haugen W.A.L. Stokhof Harvard University University of Leiden A. Healey B.K. T'sou Summer Institute of Linguistics City Polytechnic of Hong Kong L.A. Hercus E.M. Uhlenbeck Au�tralian National University University of Leiden Nguyen D/!ing Liem J. W.M. Verhaar University of Hawaii Divine Word Institute, John Lynch Madang University of Papua New Guinea All correspondence concerning PACIFIC LING UISTICS, including orders and subscriptions, should be addressed to: The Secretary PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies The Australian National University . Canberra, A.C.T. 2601 Australia Copyright © The Author First Published 1986 Typeset by Evelyn Winburn Printed by A.N.U. Printing Service Bound by Adriatic Bookbinders Pty Ltd The editors are indebted to the Australian National University for assistance in the production of this series This publication was made possible by an initial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund ISSN 0078-7558 ISBN 0 85883 346 8 CONTENTS Table of Contents III Preface IV Introduction v Abbreviations and Explanations xi DICTIONARY 1 English-Tolo Index 65 Appendix A: Pronouns 100 Appendix B: Conjunctions 101 Appendix C: So that, in order that 104 Appendix D: Future Tense 105 Appendix E: Past and Present Tense 106 Appendix F: Sana 'with', 'from', 'to' 107 iii PREFACE This dictionary is the result of two years of living in the Logu Avuavu District of Guadalcanal and of learning and speaking the Tolo language. I am not a linguist and make no pretense of being one. I have however attained a fair degree of fluency in Tolo (3 on the L.A.M.P. scale: see Language acquisition made practical. Brewster and Brewster. U.S.A .. 1976) and feel confident that the vocabulary and grammar contained in this book are accurate. There will be I'm sure some dispute as to whether certain entries in this book are in fact Tolo words or are words originating in another Guadalcanal language. It is a moot point. Language is a living and growing thing. and as there has been some considerable migration from one area to another .. in this part of the island. it is difficult if not impossible to say . yes. this is pure Tolo" . All I can say for certain is that all of the words herein are used by some speakers of Tolo. and all of them are at least understood if not used as the preferred choice. by all speakers of Tolo. This dictionary is by no means to be considered complete. There are possibly twice as many words omitted as have been included. This book is only a beginning. and it is my hope that some day in the not too distant future. some native Tolo speaker will enlarge and improve upon it. I would like to thank many people for their help in writing this book. but especially Matthew Kuva Boloatsi. I am deeply indebted to him for the time he spent in helping me to learn the language and for the many many hours during which he helped me to compile and define the dictionary entries. I am grateful too to the Hon. Ezekiel Alebua for his help in compiling the entries and for his editing of this entire work. I also wish to thank Oliva Palatoha for her help in defining entries and in correcting my mistakes. Susan Smith Crowley. August. 1981. iv INTRODUCTION The Tolo language in its " pure" form is spoken by about 1.000 people in a geographical area which stretches along the south-central coast of Guadalcanal from Lauvi Point to Talise District. Some people might question the demand for a dictionary and grammar in a language which is spoken by such a relatively small number of people. I believe. however. that because of the extended area of" herem save" or mutual recognition of languages of this island. the book in fact has a much wider audience. I believe that it has four different audiences: 1. The native Tolo speaker who has not formally learned to communicate in written form in his/her own language. 2. The Tolo. or other Guadalcanal language speaker (adult or schoolchild) who wants to write or speak better English. 3. The non-Tolo speaker wanting to learn Tolo. 4. The non-Solomon Islander wanting to learn another related Guadalcanal language. or compile a dictionary of that language. This is because many language informants would not be familiar enough with English to give an accurate translation. but would be familiar with the Tolo equivalent of a word in their own language. Lastly. I feel that this book is important because many Tolo words have become" lost" already and others are in danger of becoming lost. I hope that this dictionary will stand as a document for the preservation of the language. The word entries in the dictionary are listed alphabetically. The main entry is in the base form of the third person singular for both nouns and verbs. For example. makana is 'his/her fits eye' and berenia is 'see him/her/it'. Some word entries in the main body of the dictionary and some words in the appendices contain a parenthesis within the word itself. For example. tae(na). vale(na). hamu(sui) or moto(go). This indicates that the word may sometimes stand alone. without that part of it which is contained in the parenthesis. For example. Hia horo i vale. Multiple senses of a Tolo word are numbered 1. 2. 3. etc. but homonyms (words which have the same spelling but are really entirely different words) are listed separately. Most words have an illustrative sentence indicating an example of the correct usage of the word. v vi A Guide to Spelling and Pronunciation of Tolo Vowels a as in 'father ' e as in '�ver' or 'sh�ke' as in 'tre-e' or 'sit'- o as in 'hQpe' u as in 'shoot' Diphthongs ae, a i both similar to sigh but slightly different from one another oe, oi both similar to t21but slightly different from one another ou similar to low ao, au both similar to how but slightly different from one another el similar to s� Consonants There are only thirteen consonants in Tolo. There is no c, t, J. q, w, x, y or z. b as in b�by but prenasalised d as in �og but prenasalised 9 as in garden but prenasalised h as in house k as in �ind but not as heavily aspirated as in little m as in mother n as In no p as in £en but not as heavily aspirated r is pronounced by hitting the tip of the tongue once against the roof of the mouth 5 as in sun t as in time v as in �ote: in some few cases the v is pronounced as W in '�in' but with the lips slightly less rounded. These exceptions are noted as such in the word entries. ts is almost always pronounced as the ch in church. The exception is in the word katsa 'bark skirt' where most speakers pronounce it as the ts in 'ca�'. ng is always followed by a vowel and is pronounced as the ng in ha�er, never as the ng in fi nger. Prenasalisation The nasal sounds m, nand ng are always placed before b, d and 9 respectively, but the degree to which one" hears" this prenasalisation will depend on the speaker and most speakers stress it more when the b, d or 9 comes in the middle of a word rather than at the beginning. vi i 'child' baka is pronounced as mbah-kah 'to float' tsobo is pronounced as chom-bo woman daki is pronounced as ndah-ke 'dark' rodo is pronounced as ron-do man gare is pronounced as nggah-ra work' ago is pronounced as ahng-go It will be noted that I have chosen not to use some of the variations in spelling that have been used in Guadalcanal languages in the past. That is, I have written the hard 9 sound simply as a .9 rather than the q or ngg which has sometimes been used as a symbol for this sound.