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Urim Kalpm Texts Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages Volume 62 Urim Kalpm Texts Joyce Wood 2017 SIL-PNG Academic Publications Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea Papers in the series Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages express the authors’ knowledge at the time of writing. They normally do not provide a comprehensive treatment of the topic and may contain analyses which will be modified at a later stage. However, given the large number of undescribed languages in Papua New Guinea, SIL-PNG feels that it is appropriate to make these research results available at this time. René van den Berg, Series Editor Copyright © 2017 SIL-PNG Papua New Guinea [email protected] Published 2017 Printed by SIL Printing Press Ukarumpa, Eastern Highlands Province Papua New Guinea ISBN 9980 0 4036 X Table of Contents Abbreviations ............................................................................................. v Acknowledgements ................................................................................... vi 1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 1.1 The Urim Kalpm people and their language ........................................ 1 1.2 Notes on phonology and orthography .................................................. 2 1.3 Lexical notes ........................................................................................ 4 1.4 The text collection ................................................................................ 5 2. Non-narrative texts ............................................................................ 7 1. Hamung a ngko (The banana palm) ..................................................... 8 2. Koweij (Stone axe) ............................................................................. 10 3. Lngkep tukgnakg (Brain) ................................................................... 14 4. Men alm nak (Pounding sago) ........................................................... 17 5. Men alm munto (We hunt pigs) ......................................................... 21 6. Mtark (Jew’s harp) ............................................................................. 23 7. Nmong ypmang (The black palm sheath) .......................................... 27 8. Aken kwap (Hard labour) ................................................................... 29 9. Kin mringket kul ario (The honoured guest) ...................................... 35 10. Man a raku hep (A mother’s first baby) ............................................. 38 11. Ntekg tolkil tolkil (Do it this way) ..................................................... 42 12. Too much Tok Pisin ........................................................................... 45 13. Wam wor (Hospitality) ...................................................................... 49 14. Ferdinand ropo (Ferdinand prays) ...................................................... 52 15. Ferdinand ropo 2 (Ferdinand prays 2) ................................................ 55 16. Mento ropo (Let’s pray) ..................................................................... 59 17. Nangwom community ........................................................................ 61 18. Wurkapm a Goliath (Goliath’s letter) ................................................ 64 19. Wurkapm a Joseph (Joseph’s letter)................................................... 67 20. Wurkapm a Nick (Nick’s letter) ......................................................... 68 3. Shorter narrative stories .................................................................. 71 21. Abais alm wel (Abais shoots a bird) .................................................. 71 22. Alm tita (Tribal fighting) ................................................................... 75 23. Bibiyana nti man alkil (Bibiyana and her mother) ............................ 77 24. John Layun ......................................................................................... 80 iii iv 25. Katrina’s day ...................................................................................... 82 26. Kin wnakul kor yul (Young women go fishing) ................................ 84 27. Kinwo ................................................................................................ 91 28. Mapok (Tree kangaroo) ..................................................................... 93 29. Melha atnen mim ek (Melha hunts for a bandicoot) ......................... 96 30. Mentekg kinar Wewak (We went down to Wewak) ......................... 98 31. New Life Camp history ................................................................... 102 32. Poni mo (Poni’s death) .................................................................... 107 33. Rkol nim (The garamut) .................................................................. 115 34. Ul alm kin ha (A snake bit a woman) .............................................. 125 35. Wampung nti wapin kumpol (Bandicoot and Lizard) ..................... 126 36. Wapham ........................................................................................... 127 37. Warim a mo (The child who died) ................................................... 129 38. Warim kpman wekg (The two sons) ................................................ 133 4. Traditional stories ...........................................................................141 39. Hmit mate (How we got yams) ........................................................ 141 40. Por a kin naurk (The mango women) .............................................. 150 41. Por a kinkpman wekg (The old man and his wife) ......................... 166 42. Por a mlkgil (Leeches) ..................................................................... 179 43. Por a nliping nlong (The history of the Hompainjom clan) ............. 184 44. Por a rkgim (The python) ................................................................ 194 45. Por a Sewrong nti Yapewor (Sewrong and Yapewor) .................... 213 46. Por a ulkam (The green snake) ........................................................ 243 47. Por a wantung tilng (The man who became a fish) ......................... 255 48. Por a warim hlompo wekg (The two orphan children) ................... 263 References ...............................................................................................290 Abbreviations 1 first person 2 second person 3 third person ADJ adjectiviser APPL applicative ASSERT assertive particle CONT continuous CPL completive DIM diminutive DU dual (number) DUAL dual (marker) DUR durative GEN genitive HAB habitual INCL inclusive INDF indefinite quantifier INST instrumental IRR irrealis lit. literally NEG negation O object (non-subject) PAUC paucal PL plural POSS possessive PREP preposition REL relativiser SG singular TP Tok Pisin TR transitiviser v Acknowledgements Seija Meinander collected the oral texts dated 2005-2006, and introduced me to the Urim Kalpm (Kukwo) people in 2008. Bibiyana Yoming, Maria Nirak and Andrew Nirak helped me with most of the transcription work in 2009, and in 2014 many young people, more than can be named, worked with me to translate the Urim texts into English. Beth Bryson imported the Toolbox database into FLEx, Fieldworks Language Explorer, for me. Seija and I wish to thank the Urim Kalpm people for their long-standing help in the language work and their generosity in sharing garden food such as bananas, sweet potato, taro, and yams. We are also indebted to Pirkko Luoma and the Urim Yangkolen people for studying the Urim phonology and developing the Urim orthography. I am grateful that SIL Papua New Guinea sent me to do linguistic research in the Kalpm dialect of the Urim language. They also provided Lisa Halverson to typeset this publication, for which I am exceedingly thankful. vi 1. Introduction 1.1 The Urim Kalpm people and their language Urim [uri] is a Torricelli family language of Papua New Guinea. There are about fifty Torricelli languages, named after the Torricelli mountain range along the north coast region of the country. Like most of the Torricelli languages Urim has SVO word order; unlike most of the Torricelli languages it does not have subject agreement. The Kalpm (or Kukwo) dialect of the Urim language is located in Nuku district, Sandaun Province. It is the western, smaller dialect of the Urim language; the other dialects are in the Dreikikir district of the East Sepik Province. Within the area, it is often called Nangwom, which is a compound noun of the two village names Nangen and Womgrer. Nangen village is closer to the Sepik Highway, while Womgrer village is closer to Nuku station. The approximately 1000 Kalpm dialect speakers receive political, health and education services from Nuku district. There is no health centre in the Nangwom area villages and hamlets, but their aid post has been unstaffed for some years. People walk to the nearest health centres at Yakrumpok (east), Seim (south), or Suau (west) for medical help. For high school, students go to boarding schools in Nuku, Aitape or Vanimo. The Nangwom Primary School offers grades 3 through 8, in a central location between Nangen and Womgrer villages. Two Urim Kalpm men attended SIL’s STEP training (Strengthening Tokples Education in PNG) in 2006, and ran vernacular preschools until about 2010. One of them then helped out in the Primary School, using the Urim Kalpm alphabet to teach the incoming children. In 2014 the provincial government offered elementary teacher training, and in 2016
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