languages

X Languages

t was only in recent times that a little light was teilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen Ished onto the involved linguistic relationships zu Berlin, annual volume VII, section I. of the archipelago. The Wesleyan missionary Dr For the following information I am grateful to G. Brown was the first to study the language of fathers B. Bley and M. Rascher who, in spite of the Duke of York Islands, and his Dictionary the great workload resting on them, very kindly and Grammar of the Duke of York Islands (Syd- ob­liged me by preparing a short summary of their ney 1883) published in only a small number of earlier investigations. From this a presentation of auto­typed copies, provided the first information the languages of the Gazelle Peninsula is given in on one of the languages of the archipelago. This a rounded form, with the addition of studies on was followed a number of years later by the far the related southern languages of the Sulka and more detailed and more extensive work of the the Nakanai, and the language of the Duke of York Wesleyan missionary R. Rickard, published as an group in the north. autotype in 1889 under the title, A Dictionary Although the darkness previously hanging over of the New Britain Dialect and English, and of the interrelationship of the Bismarck Archipelago English and New Britain, also a Grammar. Both languages is, through these studies, beginning to works showed the intimate connection of the two lift, there is still infinitely more in this area to be languages, and the Wesleyan mission soon found investigated and defined, but the eager enthusiasm that in southern New Ireland the language was so directed at this situation by the missions’ guaran- closely related to both these languages, that the tees that this area of research will not be neglected. north-eastern Gazelle Peninsula language could be used without difficulty in their schools. Meanwhile 1. The Languages of the Coastal Dwellers of the the Catholic missionaries, whose settlements on Northern Gazelle Peninsula the Gazelle Peninsula had spread extraordinarily rapidly over a large part of the Gazelle Peninsula An homogeneous language exists among the since 1890, under the leadership of the extremely coast­al natives along virtually the entire northern capable and hard-working Bishop L. Couppé, coast of the Gazelle Peninsula, from Cape Birara to had also undertaken a study of languages, and in Mas­sawa, including the island of Massikonápuka.­ 1897 there appeared in volume 2 of the third an- Although these coastal dwellers are undoubtedly nual edition of the Zeitschrift für afrikanische und of common origin, and, according to currently ozeanische Sprachen, an extensive grammar of the accepted opinion, have crossed from the southern language of the north-eastern Gazelle Peninsula end of New Ireland to the north coast of the Ga- by Father B. Bley, which he followed up in 1900 zelle Peninsula as plundering tribes; pushing the with a language dictionary, published in Münster original inhabitants – the Butam, Taulil and Bai­ by the mission press. I would also like to mention ning – into the interior, or occupying the coastal that in this work, for some unknown reason, the strips that the latter had forsaken on account of chapter on adverbs, that Father Bley had covered in volcanic eruptions, these coastal dwellers still feel detail, has been significantly curtailed. Both works little affinity towards one another. More often, complement and expand the earlier publication by hostilities have reigned between most districts and missionary Rickard. Then, in 1903, the autotype villages on the coast since time immemorial, and publication of a grammar of the Baining language fear of being attacked and captured, or of being by Father M. Rascher appeared, in which is given eaten, hinders any approach between them. This a further valuable contribution to the study of the favours maintenance of purity and further devel- languages of the archipelago. An updated edition opment of the various dialects that were probably of this valuable work followed in 1904, in the Mit- brought in with immigration from New Ireland,

311 Thirty Years in the South Seas and which all represent only different idioms of Nodup, Korere and Tavui, towards Cape Stephens. the language family held in common with the This has the hard b, d, and g in common with the inhabitants of southern New Ireland. For these Blanche Bay dialect, but differs from it and the coastal dwellers, related by origin, traditions and other dialects in many word forms, and sounds very customs, there is no common tribal name that we broad, while adding an i to many word forms; for can assign to their language, in the way we speak example, see Table 2. of the Taulil language, or the Nakanai, Baining or This dialect prevails also on the north coast of Sulka languages, but they must be known simply the island of Uatom; moreover it is pronounced as the languages of the coastal inhabitants of the in almost a singing tone, and the hard terminal p northern Gazelle Peninsula. changes mostly into a v. For example: According to a rough estimation by the former north coast northern Uatom imperial magistrate, Dr Schnee, the total number hedge a liplip a livilivi of natives, heavily decimated by war and epidemics, yam a up a uvu who speak these languages today is only 20,000, fire a iap a iavi or at most 30,000. The greatest majority of these speak the melodi­ Finally, from the middle of Weberhafen in the ous so-called Matupi or north coastal dialect, districts of Ramandu, Massawa, and on the island whose boundary actually begins about the middle of Massikonápuka, we have the so-called Baining of Blanche Bay near the villages of Dawaun and shore dialect, or s–dialect. It has the latter name Kara­roia, and extends along the coast to include because, as well as having deviating word forms it Matupi Island, then stretches along the entire north differs from the other dialects particularly in the coast from the village of Nonga to the middle of frequently occurring s-sound, again demonstrat- Weber­hafen. From Weberhafen this dialect moves ing a great affinity with the language of southern inland on the Gazelle Peninsula, extending over the New Ireland. entire area south of the Varzinberg, incorporating A few examples: the districts of Napapar, Tombaul and Tamaneiriki. north coast Baining coast On the coast of Blanche Bay, from Schulze Point stone a vat a vas to Kabakaul and inland as far as the Varzinberg, earth a pia a pissa the so-called Blanche Bay dialect is spoken. This knife a via a vissa ­differs from the previous dialect both in the pure to sit kiki kiskis and harder consonants, b, d, g, compared with the to go out irop siropo ­gentler sounding mb, nd, and ng, of the former, little ikilik sikilik and through several not-exactly beautiful-sounding to deceive vaogo vassere variations in word form. Apart from the more uneven pronunciation, which sounds as though On the boundaries of both dialects, at Cape the people had blocked their noses while having Livuan and on the island of Urar, both the north their mouths half-open, a simple comparison of coastal and Baining shore dialects are spoken. several words (Table 1) shows which part has the Seventeen letters suffice for writing the language: greater euphony. a, b, d, e, g, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, u, v (= w), to We meet a further dialect in the villages at the which the letter s must be added, because of the foot of Mother and North Daughter; in Bai, Baining dialect and essential foreign borrowings.

Table 1 Blanche Bay dialect north coast dialect canoe a wagga a oanga my child kaugu bul kaningu mbul banana a wuddu a wundu thing a maggit a mangit to give ta˘bar tambar women a wadān a warenden

Table 2 north coast dialect Nodup dialect sea a ta a tai path a ga a gai no pata patai where from? mamāve? memēvei?

312 languages

The sounds c, h, f, z, x and ch are foreign to this on whether the people spoken to are incorporated language. The s, c, z and tz in foreign words and or not. An outline might illustrate this more ­easily. also sch, are, as in the Baining shore dialect, pro- Singular Dual nounced as t by the natives; thus ‘Jesus’, ‘Moses’, I. iau, I I. (inclus.) dor, we two ‘sacrament’ become Jetut, Motet, and takrament. In (you and I) the Baining shore dialect the s- sound is not pure, (exclus.) amir, we two but is strongly mixed with the h- sound. (another and I) F and pf in foreign words become p in the mouth II. u, you II. amur, you two of the natives (for example, Jotep instead of Joseph); III. i, he, she, it III. amutal, the two and ch becomes k (for example, Achab to Akap). The sounds b, d, and g at Matupi and on the Triple Plural north coast are always mb, nd, and ng, and whereas I. (inclus.) datal, I. (inclus.) dat, we all (you q in the Blanche Bay dialect designates the pure I. we three (you and we) hard g, it is only a more intensive ng in the north I. two and I) coast dialect – almost nk. (exclus.) amital, (exclus.) avet, we without Among the vowels, a is by far the dominant we three (two you one, and is almost as common as all the others put others and I) together. But although a certain monotony is cre- II. amutal, you three II. avat, you all ated, the other vowels are fortunately distributed III. dital, the three III. diat, they all in such a way that the speech in general – assum- We have an abundance of forms here, far exceed- ing naturally that it is well pronounced – must be ing that of European languages, but also estab- regarded as melodious, and one might with some lishing a brevity and precision of expression that justification be astonished that such a primitive is scarcely possible in another language. Equally people can possess such a fine language. numerous are the forms of the reflexive pronoun: One becomes even more astonished in study- iau mule, I myself, ing the grammar, both by its richness in form and dor mule, we two ourselves, by the clever manner in which missing forms are datal mule , we three ourselves, and so on, circumvented or substituted. and of the possessive pronoun. In the latter, in all This language shares with all the Melanesian numbers and persons, besides the objective and languages the article a for all genders, for the defi- substantive forms, a special form for determination nite article ‘the’ and also the indefinite ‘a’ (while or personal use is differentiated from possession. ta indicates ‘any’). Also, the personal article to in Here too we provide a plan, for the sake of clarity front of men’s names and ia in front of women’s and brevity: names, is a common occurrence in the Melanesian languages, in similar form. Singular A surprise is the triple genitive form of the Possession Determination substantive, formed by the particles kai, na, and I. kaniqu, mine I. aqu, for me i; the first expressing actual ownership, the second II. kou (koum), yours II. amu, for you determination or subject, the third belonging to III. kana (kaina), his III. ana, for him the whole or family property. Dual Examples: I. kador I. Ador a pal kai ra tutane, the man’s house; I. { komamir I. { amamir a pal na tutan, the men’s house; II. komamur II. Amamur a pal na kāpa, the tin house; III. kadir III. adir tama i ra tutan, the man’s father. The dative is formed by the prepositions, ta, Triple in, an; and the accusative, apart from the mostly I. kadatal I. Adatal euphonically essential form of the article, ra, is the I. { komamital I. { amamital same as the nominative. II. komamutal II. amamutal The triple form of multiples: dual, triple and III. kadital III. adital plural, provides no difficulty in the substantive, Plural because they are formed simply by prefixing the Possession Determination numerals two and three and the plural particles a I. kada (kadat) I. ada (adat) lavur and a umana (the former being the absolute I. { komave (komavet) I. { amave (amavet) plural: all of their kind; the latter the relative plural: II. komava (komavat) II. amava (amavat) representing several in speech). III. kadia (kadiat) III. adia (adiat) The situation is more difficult with the pronoun, in which the inclusive and exclusive form must be The forms in brackets are the variations of the differentiated in the dual, triple and plural, ­depending substantive form from the adjectival; where no

313 Thirty Years in the South Seas special form is given, both are the same. For illus- diat par, ‘he is big above them all’ (that is, the tration of possession-indicating and determination- biggest), or in similar circumlocutions. indicating pronouns, several illustrations follow: Numerals, as almost throughout the South Seas, They say: kaiqu pal, my house, but aqu nian, the are based on the five or ten system. ‘Five’,a ilima, food meant for me; komave boroi, our pig (posses- comes from lima, the hand. From 5 onwards the sion), but amave boroi, pork meant for us; kou paip, basic numerals are repeated with the prefixlap or your pipe (possession), but amu tapeka, tobacco lav, and from 10 on they are put together: for you, destined for your use; kana rumu, his 1 tikai 6 a laptikai spear (possession), but ana rumu, spear destined 2 a urua (or evut) 7 a lavurua for him, by which he might be killed; kana market, 3 a utul 8 a lavutul his weapon, but ana bol, the bullet meant for him. 4 a ivat 9 a lavuvat It is interesting, and in accordance with most 5 a ilima 10 a vinun (or arip) Melanesian and several Micronesian (Gilbert Island) 11 a vinun ma tikai 40 a ivat na vinvinun and Papuan languages, that in designations of rela­ 12 a vinun ma evut 50 a ilima na tionship, body parts and several prepositions, the 50 vinvinun possessive­ pronoun is added as a suffix. Forexample: ­ 13 a vinun ma utul etc. tamaqu, my father tama i dor, our two 14 a vinun ma ivat 100 a mar fathers etc. 200 a ura mar tamam, your father tamamamir, etc. 300 a utul a mar tamana, his father amamamur 20 a ura vinun 400 a ivat na marmar 21 a ura vinun ma 1000 a mar na limana, naqu, my mother naqu i dor 21 tikai 1000 i.e. a hundred nam, your mother nam a mamir 22 a ura vinun ma 1000 times the hands, nana, his mother, etc. nan a mamur 22 urua 1000 or a vinun na turaqu, my brother a limaqu, my hand etc. 1000 marmar, i.e. ten turam, your brother a limam, your hand 1000 times a hundred turana, his brother, a limana, his hand, 30 u utul a vinun etc. etc. 2000, a tutan ot; that is, a whole man, or so many piraqu, near me taqu, in me times 100 as there are fingers and toes on an intact piram, near you tam, in you man (assuming that the latter still has all his limbs, pirana, near him, etc. tana, in him, etc. which is quite often not the case). The scheme shows how impractically long these The relative pronoun is replaced sometimes by numbers are (for example, 948 = a lavuvat na the personal pronoun, sometimes by the indicating marmar ma ra ivat na vinvinun ma ra lavutul), nam or ni, sometimes by the particle ba. and how little they are suited to rapid usage in trade The indefinite pronounsdi and da for ‘one’ are and commerce. In actual fact, the natives need few probably abbreviations of the personal diat, ‘she’ dealings with numbers in their life. Where they have and dat, ‘we’, while the indefinite ‘it’ is reproduced not been educated in schools and taught to count, by the personal pronoun third person singular i; they have so little numerical skill that in counting for example, i bata, ‘it is raining’. up to 5 or 10 they have to use the fingers of one The adjective can stand either before or after the or both hands to help them to form and retain a substantive, and in the former case is connected number picture. The larger numbers: tens, hun- to it by na, and in the latter by a, and takes the dreds and thousands, are used only when counting substantive form. strings of shell money, which occasionally run into Examples: the hundreds and thousands. This is carried out extraordinarily slowly and carefully, with fingers a gala na pal a big house and toes used as aids. a pal a gala a big house Wherever in life more rapid counting is required, a bo na tutan the good man unique counting methods are available. For eggs, a a tutan a boina the good man brood of young birds, pigs or dogs, the native uses a lalovi na davai a tall tree a keva instead of ivat for 4, a ura keva for 8, and a a davai a lalovina a tall tree utul a keva for 12; similarly for 5, a vinar instead An actual gradation of the adjective does not of ilima, for 10 a ura vinar, for 15 a utul a vinar, occur, but there is a substitution for it, sometimes for 20 a ivat na vinavinar, and so on. by juxtaposition, such as: qo i boina, nam i kaina, For fruits that are bound into bundles, he calls ‘this is good, that is bad’ (that is, this is better than a bundle of 4 a varivi, 8 a ura varivi, and so that); or in the form: i boina ta dir, ‘he is the good on; a bundle of 6 a kurene; 12 aura kurene, or a one of the two’ (that is, the better); or: i gala taun naquvan, a dozen; 120 a pakaruot.

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He counts smaller shell money after nireit – that III. Just begun Past is, every six shells; he names larger ones after that iau bur vana, I have just left part of the body up to which they reach. dor bur vana, etc. Every eight slender strips of bamboo used for IV. Narrative Past making fish baskets are calleda kilak, and accord- iau qa vana, I went ingly sixteen are a ura kilak, twenty-four a utul a dor qa vana, etc. kilak, and so on. By doubling the cardinal numbers, the distribu- V. Pluperfect tive numbers are obtained, such as tikatikai, each iau qa ter vana, I had gone, have already been gone one; a evaevut, every two; a ututul, every three; a a long time ivaivat, every four; a ililima, every five;a laplap­ dor qa ter vana, etc. tikai, every six, and so on. VI. Future By placing the causative particle va in front of Singular Dual the cardinal numbers, the ordinal numbers are ina vana, I shall go dor (amir) a vana formed; for example, a vaevut, the second –that is, una vana, you will go amur a vana ‘that which makes it become two’; a vautul, ‘that na vana, he will go dir a vana which makes it become three’ – that is, the third; a vaivat, a vailima, and so on. Triple Plural The substitution of numeric adverbs is char- datal (amital) a vana dat (avet) a vana acteristic. Since there are actually almost no real amutal a vana avat a vana numeric adverbs, so-called numerating adverbs are dital a vana diat a vana formed by prefixing the causativeva , in the sense VII. Future Anterior of, ‘to do something once’, ‘to do it twice’, and so ina qa vana, I shall have gone, or will certainly go on; for example, i vautul me means ‘he has tripled dor a qa vana, etc. it’ – that is, he has done it three times. I vailima VIII. Future Presumptive me, ‘he has quintupled it’, and so on. na ter vana, he will probably have gone The natives lack all understanding of precise dir a ter vana, etc. fractions and thus lack precise names. With verbs, as well as the transitive and intransi- Through the particle vala, a so-called habitual tive there is often a third form as well, in which the form is obtained. For example: object, when it is a third person singular personal iau vala vana, I often go, have the habit of pronoun, is already included, and thus does not going need to be specifically expressed. For example, oro iau ter vala vana, I have often gone, etc. (intransitive) to call, ora to call him or it; virit to In a similar way, through tiga a daily form is fish,virite to fish for him or it; qire to see, qure- to obtained:­ iau tiga na vartovo = I come every day see him or it. for lessons. Another feature of the verbs that is a characteristic of In all its forms the imperative coincides with the most South Sea languages consists of doubling them. future: una vana! go! avat a vana! go (plural)!, They are either partially or completely doubled, be it and so on. to indicate the intensity of treatment or of frequent Unfortunately, a real conditional is lacking, as occurrence, or to make transitive intransitive.­ well as the entire passive voice. In the former, one Time and mode of the verb are not expressed by is aided by the particle ba in front of the indicative verb alteration but by particles, and often do not form, and in the latter by circumlocution with the coincide with those of European languages, as the active; for example, instead of ‘I am hit’, one says, following scheme shows. dia kita iau, they hit me or, i kita iau, he hits me, or similar. I. Present The above scheme has already shown how the Singular Dual conjugation particles form complete replacements iau vana, I am going dor (amir) vana for our auxiliary verbs, ‘to be’, ‘to have’, ‘to be- u vana, you are going amur vana come’, ‘may’, and so on, in so far as these serve i vana, he is going dir vana for the construction of time and manner. For ‘to Triple Plural be’, when it designates the relation of the predicate datal (amital) vana da (ave) vana to the subject, a corresponding personal pronoun amutal vana ava vana serves each time. For example: dital vana dia vana a bul i gala, the boy, he big; II. Completed Present a ura bul dir gala, the two boys, the two big; iau ter vana, I have (already) gone a utul a bul dital gala, the three boys, the dor ter vana, three big; dital ter vana, etc. a umana bul dia gala, the boys, all big.

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In spite of the apparent lack, in reality this lan- In the numerous interjections for the expression guage deviates so little that it almost never lacks a of astonishment and wonder, like aipua! ua! gaki!; substitute form. of pain, like vele!; of compassion, like rabiavui!; Still with the verb, besides the causative prefixva of joy over the new moon or the presence of a lot mentioned above, which signifies ‘to allow’ or ‘to of fish in the basket, likekuo ! kuo! kuo! and other make’ what the action of the verb does, we want to sentiments, this language can indeed measure up mention the prefixvar in the formation of the re- against others. ciprocal, occurring in similar form in a whole series On the other hand, it is very modest in sentence of Melanesian, Polynesian and Papuan ­languages. construction. In simple sentences, the sentence Examples: parts can indeed be partially inverted and placed tur, to stand; vatur to permit, or to cause to at the head for emphasis, but for longer sentence stand; structures, or for coordinating or subordinating gala, to be big; vagala, to enlarge; composition of sentences, both precise particles and ubu, to strike; varubu, to strike one another, the actual conditional form of the verb are missing. to fight; If we compare the vocabulary of this language vul, to insult; varvul, to insult one another. with that of European languages we must be amazed Of the remaining word forms, adverbs of place on the one hand by its great wealth and on the deserve special mention, as much for their individu- other hand by its great poverty. This language is ality as on account of their frequent use. In them, uncommonly rich in names and designations for rest and motion must be precisely differentiated, objects and processes, and in technical expressions as well as direction to the speaker, whether on the from the daily life of the natives. Every plant, every shore or forest edge (or conversely on the open forest tree, each one of over a hundred varieties of sea), whether straight over the person addressed, banana, each one of the numerous species of taro whether over yonder, up above or down below is and creeper, every bird, every type of fish, every intended. Thus: minute part of their huts, their canoes, their fish- ing baskets, has a special name. Every technique in uro, outwards ura, downwards house construction, fishing, and so on, has a short, aro, yonder ara, under precise technical expression that, because of its maro, from outwards mara, from below absence in our languages, we can reproduce only urie, to the edge of the urike, towards the by a circumlocution of varying length. Often words forest shore coincide in a certain sense with European ones, but arie, on the edge of arike, on the shoreline the slightest nuance, another situation, another the forest ob­ject, requires yet another totally different verb. marie, from the edge marike, from the shore On the other hand, the dearth of expressions of the forest from the area of the abstract, of spiritual life, morals, and above all from everything that passes beyond urama, upwards ubara, downwards to the horizon of notions in the natives’ daily lives, is you very great. Above all, many general ­concepts, such arama, up above abara, down below as ‘plants’, ‘animal’, ‘human’, ‘person’, are miss­ near you ing. Others indeed exist, but do not corres­pond marama, from above mabara, from below generally with ours, as, for example, bird, a beo, near you which also encompasses everything that flies, like The adverbs of place often replace prepositions, beetles and butterflies. Mental powers and activities such as: like comprehension, thought, volition, belief, are arama ra balanabakut, in the sky; idiomatically never expressed in the abstract by the ara ra pia, on the earth; substantive, but always concretely by verbs: ma­toto, aria ra pui, in the forest; to understand; nuk-vake, to remember; meige, to uria ra pui, to the forest. desire; nurnur, to believe. However, in this area the They are usually also used where the indication language is still capable of modification,­ and permits of place has been done using a substantive with a – for example, by doubling the verbs – many new preposition or in some other way. For example, word constructions for abstract concepts. However, arama raul a davai, ‘on the tree’; abara piram, it will be necessary for the young people to become ‘near you’. accustomed to the use of the abstract. The same As far as the real prepositions are concerned, their applies to the area of morality. small numbers can be explained as due both to It is obvious that the natives can have no expres- their replacement by adverbs, and the significance sion for totally unknown or only unclearly felt ideas, and manner of construction of many verbs that such as gratitude, chastity, humility, modesty, and require no preposition. Thus, here too, the lack is so on, but, here too, many a new word can be only ostensible. formed grammatically correctly, corresponding to

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the meaning of the word in European languages, the dead qori, today Plate 47 Dance at a while transposing it from the concrete into the a balanabakut, the nabug, yesterday circumcision ceremony. figurative sense. But where this is not possible, one belly, the firmament, karaqam (ieri), South coast of New ought not to shy away from enriching and comple- the heavens tomorrow Britain menting such a beautiful language by introducing boina, good narie, the day before the simplest possible foreign words. One would kaina, bad yesterday fervently hope that in our German colonies Ger- mat, dead oarie, the day after man words would be introduced for missing words, ogor, strong tomorrow rather than English, which has unfortunately oc- laun, to live dari, so curred too often up till now. tur, to stand a kapiaka, the For comparison with other South Sea languages, ki, to sit breadfruit tree a list of a few common words follow, and as an ex­ ample of speech, a translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer

a tutan, the man a mal, the clothing Tamamavet nam u ki arama ra balanabakut. Boina a vavin, the woman a luluai, the headman da ru ra iagim. Boina na vut kou varkurai. Boina tamana, his father a pal, the house di torom tam ara ra pia, veder di torom tam arama moki! (address) my a vudu, the banana ra balanabakut. father! a lama, coconut tree Qori una tabari avet ma ra amave nian na nana, his mother and coconut bugbug par. Una nukue komave magamagana gaki! (address) my a kian, the egg kaina ta nidiat, dia ter vakaine avet. Qaliak u mother! a vuaina, his fruit beni avet ta ra varlam. Ma una valauni avet ka a limana, his hand a pap, the dog ra kaina. Amen. a matana, his eye a boroi, the pig a taligana, his ear vua, to lie 2. The Duke of York Language a ta, the sea vana, to go a tava, the water kakaile, to sing Lying between New Britain and New Ireland, the a oaga, the canoe malagene, to dance Duke of York group forms a natural connection be- a en, the fish pil, to leap tween these two islands. One therefore easily tends a vat, the stone ean, to eat to believe that the earlier migrations from south- a davai, the wood, the kita, to strike western New Ireland to New Britain, especially tree kul, to buy in view of the imperfect vessels, all followed their a tabaran, the soul of log, to steal natural route through the Duke of York group, and

317 Thirty Years in the South Seas

that therefore this island group was again a starting ‘Long’, iok, iokana on Nakukur, is tia, tiaina point for the various migratory expeditions, and on Mioko. Likewise, divai ‘tree’ and make ‘sun’ that the language there was virtually the mother are nai and kake on the latter island. A great of the various northern Gazelle Peninsula dialects, many words are originally different from those which had gradually evolved and branched from it. of the northern Gazelle language, such as those Only a more intensive study of the Duke of York in Table­ 3. language seems to demonstrate that this can hardly A very large number of totally similar words with be the case. the same meaning as those of the northern Gazelle In any analogy, such a number of basically differ­ Peninsula demonstrate the original relatedness of ent elements are brought to light, mainly in the word both dialects; see, for example, Table 4. forms and less so in the grammatical constructions, With other words the similarity is immediately that one has to accept a completely independent apparent. For example, see Table 5. development of the Duke of York dialect. On the In many words of course the relationship does other hand, as far as grammatical construction is not leap so easily to the eyes, and it is only discov- concerned, the main similarity is with that of the ered when one goes back to the root of the words; northern Gazelle language, and the rules of the lat- for example, make (‘sun’, ‘heat’) is called keake on ter can almost all be applied to the former, with little the northern Gazelle. The root of them both is ke; alteration. Thus, without doubt, the Duke of York in the latter case it is doubled to keake, and in the language belongs to the same idiom as the various former case it is changed into the perfect participle dialects of the north-eastern Gazelle Peninsula and by the prefixma , and is found in similar forms in the south-western coast of New Ireland.­ the Baining s-dialect in maqes (‘sun’), or as the Moreover, in the Duke of York group, from island adjective in maqe, and makeke, ‘dry’. It is the same to island and occasionally from village to village, with ninogon and nagnagonai, ‘laughter’; akaka variants exist, based more or less on neighbouring and kaina, ‘bad’; veum and varubu (root um = dialects. Thus in Nakukur, woman = a tebuan (ac- ub), ‘to fight’;teglik and taiqu (root ta), ‘brother’; cording to G. Brown’s dictionary), while on the tunalik and matuana, ‘nephew’; vekankan and island of Mioko and on the northern Gazelle Pe- varqanai, ‘to agree’, ‘to be happy’, and others. ninsula it is a vavina; whereas on Nakukur the ­latter This dialect has the broad ai in several words like word signifies only the female of animal ­species. tai (sea) in common with the dialects of Nodup

Table 3 Duke of York northern Gazelle Peninsula house ruma1 pal six nom laptikai ten noina vinun breadfruit bare kapiaka to eat utna kaikai (nian) bird pika beo long iokana lolovina man muana tutan thing lig maqit shell money divara tabu spirit, image, shadow nio tulugean as len veder the demonstrative kumi qo kuma nam

Table 4 ki, to sit pia, earth pidik, secret tur, to stand bug, day aman, outrigger laun, to live vo, paddle tamana, his father mat, dead kiau, egg nana, his mother gala, big burut, alarmed bata, to rain 1. This word coincides vana, to go daka, pepper dur, dirty with the Malayan pula, blind liplip, fence kalagar, parrot ruma (house), and lama, coconut tutun, to cook lagun, border corresponds with luma up, yam barman, youth vat, stone (house) in the Buka via, knife dodo, stiff language.

318 languages

Table 5 Duke of York northern Gazelle Peninsula wood divai davai to sleep inep diep wind vūvū vuvu fishing net bene ubene bath nirariu niiu small liklik ikilik seed patikina patina to do pet pait mango kai koai to cough kogo kaogo ripe mo mao to sing kelekele kakaile pig boro boroi canoe aka oaqa soul tebaran tabaran for, on account of kup, kupi up, upi louse nanut ut close to matiti matatai

Table 6 Singular Dual Triple Plural on Nakukur on Mioko iau, I dar (inclus.) datul (inclus.) dat (inclus.) det u (ui), you mir (exclus.) mitul (exclus.) meat (exclus.) met i, he, she, it mur mutul muat mot diar ditul diat diat and Tavui at the foot of Mother volcano; likewise The article a for all genders, and the personal the word toto, instead of bebe (butterfly). article to is again common to both. Also, a Several identical or similar words probably origi- special article is available for female personal nally had the same meaning but gradually became names, but here it is called ne instead of ia or shaded to more or less related concepts, such as: ja; for example, Neling becomes Jaling on the Gazelle Peninsula. Duke of York northern Gazelle Exactly as on the Gazelle Peninsula, besides the Peninsula singular, they differentiate a triple multiple-form, taurara, virgin widow, quarrel because dual, triple and plural, and the triple genitive with of adultery na, i, and kai deviates only insofar as the ­posses­-sive vavin, female animal woman genitive has a nu instead of kai. The preposition tebuan, woman tubuan, old woman tai for forming the dative on the Gazelle ­Peninsula vinun, ten men ten in general corresponds with karom here, and has the same utul, three pairs three individuals meaning. The dual is formed with ru and the triple­ kuren, four fruits kurene, half a dozen with tul instead of ura and utul on the Gazelle The word par (all) here has the reversed form ­Peninsula. Also, the plural has two forms, with in or rap, just as diradira (flying squirrel) is reversed kum, as in a in ruma or a kum ruma, ‘the houses’. into ridarida in other places. With regard to the adjective, in both its forma- A brief overview of grammatical forms will show tion and its placement to the substantive and the us on the one hand the great relationship of the designation of differences in gradation, there is no northern Gazelle dialects with those of the Duke difference in treatment from that on the northern of York group, but, on the other hand also their Gazelle Peninsula. differences, occurring particularly in the particles The personal pronoun is almost the same as on of construction. the Gazelle Peninsula. Table 6 indicates­ variations. To begin with, as on the Gazelle Peninsula, sev- Also, the reflexive pronouns are formed, as enteen letters suffice for written representation of there, by doubling the preceding form or adding the language, and the letter ‘s’ has had to be added ut (Gazelle Peninsula iat). because of introduced foreign words.

319 Thirty Years in the South Seas

The possessive pronoun is likewise differentiated The numerals are: by a doubling: indicating possession and ­indicating on Nakukur on Mioko assignment. The former is indicated in Table 7, the 1 ra 1 ra latter in Table 8. 2 ruadi 2 ruo The possessive pronoun is added also to several 3 tuldi 3 tul prepositions as a suffix: 4 vatdi 4 vat tag, to (at) me nag, near me (for me) 5 limadi 5 lima tam, to (at) you nam, near you (for you) 6 nomdi, or limadi ma 6 nom2 tana, to (at) him nana, near him (for him) 6 ra 7 limadi ma ruadi 7 talaqarua Finally, it is added to certain substantives, but in a 8 limadi ma tuldi 8 lakatul more extensive way than on the Gazelle Peninsu­la. 9 limadi ma vatdi 9 latakai As well as to those substantives indicating rela­tion­ 10 noina 10 noina ships, body parts or parts of a whole, like those in 20 ru noina 20 ruo noina Table 9, the possessive pronoun can also be added 50 a lima na noina 50 a lima na noina as a suffix to a whole number of other words, such 60 a nom na noina 60 a nom na noina as those in Table 10, and: 100 a mar 100 a mar a divaraig, my shell money, but also: a nug divara; Ordinal numbers a marig, my body decoration; Nakukur Mioko a pinapamig, my garden; the first,a mukana a muqana a lamaig, my coconut; the second, ra i patap dina a akaig, my canoe. the third, ru i patap dituina The relative pronouns are, as on the Gazelle Penin- the fourth, tuldi i patap datavavat sula, replaced by personal pronouns, or by pronouns etc., etc. the fifth,datalalima indicating ownership, or can be left out ­completely. the sixth, datanonom The interrogative ooi? ‘who’? and aua? ‘what’? the seventh, datalakarua correspond to toia and uva on the Gazelle Peninsula.­ the eighth, datalalima However, the demonstratives, kumi, kuma, ku­ the ninth, datalakakai mia, and bi, are different. the tenth, nonodet

Table 7: Indicating possession Singular Dual Triple Plural a nug, mine a nudar a nudatul a nudat a num, yours a numir a numitul a numeat a nuna, his a numur a numutul a numuat a nudiar a nuditul a nudiat

Table 8: Indicating assignment Singular Dual Triple Plural agag, for me amadar amadatul amadat amam, for you amamir amamitul amameat ana, for him amamur amamutul amamuat amadiar amaditul amadiat

Table 9 tamag, my father nakug, my mother tug tamam, your father nam, your mother or my child tamana, his father nana, his mother natig} matag, my eye limag, my hand matam, your eye kapig, my blood matana, his eye etc.

2. ‘Six’ on Buka is Table 10 monom; on northern rumaig, my a nug ruma, my Bougainville, tunom; rumaim, your house, but also: a num ruma, your house and in the Shortland rumaina, his } { a nuna ruma, his } Islands, onomo

320 languages

Distributive numbers roneous to me; I rather believe that it is the are formed by duplication of the cardinal number particle ta, as in the Nodup dialect, where ta Nakukur Mioko is also used instead of tar or ter on the Gazelle every 1, rauravin rara or lapara Peninsula. As it seems, the particle of the perfect every 2, ruruvin rurua or laparua is used less often here, and narrates mostly in the every 3, tultulavin tultul or lapatul present, if the past already stems from the rest every 4, vatvat na vin vatvat or lapavat of what is said. every 5, limlim na vin limlimo or laplima The imperative coincides with the forms of the Variations here from the northern Gazelle future tense (see Table 12), and the conditional language are a special kind of counting for pairs, is like the indicative, and is differentiated only where the first five numbers almost coincide with by the particles ba, ‘so that’, ‘if’; duk, ‘perhaps’; the car­dinal numbers of the Gazelle Peninsula, but kaduk, ‘lest’. on the other hand they do not disown their pure The entire passive voice, with the exception of Polynesian origin. Thus they are: a few perfect participles, is missing and, as on the Gazelle Peninsula, is replaced by circumlocution 1 pair, kai in Samoan, tasi with the active voice. 2 pairs, urua in Samoan, lua The small number of prepositions is based both 3 pairs, utul in Samoan, tolu in the significance that no preamble is required 4 pairs, luvat in Samoan, fa and in the use of adverbs which often take the 5 pairs, tilim in Samoan, lima place of prepositions. The most essential real 6 pairs, ma nom in Samoan, ono prepositions are ko, kon ‘from’; karom, ‘to’, ‘at’; 7 pairs, ma vit in Samoan, fitu ma, ‘with’, ‘from’, ‘through’; na, ‘by’, ‘for’; ta, 8 pairs, tival in Samoan, valu tan, ‘in’, ‘at’. 9 pairs, tiva in Samoan, iva Of all types of word, adverbs deviate the most 10 pairs, tikina in Samoan, sefulu from those of the northern Gazelle Peninsula; only Most of the other varying forms of numbering very few are totally the same, like na bug, ‘yester- for fruit, shell money, eggs, animals and humans day’; na taman, ‘outside’. Yet others are not totally are quite different from equivalent numbering dissimilar in form, and are perhaps originally from methods on the Gazelle Peninsula; thus, here, a the same stem, although no longer with the same inagava is a 200-shell piece of money; there, on meaning, like: the other hand, it is four eggs or youths. In the verbs, the transitive suffixes tai and Duke of York Gazelle Peninsula pai correspond with tar and pa on the Gazelle urin, to this place urie, to the shore Peninsula. The ending tau is perhaps the similar- urog, away, from uro, over there sounding preposition: ‘on’, ‘over’. The causative unata, unaga, upwards urama, upwards prefixva also exists here, and ve corresponds with amaganate, above arama, above the prefixvar in forming the reciprocal. una pia, on the ground ura ra pia, to the With regard to the partial or total doubling of ground the verbs, the same rules apply as on the northern ura bugbug rap, all day ra bugbug pa, all day Gazelle Peninsula. iu, ioi, maia, yes maia, yes In conjugation the verb remains unaltered. In pate, my pata, no the present tense only the pronoun precedes the unaltered verb (see Table 11). The adverb nakono (on the shore) corresponds According to the Reverend G. Brown, the to the adverb with the same meaning on the island perfect should be expressed by inserting a long of Uatom: naono. a between pronoun and verb. This seems er- The following are totally different: Table 11: Present Singular Dual Triple Plural ian van dar van datul van dat van ui van mir van mitul van meat van i van etc. etc. etc.

Table 12: Future Singular Dual Triple Plural ag van dar a van datul a van dat a van un van mir a van mitul a van meat a van in van etc. etc. etc.

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Duke of York Gazelle Peninsula I. Phonetics kumari, today qori, ieri The Baining alphabet has 22 sounds: kumi ut, nadirik, now qoko 1. vowels: a, e, i, o, ä, ö; unaburu, naboroa, karaqam, nigene 2. consonants: b, ch, d, g˜ , g , h, k, l, m, n, p, tomorrow r, s, t, u, v. umera, uragra, the day oarie Vowels and umlauts are the same as those in after tomorrow German. ulogra, three days ago naria liu Note in regard to the pronunciation of ­consonants: gen, igen, apart arirai a) b must always be pronounced by sound- lelavai, leloa, why? how? dave? ing an m in front; for example, a bieska, how? is pronounced a mbieska, ‘the wound’. lenkumi, lenkuma, dari b) ch sounds far more gentle than our ‘ch’; lenma, so somewhat like the German ‘g’ as the The conjunctions ma, bulug, kaduk, ba, corre- terminal sound after ‘a’, ‘o’, ‘u’ in ‘Lug’ spond to the Gazelle Peninsula words: ma, ‘and’; with the assonance of ‘ch’. bula, ‘also’; kan, ‘lest’; ba, ‘when’, ‘if’. Ku cor- c) d has, like b, an epenthesis, n; for example, responds probably to the end-syllable ka, ‘only’. a dulka, is pronounced a ndulka, ‘the On the other hand, kuma, ‘because’, differs from stone’. taqo on the Gazelle Peninsula. d) g˜ corresponds to the ‘ng’ in ‘long’; for Since interjections often vary even from village example, g˜ o a , is pronounced ngoa, ‘I’. to village, there are deviations from those on the e) combines the two sounds g˜ g ; for example Gazelle Peninsula, like au! instead of aipua; a peu! a gunarka, is pronounced a nggu­narka, instead of ra biavi! and others of lesser significance ‘the pencil’. for the comparison of both dialects. Note: If the vowel following g˜ g (=g) In any event, this brief comparison shows that in drops off, the pronunciation of the g be- spite of the great similarity of both languages, and comes g˜ for example, a muga, ‘the tree’, the consequent original affinity, basically different a mug˜, ‘the trees’. elements are nevertheless present in the Duke of f) h is pronounced like our German ‘h’. But, York language; searching for their origin would it has the characteristic that at the begin- still be an interesting project in further language ning of a word and as a medial sound it investigation. can be replaced by an s; for example, a hur or a sur, ‘the fences’. h is never a terminal sound, except when a vowel follows; for 3. The Baining Language example, ka tes, ‘he is eating’; ka te ut, ‘he Just as the Baining is different from neighbouring is fighting against us’. tribes in his physiognomy, traditions and customs, g) k does not have the hard palatal plosive he differs also in language. This deviates in many sound as in German; it sounds almost like ways from the great Melanesian family of ­languages. our ‘g’ at the beginning of a word. A general feature of Melanesian languages is the k between two vowels changes to ‘ch’ presence of a triple; the Baining language lacks this. in the third person singular personal It has merely three numbers: singular, dual and plu­ pronoun; in other cases usage decides it. ral. Formation of the pronoun, which is so painfully­ For example, a choátka cha mit, ‘the man precise in most Melanesian languages, is less ad- he goes away’, but on the other hand goa vanced here. There are no inclusive and exclusive aka, my friend. forms, and furthermore a proper possessive ­pronoun h) p between two vowels must be changed is missing for words that indicate relationships or into v; for example, g˜u tav a mug˜ instead body parts. The Baining language recognises no of g˜u tap a mug˜ ‘I am felling trees’. difference in possessive pronouns and does not i) t between two vowels is usually changed append them to the substantive, but always places into r; for example, g˜oa rar instead of g˜oa the possessive pronoun in front of the substantive. tar, ‘I am bathing’. A further, and probably the most significant feature of the Baining idiom consists, in my view, in that it is an inflected language. The word end- II. Lexicology ings are altered to express the different numbers. The Baining language is founded on the following The vocabulary is totally divergent from that of five basic rules: the Melanesian languages known so far, right down 1. The noun-substantives are divided into to insignificant exceptions. several groups distinguishable by suffixes. The grammatical outlines of the Baining lan- 2. All the other classes of words, with guage are as follows. the exception­ of adverbs, prepositions,

322 languages

­conjunctions, interjections, and some- ‘ours’, ‘yours’, ‘theirs’, and the three persons times verbs, when related attributively or of the dual. For example: predicatively to a noun, adopt the syllables­ a nanki, the woman corresponding to the noun, in all numbers.­ a mer g˜oa, I am well (‘well I’) 3. The words (substantive, adjective and a ratpes, we pronoun) of the first and second groups, a ur a luan, our clothes designating creatures endowed with intel- a g˜en a luan, your clothes lect, have an unique pronoun for the third a ra a ruis, their children person plural (ta, ti, tu). a un a chip, our two spears 4. All designations for creatures without a oan a lat, your two gardens intellect, in the plural, belonging to the a ien a vrika, their two slingshots first and second groups, and the singular c) A number of words, mostly those expressing a and plural of words of the third group relationship or parts of the body, occur with- regardless of whether or not they concern out articles, and only in conjunction with the rational beings, have just one pronoun (in possessive pronoun. For example: the singular and plural), namely g˜ a or g˜ e t gu mam, ‘my father’; gu nan, ‘my moth- (g˜eri). er’; goa ren, ‘my body’. 5. Words of the first group have a special possessive pronoun in the singular and 2. The Substantive plural (a – a ra). The words of the second and third groups have a) The Baining language has three numbers: the same possessive pronoun for singular and plural, singular, dual and plural. namely at. b) No unique suffix in the plural form corre- sponds to the suffixes of the singular of the first and second groups. 1. The Article c) Only one special form of the dual suffix iem( ) a) The definite and indefinite article is a (ama) in supports the various suffixes of the first group. Plate 48 Mask house singular and plural, for all cases; for example, d) Similarly, only one special form of the dual on New Ireland. In the a ika, ‘the bird’, plural a ik; a muga ‘the tree’, suffix im( ) supports the various suffixes of the lower row, ordinary plural a mug˜. second group. dance masks (tatanua); b) The article is placed in front of nouns, ad- e) Also one of the dual as well as the plural sup- in the upper row, totem jectives, numerals, the possessive pronouns, ports the various suffixes of the second group. masks (kepong)

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Annotations: Annotation: 1. Suffixes of the first group in the singular: acha, The suffixes of the third group each have a specific mean- cha, ka, ga ing. For example: Suffixes of the second group in the singular: a mug˜ ini, ‘the sapling’; eichi, chi, ki, gi a mug˜ igl, ‘a small piece of wood’; Suffixes of the third group in the singular:ini , a mug˜ em, ‘a piece of wood’, and so on. eit, bit, igl, um, em, bem, ar, as, us, es. 2. Most words of the first and second groups can take Declension the derivative syllables (suffixes) of the third group. Observations on the three numbers: a) Genitive The subjective and objective genitive relationship is A. Singular expressed by a corresponding possessive pronoun. For example: Mam, ‘father’; nan, ‘mother’, and several others a choatka a a chipka have no singular ending. the man his the spear a choata (irregular plural) a ra chip B. Dual the men theirs the spears a choariem a ien a chiviem 1. The dual in the first two groups is formed by the two men the their both the spears appending the ending iem or im to the stem, a nanki a r a niska depending on the ending of the substantive, the woman to her the kilt to its stem. For example, a igelka ‘the boy’, a nankina a ra a nis stem: a igel, dual: a igeliem; a igelki, ‘the girl’, the women to them the kilts. dual: a igelim. Annotation: 2. Each of the various suffixes of the third group, The corresponding possessive pronoun varies in form with the exception of as, has its own dual according to the different groups of the substantive. ­ending, which is appended to the stem of the word: b) Dative ini singular iram dual it, eit, bit singular ihim dual There is no unique dative particle. The dative is igl singular igrim dual expressed­ by circumlocution as in pronouns and ar singular isum dual prepositions. For example: em (um, singular am, bam dual u tal a arepki hair Paskam bem) I am carrying the axe to Paskam. as (us) singular ihim dual e chur a savireicvhi ra ltigi You are giving the people the gift of fire. Nemka a a hinki? Ka goa hinki C. Plural Who owns the knife? It is my knife. a) In the words of the first and second group: Formation of the plural occurs by omitting 3. The Adjective the singular ending (suffix). For example: The attributive adjective can stand before or after a vaska singular, ‘breadfruit tree’, a vas plural the substantive. a leichi singular, ‘the door’, a lei plural In both cases it has ama or a as a joining ­particle. b) In the words of the third group: a) Where the adjective is in front of the sub- Each of the six classes is aided by an unique stantive, it is the unaltered determinative plural suffix, as evident from the summary in word with the preceding article, both in Table 13. the singular and in the plural. For ­example: Examples: a larini, ‘the small garden’; a lariam, a mrer a choatka, or, better, ‘two small gardens’; a larirag~, ‘small gardens’. a mrer ama choatka, ‘the good man’

Table 13 ini singular iram dual irag˜ plural it, eit, bit singular ihim dua isig˜ plural igl singular igrim dual igrig˜ plural em, um, bem, singular am, bam dual ap, lap plural ar singular isum dual isug˜ (itnek) plural as, us singular isim dual isig˜ plural

324 languages

a mrer ama nanki, ‘the good woman’ 1 = a choanáska, a choanaski, etc. a mrer ama nankina, ‘the good women’ a gig˜sacha, a gigsichi, etc. b) Where it stands after, the substantive retains 2 = a rekmeneiem (first group) its article and the objective is bound to it a rekmeneiem (second group) by the simple article or its expanded form a odochim (second group) (ama); moreover the adjective itself under- a onpim (second group) goes certain further alterations, according 3 = a dopgues to how it stands in relation to a substantive 4 = a ratpes or a bag˜eigi of the various groups. For example:­ 5 = a g˜arichit a choatka ama vucha, ‘the man the bad’ 6 = a g˜arichit a demka, etc. a nanki ama igelki, ‘the woman the 7 = a g˜arichit dat demiem, etc. small’ 8 = a g˜arichit dat demg˜er ama dopgues a choariem ama viem, ‘the both men 9 = a g˜irichit dat demg˜er ama ratpes the both angry’ 10 = a garichigrim. a nanim ama igelim, ‘the both women Annotation: the both small’ Numbers above 10 are not customary. a lapki ama pelki, ‘the cockatoo the small’ 5. The Pronoun a lavim ama plim, ‘the both cockatoos the both small’ a) Personal a choata ama hlur ta, ‘the men the See Table 14. big they’ a nankina ama vu r a, ‘the women the angry they’ b) Possessive a lav ama pel g˜et, ‘the cockatoos the See Table 15. small they’ c) Where the subject is a pronoun and the predi­cate an adjective, the latter always stands c) Indicative in front of the pronoun. For example:­ 1. a, ära, aiet, la, ‘that, this’ a vu g˜oa, ‘angry (am) I’ They always follow the substantive, a vu cha, ‘angry he (is)’ without any alteration. 2. lucha, singular (first group), luicha, singu­ 4. The Numeral lar (second group), ‘this, that’ liema, dual (first group), lima, dual The numerals up to and including 5 are simple; the (second group) rest are compound. lura, plural (first and second group) for persons

Table 14: Personal pronouns g˜ u , I un, we two, the both of us g˜ o a , I, me, to me ut, we, us g˜ i , yog˜ , you, tg˜ you g˜ e n , you, you g˜ i e , you ta, ti, tu, they, for persons (first and second groups) ka, ki, ku, he g˜ a , g˜ e t , they, for persons (third group) and things kie, chie, she (first, second and third groups) chie, she (object) g˜ a , g˜ e t , ini, it

Table 15: Possessive pronouns goa, mine a ien, their two gu, mine a ut, our gi, your a g˜en, your a, his a ra (persons, first and second group) a t, her a t, their (persons third group; and things, first, a g˜et, his, her second and third groups) a un, our two a van, your two

325 Thirty Years in the South Seas

lugera, plural (first and second group) or adjective and a preposition. Preposi- for non-rational beings tions and pronouns follow the substan- lina, lira, luma, etc., for the third tive. group singular. 2. The Baining verb, like the noun-substantive, Annotation: has three numbers: a) singular, b) dual and lucha can stand before or after the substantive. When c) plural, and each one has three persons. it is in front, it is connected to the substantive by the 3. Also, the Baining verb has three tenses: pres­ expanded article ama; for example, lucha ama dœlka, ent, future and perfect. ‘this stone’. 4. In the present and future tenses, the actual Where it stands after, it follows the substantive stem of the verb does not undergo any altera- without any connecting particle; for example, a dœlka tion, except for many abbreviations. lucha, ‘this stone, the stone there’. 5. In the perfect, the stem sometimes remains unchanged, and sometimes is abbreviated, or undergoes changes of sounds. d) The interrogative 6. Temporal difference (future and perfect) is nemka? singular, first group, ‘who?’nemiem? dual, expressed by the particles i, ik, ip, for the first group;nemta? plural, first group future, and sa for the past. nemki? singular, second group ‘who?’ nebim? dual, second group; nemta? plural, second group Paradigms of the verb nemg˜et? plural, first, second and third groups, ‘who?’ in words designating non-rational beings. a) Verb with preceding pronoun Annotations: Present 1. nemka, used substantively, is always placed in front; for example, nemka cha rekmet nini? ‘Who did it?’ Singular Dual Plural nemka, used adjectively in the sense: ‘what kind g˜ oa tes, I eat un tes u tes of..’ is always placed following; for example, a nanki g˜ ie tes oan tes g˜ en tes nemki? ‘What kind of woman?’ a ik nemget? ‘What ka tes ien tes ta tes kind of bird?’ kie tes g˜ a tes. 2. nemka also has all the derivative forms of the three g˜ a tes groups. Future a igacha? singular, ‘what?’ ‘what kind of? (first group) Singular Dual Plural a igichi? singular, ‘what?’ ‘what kind of? (second ik g˜ oa tes iv un tes iv u tes group) ik g˜ ie tes iv oan tes ik g˜ en tes a igiem? dual (first group) i ka tes iv ien tes i ta tes. a igim? dual (second group) i kie tes a igig˜et? plural for all three groups ina g˜ a tes Annotations: Perfect a igacha, like nemka, can take all the derivatives of the three groups. sa g˜ oa tes sa oan tes sai g˜ ie tes sa ien tes sa cha tes sa u tes e) The indefinite sai chie tes sa g˜ en tes ta, ti, tu, ‘one’, actually ‘she’ sa un tes sa ra tes sichik, tarak, ‘another’ Imperative bak, ‘anybody’ Annotation: g˜ ie tes or sai g˜ ie tes, ‘eat’ sichiak and tarak have definite suffixes for the second and g˜ en tes or sa g˜ en tes, ‘eat’ third groups, as does the substantive. u tes or sa u tes, ‘let us eat’

6. The Verb b) Verb with subsequent pronoun

1. Various types of verb are differentiated in the kudas g˜ oa, ‘I do not kudas uin Baining language: want to’ a) those that have the personal pronoun kudas g˜ i kudas iem or im in front kudas ka kudas ut b) those that have the personal pronoun kudas ki kudas g˜ en following kudas ini kudas ta c) those that are formed from a substantive­ kudas un kudas g˜ et

326 languages

Future sak, after, behind sar, sarem, after, at, to i chudas g˜ oa, etc.

Perfect 8. The Adverb

sa chudas g˜ oa, etc. 1. Adverbs of time

lära, now nasat, afterwards c) Verb formed from a substantive and a preposi- la, leip, today da arenkaris, at night tion biga, tomorrow da a chorévetki, in the Present biga d’oarik, early moonlight tomorrow sa unun, in the a chreika vra g˜ oa, ‘I am fasting’, literally: ‘the areip, one day evening fasting to me’ a aber na aren, often da niracha, by day a chreika vrei g˜ i mas, always da niracha a a ren, at a chreika vra cha nauir, at first noon a chreika vrei chi sies, mäka, again, once a chreika vra un more a chreika vra uin a chreika vre iem 2. Adverbs of place a chreika vra ut a chreika vra g˜ en a, ära, ti, here ámuk, there a chreika vra ra na ri, from here d’eg˜ erkig˜ , on the beach Future koa? koari? koaridi? da rik, outside where to? where? da ra ren, inside i a chreika vra g~oa na choari? where from? imak, below pusup, above na imak, from below Perfect men a evet, on the ávano, over there sa a chreika vra g˜ oa earth, on the pa unes, in the shade ground pa chöol, in the bush

7. The Preposition 3. Adverbs of manner Prepositions are: perhet, sa chap, enough, sa na? how? ba, bark, barak, for ready pa, almost bedeg˜ , up to g˜ u ikag˜ , I am quick manep, deeply da, in, on, at, near mavik, bad duchup, useless, futile mar, met, at, on, in, through tachorära, tachorá, so a chasna? how many? men, through meni, over, past malei, maden, very, mirk, about ia? iva? eviva? why? strongly, firmly munkrup, in the middle neik, naka, only, merely pa chlichi, in the middle n, nama, in front of, with, out of nair, through, from 4. Adverbs of negation namen, from, out of nanir, after, about koasir, not, no narak, after, during kuku, no, absolutely not nav, from, out of as koasir, as kuku, not yet navr, from, out of gel 5. Adverbs of affirmation gelem gelemna na near, in the vicinity, during e, echerer, yes lucha iet, that is it gir kachoia, yes of course lura iet, those are they } saka, all right (people) girna p, pet, per, in, over, behind, with, to, after pr – rut, under 6. Adverbs of possibility t, tik, tichem, in front of tuar – tuar, this side, that side ari, ani, perhaps la, over, on account of, with aekoa? koa? perchance? sair, to ei, if

327 Thirty Years in the South Seas

9. The Conjunction 2. Adjective

ai – da, when i ari, that about a hlur, big a chloi, black i, because i kurima, lest a dlok, strong a gilál, red den – den, both – and ten, ‘and’, for a mer, good, beautiful a uis, cold tika, also combining people a haru, old a vu, angry kan, ‘and’, for (first and second a igel, small a miiés, rotten combining persons groups) a chlak, weak a bup, full and things in the da, ‘and’, for a iámes, green, young a balu, ripe singular (first group) combining verbs a lua, white a aretkína, wise chien, ‘and’ for and substantives a vlu, short combining persons dat, dap, and, but and things in the koarik – koarik, either 3. Verb singular (second – or group) támen, táchen, tuchun, to speak lu, to see teig˜, to sing pin, to come nen, to request nem, to send 10. Exclamation su, to teach sep, to fall kal, to prohibit máravit, to stand aria, get away, come achai, cry of kak, to tell a lie hap, to catch on, at work amazement drem, to know (how to), to be able to tap, to ai, ae, quite right sóka, finished, cry cause to fall, bring down kové? is that so? when job finished tit, to go mig˜, plag˜, to kill vai, u, to call someone ave, yes, naturally iachu, to fear rkur, to give

mes, to eat rbur, to be irritated, Vocabulary angered by neig˜, to drink knak, to weep 1. Substantive breig˜, to sleep nari, to hear tas, to lie nin, to cook a ioska, ghost of the a óveska, head snes, to call suau, to thieve dead a lámsacha, coconut main, to dance sep, to fall a n’racha, sun, day palm a iámes, to live tu, to set up a váldagacha, star a alimki, sugarcane sal, to give birth t a˘ l a˘ k , to ruin a rmriki, rain a vlemka, pig rekmet, to make, to do ta˘ne˘g, to hold a évetki, earth a dága, dog tal, to fetch, to carry ri˘g u˘ s , to rub a lochúpki, village a nevága, mouse ig˜ip, to die tat, to help a éska, path a cháelka, wallaby túma, to laugh tma˘tna˘ , to work a chavilki, island a máracha, crocodile a dœlka, stone a lápki, cockatoo Examples of speech a chánki, ashes a áneska, parrot The Lord’s Prayer a ltígi, fire a chaivichi, bush fowl a eichí, water a gárumki, cassowary See Table 16. a ruchanépka, sea a husúpka, sky a mœga, tree a chorévetki, moon Conversation a cha˘lba˘ga, bark, skin, a arenki, night hide avípki, adder See Table 17. a nat, taro a líbicha, fish a áchavetka, banana a choigoiga, butterfly The Spider and the Fly a avesemka, betelnut a étki, louse palm a chasig˜ em, hair See Table 18. a rlépka, flea a sãkãncha, eye a choátka, man, husband a chrimki, nose 4. The Sulka Language mam, father a sdémki, ear nan, mother a richit, arm At first glance, on skimming briefly over a vocabulary, a uémka, child a richígl, hand the Sulka language appears to have a great affinity a ru˘a˘cha, brother a rika, finger with the Gazelle Peninsula language, since you find a nánki, woman a éleig˜ it, leg a multitude of totally similar-sounding words, like a lg˜ iéska, headman ag˜ eleiígl, foot mat, kagal, matmat, momo, mi, kor, lul, mama, a rsavracha, slave a avetki, house taktak, kaur, and so on. But when one compares the a cháchracha, Baining a arepki, axe meanings of these words, not the ­slightest similarity­

328 languages

Table 16: The Lord’s Prayer A ut mam, lug˜ia va husup, i ti achu gi a arenki, i kie n You our Father, the you in the skies, that one fears your the name, that it comes gi a lg˜ichi, i ti nari gelem g˜i vra évetki, rachoar ti nari gelem g˜i va your the word, that one obeys to you on the earth, as one obeys to you in the husupka. Lei g˜ie vana ut ta ur a smeski, g˜ie reg˜ev a ur a sky. Today you present us with the to us the food, you discharge from us the vug˜et, tachoar u reg˜ev a ra a vug˜et, ti ralak sut; kurimai g˜ie evil things, as we discharge from them the evil things, they do evil to us; not may you rut naut savra vug˜et, dap g˜ie ra ut namena vug˜et. Amen. lead us into evil things, but you take away us from the evil things.

Table 17 Goa ak, koa gie drem, ama eska samet ma Sankt Paul? My friend, do you know roughly the way to Saint Paul? E, goa dremacha. Yes, I know it. Gie ren da gie nagoa. Come, go with me (literally, ‘you to me’). Kudas goa, mácha cha ruchun, ik gun nacha savra lat. I can’t, (my) father said, I had to (go) to the garden with him. Gie n di iv lei ik gu chureigi rama suiki. Come, and I will give you a gift of tobacco today. Ari gu mam ka hirin nagoa. Perhaps my father will be angry with me. Ai iv uri ravlag, da un tit ságel mácha, ik goa ruchun When we both come back, we will go to (your) father, I nacha, i gun neigi. will tell him that I (was) with you. Kure du goa it nanir goa ga-teichi. Wait while I fetch my arm-basket. Gie kag satmit, dav as goa ruchun mena mugaiet. Go quickly, and I will sit down (meanwhile) on this tree. Sa lugoaiet. Here I am (again). Gie tal goa luanigl, di gie uir. Wear my garment and go ahead. Gu ruir. I am going in front. Koa ama eska cha tit pit? Does the path climb high? Luära cha tit meni da sa amá-mano cha tit pit. It is flat-going now, but later it climbs. Koarich ama eska cha tit pra chöol, da choarik pa inim, Does the path go through the jungle, or through bush, da choarik pra ratem? or through grass? Echerer, ka tit pa chöol, da vra inim. Yes, it goes through jungle and bush. Koar ama eichi chirna nama eska? Is there any water near the path? E, ma Navi da ma Rivun. Yes, the Navi and the Rivun. Navi ära gelemna, a leichi meneichi. Here is the Navi, a bridge crosses it. Nemka cha rach a leichi ära? Who built this bridge? A chavilkiruemka. The whites. Koar ama lba ra mat navracha seichi? Did the coastal dwellers help them? Kuku, mäitika ama chavilkiruemka. No, the whites alone (built it). A muga nemka ära ama gaunipka? What kind of tree is this tall one, here? Ka ama galipka. It is a galip. Koa cha tu a gam? Does it bear fruit? Echerer, ka cha tu. Yes, it does. Koa gen tes get? Can you eat them? Ka u tes get. We eat them. Koar ama ich i choasir ga tes ama galip? Don’t the birds eat the galip? Ka ama gaman gen ama marag ga tes get. The pigeons and the hornbills eat it. Koar ama aber nama gaman gelemgen? Are there many pigeons where you are? E, ka a malei naget. Yes, there are a lot of them. Karak preigi, a ika nemka ära cha knak? Quiet (be silent), what bird is that, calling? Ka ama barbaruoichi. It is the barbaruoichi. J chie nana? What does it look like? A chloigi. It is black. Koa ama hlurki? Is it big? Ka ama hlurki rachoar ama chaivichi. It is as big as the bush hen.

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Table 17 A sinepki chien ama slageichi The Spider and the Fly A sinepki chie msem a r a his. Kie tuchun: Slag˜eihi, g˜ie dlu, i kurimai A spider she spun her strands. She said: Fly, you be careful, lest g˜ie tit savet g˜oa his. Ari dig˜ si g˜i a ichivaret prag˜et. Dav ama slag˜eichi chie you go into my web. Perchance entangle your wings in it. But the fly she tuma di chie tuchun: Naka ama dlok g˜oa, nach lei ik g˜oa ralak laughs and she says: Only (but) the strong I am, and only today, now shall I destroy sag˜et. Kie tit di dig˜ sa a r a ichivaret prag˜et. Kie prer it. She went (in) and they entangled themselves her wings in it. She defended (herself) malei, i kie chuvik, dai duchup. A sinepki chie g˜ag˜ sagelemki di chie fiercely, so that she would get free, but in vain. The spider she went to her and she pligi samra r a his. killed her in her strands.

Table 19 On the north coast Among the Sulka momo means to drink wart mari means to love to watch a dance kaur means bamboo strong kor means quantity to marry mat means dead to bake lul means to request to flow mama means low water, reef to yawn kal means to dig coil, bracelet kangal means rooster feather fugitive pal means house to originate from vatvat means stony to sew, to mend vuvu means wind; to blow piece of wood with a cord vo means paddle to fly pui means forest fire tuk means up to alone taktak means to take; mocking song to admire, etc. remains, and one must wonder how such a large Sulka folk, in whom, despite obvious differences group of words, quite independent from those of the from the Gazelle inhabitants, a certain similarity Gazelle Peninsula, have retained the same phonation. in physique and in traditions and customs cannot Comparing only, see Table 19. be denied. This task will be lightened as soon as To deduce a connection of the Sulka with the the languages of the surrounding tribes from New inhabitants of the northern Gazelle Peninsula Britain, southern New Ireland, and the northern based upon the similar sound of these and a whole Solomon Islands are examined in greater detail. It quantity of other words would be just as wrong as will then also be established whether the Sulka were trying to draw a conclusion on the connections of the original inhabitants of New Britain or where the Sulka with European peoples based upon the they immigrated from. fortuitous presence of several pure Latin-sounding I have been able to isolate only the few similar or words like pater, panem, mea, vis, vim, vi, vas, mu­ identical words in Table 20 that have the same mean- lier, inopia, and so on, or pure German-sounding ing as in the northern Gazelle language, from the words, like Speck, Speer, Tor, laut, tot, Lohn, Kot, already fairly complete word collection of Brother Kuckuck, lang, leer, Saus, Lilie, and so on, in Hermann Müller (from the Catholic mission). the Sulka language. Nevertheless, it would still Therefore, even words that are similar elsewhere be an interesting task for linguists to trace the throughout the South Seas, such as tamana, ‘fa- steps in the gradual evolution of these South Sea ther’; matana, ‘eye’; limana, ‘hand’; taligana, languages, and to find out how, following natural ‘ear’; mat, ‘dead’, differ here. uni­versal rules of language, such a great number Frequent liaison is very characteristic of the of ­identical-sounding words could be formed Sulka language – not, as in French, the liaising of ­independently, and with different meaning by the the ter­minal consonants with the following word,

330 languages

Table 20 Plate 49 Turu carving northern Gazelle Peninsula Sulka from the Fischer Islands. (Reproduced tobacco a iuka (a suk) a suku from Publikationen papaya a tapeka a pepeka aus dem Königlichen betelnut tree a buei a vhui (or a bhui) Ethnographischen Museum Cordia subcordata (tree) a kanau a kanau zu Dresden, vol. 10, his mother nana ka nan plate 12) sand a veo a vai to grind tau tau to blow vuvu huhu canoe without outrigger a mon a mon from, hither ka, kan kan

Table 21 ka lpek (his head) is spoken kal pek ta kpum (he caught hold of) is spoken tak pum kua nvur (I wade through) is spoken kuan vur a ktarkup (the first) is spoken ak tarkup a to mhel (something) is spoken a tom hel a lkiek (ginger) is spoken al kiek ka kmeneng (his feather) is spoken kak meneng ila nhar (his foot) is spoken ilan har ta sma lgam (he does it well) is spoken tas mal gam kua kha (my thigh) is spoken kuak ha but rather the coupling of the first of two initial On account of their many plosives – t, p, and the consonants­ to the preceding word ending in a deep gutteral k, and the equally common aspirate vowel. For example, see Table 21. h – the language sounds somewhat chopped up,

331 Thirty Years in the South Seas

Table 22 a gisie (coconut palm and nut) pronounced roughly ak sie ˚ a gitiek (the hand) pronounced roughly ak tiek ˚ ka kuli (his fat layer on the stomach) pronounced roughly kak li ˚ kumau (damp, cold) pronounced roughly k’mau ˚ mangar (to dry) pronounced roughly m’gar ˚ kamua (to cough) pronounced roughly k’mua ˚ nga ta mat o reak (they roast taro) pronounced roughly ngat mat o reak ˚ Table 23 Standing alone As subject In the dative nduk, I kua, I makruk, to me i-•n, you ia, ii, you mako˚rin, to you en, he, she, it ta, he, she, it makor, to him mua, we two mo (mu), we two makmua, to us two mui, you two mi (mea), you two makmui, to you two min, the two min (ngin), the two makmin, to the two mur, we ngur (ngu), we makmur, to us muk, you mu (mug), you makmuk, to you mar, they ngar (nga), the makmar, to them

Table 24 ku ti-•t, my father mo ti-•t, our two fathers ngor ti-•t, our father i ti-•t, your father mi ti-•t, your two fathers mu ti-•t, your father ka ti-•t, his father ngin ti-•t, their two fathers ngar ti-•t, their father but otherwise it is no less pleasing to the ear than two trees’. Similarly the plural arises by placing kro that of the northern Gazelle Peninsula. or o in front, whereby the substantive assumes the Another characteristic of the Sulka language are plural form, mostly differentiated from the singular the silent vowels in normal speech; pronounced form. For example: only in singing or slow speech, and indicated a vip, the banana a kro vip, the bananas in writing by subscripting a small ‘o’ below the a morek, the pig a kro morek, the pigs vowel in question; for example, koni (to sing) is a silang, the fish a kro (or o) singol, the pronounced koni. (See also Table 22, overleaf.) ˚ fishes The common article, definite and indefinite, isa , a ho, the tree a kro hi, the trees and the personal article, for men’s and women’s, a ringmat, the village o ringmat, the villages and place and river, names, is e. a gisie, coconut palm a kro ges, coconut palms The Sulka language does not recognise a true ˚ o mea, the people genitive, but copes by using the possessive pro- noun, as shown in the following examples: Only the adjective used in the predicate has the a vlom ka ngaurat, ‘the woman her basket’, real adjectival form, whereas the adjective used in instead of ‘the woman’s basket’; the attributive takes the substantive form, and the la reip nga kro ngaurat, ‘the women their latter must agree with the substantive in number. baskets’; For example: e Veigi ka lpek ka kroir, literally ‘Veigi his head a ho ta hok, ‘the tree is high’, compared with; his hair’, instead of ‘the hair on Veigi’s head’. a ho a hogor, ‘a tree, a high one’; The dative is formed in the singular and plural by a lo ho a lo hogor, ‘the two high trees’; means of makor ‘to him’: Ku en makor e Kakau, ‘I a hi a kro hogui, ‘the high trees’; give it to Kakau’. Ku en makor a lo vlom ri, ‘I give a silang ta la ut, ‘the fish is big’; it to the women there’. kua vuokum a silang a lautar, ‘I see a fish, a The accusative is the same as the nominative: big one’. Kua vuokom a vul, ‘I see a mountain’. Ta klang e The comparative – that is, actually the expres- Nut, ‘he gives a gift to Nut’. sion of dissimilar grades of attribute– appears as a For multiples there are only two forms here to juxtaposition, as in the language of the northern differentiate: dual and plural; the triple is lacking Gazelle Peninsula. For example: in the Sulka language. By placing the numeral E Piia ta hok, va e Tabak ta kun, ‘Piia is big and lo, ‘two’ in front of the substantive, the dual is Tabak is small’ – that is, Piia is bigger than Tabak; formed; for example, a ho, ‘the tree’, a lo ho, ‘the or: E Piia a hogor, va e Tabak a gi kunur, ‘Piia is

332 languages a big person and Tabak is a small person’; or: E sequence: tang ta, tang ta, tang ta, tang ta, and Tauvam ta laut manang e Kaple, ‘Tauvan is big the thumb is called a gitiek ta. Then for 6, 7, 8, ˚ far from Kaple’ – that is, bigger than Kaple. E Got 9 tanga ta is repeated four times once more, and ta ia mang ur, ‘God is better than us.’ for 10 a lo gitiek. But besides this, they also have ˚ The personal pronoun varies depending on ­definite designations for each individual number: whether it belongs as subject of a sentence or stands a tiang 1 a gitiek he hori orom a tiang 6 ˚ alone (Table 23). a lo 2 a gitiek he hori orom a lo min 7 ˚ Murua, attached to the lone-standing form, korlotige 3 a gitiek he hori orom korlotige 8 ˚ ˚ gives the reflexive pronoun:duk murua, ‘I myself’, korlolo 4 a gitiek he hori orom korlolo 9 ˚ in murua, ‘you yourself’, en murua, and so on. a gitiek 5 a lo gitiek 10 ˚ ˚ The possessive pronouns a mhelum 20 kua, my ma, our two ngoa, our As the outline shows the numbers are even ila, your mea, your two mula, your more incomplete and clumsier than those on the ka, his ngina, their two nga, their coast of the Gazelle Peninsula, and therefore more Kua ngaulu, ‘my house’, ila ngaulu, ‘your house’, unsuitable for commerce and trade, which can be etc. explained by the low requirement for use of num- bers in the daily life of the Sulka. In front of substantives indicating relationship, the As on the north coast of the Gazelle Peninsula, possessive pronoun has varying forms (Table 24). here too we find transitive, intransitive and objec- In address one says, tita! or tito! or titou! ‘my tive verbs, although the latter have no special form father!’ but every transitive verb, used without an object, Likewise: already incorporates the object ‘him, it’. Here, as ku nan, my mother ku nopia, my brother there, several unconnected verbs can be placed i nan, your mother i nopia, your brother side by side, as in: ka nan, his mother ka nopia, his brother kamik hala, to laugh eating; onit langlar, to gaze upwards lying down; In address one says, ina! or ino! ‘or inou! ‘my vo käti, to cry out, flying; mother!’ sir paneng, to stand waiting; kul es, to take it and put it down. The demonstrative Doubling of the verb here means only multiples of treatments without otherwise altering the char- Standing alone: In combination: acter of the verb. en do, this, that to, this, that The very convenient causative prefix is missing en min, these two die, these two here; on the other hand, a prefixmo is available for en druk, these, those ri or ruk, those forming the reciprocal: mokla, to pelt one another; The interrogative mongami, to invite one another; momeng, to order one another. erie? who? erie min? which two? erie mar? A plural form of certain verbs is characteristic, which? as in: a nie (subst.)? what? a ni (adj.)? what kind el, to lay it down; ilik, to lay them down of? kul, to take it; lo-l, to take them nia or ninia? what would you like? how? pis, to come; pagis, to come (from the plural) The relative pronoun is alternatively replaced by Formation of time and manner occurs not the demonstrative, as in: through alteration of the verb, but by different A ngokol, kua vuokom namo, tiur. particles and altered forms of the pronoun, as the The man, I saw (him) yesterday, has died. outline will demonstrate. It is noteworthy that the Sulka distinguish only The impersonal pronoun ‘it’ is formed by ta two time periods, the present and the future. For (third person singular). the past, they use the present, but in speech the Ta keirik, ‘it is raining’. Ta sluk, ‘it is dark’. former must be made recognisable by some means. Ta vurmik, ‘there is lightning’. Ta kulang, ‘it is thundering’. Ka vurgim a kolkha, ‘much sun for it’; that is, it is very hot. Conjugation Numbers, for the Sulka, are also based on the I. Present II. Future five-system; a gitiek, ‘the hand’, means ‘five’ and Singular ˚ a lo gitiek, ‘the two hands’, 10. Yet their use of kua ngoi, I am going ngua k ngoi, I shall go ˚ numbers barely reaches 20. In counting they re- ia ngoi, you are going ngea k ngoi, you will go peat, incorporating the four fingers of the hand in ta ngoi, he is going na k ngoi, he shall go

333 Thirty Years in the South Seas

Dual Habitual form mu ta ngoi, we are both ma k ngoi, we shall both kum lo ngoi nom lo ngoi ngom lo ngoi going go im lo ngoi mim lo ngoi mum lo ngoi mi ta ngoi, etc. mea k ngoi, etc. ma lo ngoi minm lo ngoi ngam lo ngoi ngin da ngoi ngin ak ngoi

Plural Conditional form ngu ta ngoi, we are going ngur ak ngoi, we shall go mu ta ngoi, etc. mu ak ngoi, etc. ku p’lo ngoi mo p’lo ngoi ngur p’lo ngoi nga ta ngoi ng’ak ngoi i p’lo ngoi mi p’lo ngoi mu p’lo ngoi na p’lo ngoi min p’lo ngoi nga p’lo ngoi Imperative Optative form I ngoi! go! mi ngoi! go, mu ngoi! (you both of you! plural) go! kua lo ngoi mua lo ngoi ngur lo ngoi ia lo ngoi mi lo ngoi mu lo ngoi en lo ngoi min lo ngoi ngar lo ngo Habitual form

Singular Dual Plural Optative form II ku ma ngoi mo ma ngoi ngo ma ngoi i ma ngoi mi ma ngoi mu ma ngoi nduk kam lo mua kam lo mur kam lo ma ma ngoi ngin ma ngoi nga ma ngoi ngoi ngoi ngoi in kam lo mui kam lo muk kam lo ngoi ngoi ngoi Conditional form en kam lo ngoi min kam lo ngoi mar kam lo ku pa ngoi mo pa ngoi ngo pa ngoi ngoi ngoi ngoi i pa ngoi mi pa ngoi mu pa ngoi na pa ngoi ngin pa ngoi nga pa ngoi Negation in the imperative

nge or kam ngoi! don’t go Optative form mi or kam ngoi! you two, don’t go First style mug or kam ngoi! don’t go kua ngoi mua ngoi ngur ngoi There is no interrogative form; a question can only ia ngoi mi ngoi mu ngoi be recognised from the tone of the affirmative form na ngoi ngin ngoi ngar ngoi or from interrogative words. Second style The infinitive is very common, with ‘to’ repre- nduk kam mua kam ngoi mur kam ngoi sented by kam. Ta mnur kam eitiek, ‘he knows how ngoi to write’. K’lo pat kam kie, ‘I do not know how in kam ngoi mui kam ngoi muk kam ngoi to write’. Ta ngoi kam eiha, ‘he is going to work’. en kam ngoi min kam ngoi mar kam ngoi The Sulka language is rich in prepositions, except that their meaning and use does not correspond with that of other languages, making it impossible Negation to translate them universally. In each individual case Present we must use yet again another preposition, and vice versa. For example, in the sentence: ta l’gam eakam Singular Dual Plural e Veigi (that is, ‘he makes it after Veigi), the preposi- k’lo ngoi, I am mu t’lo ngoi ngu t’lo ngoi tion eakam means ‘after’. But in the sentence: ngu not going ta ktiegim a lut eakam o reak (‘we are weeding the i lo ngoi, you mi t’lo ngoi mu t’lo ngoi garden for the taro’), eakam means ‘for’. Finally, in are not the sentence: o usiel nga ta girap eakam o hi (that is, going ‘vines are climbing up on the trees’ or ‘against the t’lo ngoi, he is min d’lo ngoi nga t’lo ngoi trees’), it can mean ‘on’ or ‘against’. not going A similar situation occurs with other preposi- tions, like kim ‘by’, ‘at’, ‘to’, ‘on account of’, ‘over’; ma ‘about’, ‘with’ ‘in’, and so on. Future The conjunction is not much more frequently ngu loa ngoi ma loa ngoi ngur a loa ngoi used than on the coast of the Gazelle Peninsula, nge loa ngoi mea loa ngoi mug a loa ngoi except that here they have the contradictory ‘or’, na loa ngoi ngin loa ngoi nga a loa ngoi ee or oe.

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On the other hand, there is again a great abun- Surprising first of all in the Nakanai language dance of interjections, and there are repeatedly is the strong accentuation and stressing of certain shuddering or bleatingly uttered, long-drawn-out syllables­ that, in the pleasant form of most words, vowels, that we designate by a ~ over them. adds to the melodious sound, if they are not too drawn-out, as happens from time to time. In words iakõ! iokõ! cry of pain upuo- wonder like sodāni (one plants it); tinge usināni (up to õhe! hõe! reluctance, iu! iu! joy that time); natuna tasamōni (only son); sonando unwillingness suvurum i kela! (around); tauluvēni (pretty); paliliina (sick); ­­nosiāna jejejeje! amazement sympathy, (to prohibit); tausināte (lay it there); suntāno (to vui! hui! st! shout compassion kneel); sinōpe (broom) and others, one might almost jiji! danger vango! vangõ! during imagine that one is hearing one of the melodious ho-! hã! before pimo! pimõ! battle Romance languages. On the other hand, with the vavava! } the attack muso! musõ! } juxtaposition of vowels, like sa’o, ‘jug’; so’ēli, ‘to bury’; sā’e, to climb up; pō’o, ‘beginning’, ‘origin’; The Lord’s Prayer in the Sulka language u’ūna, ‘his finger’; vi’i, ‘fat’; hu’u, ‘to call’; a’ásu, ‘to match’; no’ōse, ‘jealous’; pa’ālis, ‘thief’, ‘to steal’, Ngur tit, in do ia vle kua ma volkha. Mur kam teiver and others, one could assume relationship with the ila munik. Ila kambung en kam pis. Mur kam titing Samoan language. One may add to this the aver- eakam in mo ku mie, en’gar nga ma titing eakam sion to the ‘r’, indeed the almost total absence of in kua ma volkha. it, as in Samoan. Where the Nakanai language has A kolkha tieti klang ur orom ngo lol. Kikiangoi words that contain an ‘r’ in the language of the mang’ur ko, ngu ta lgam nong le iar, eng’ur ngo ma Gazelle Peninsula, either the ‘r’ is totally absent, or kikiangoi man gar, nga ta lgam nong le iar ngang it changes into an ‘l’, as in Table 26. ur. Nge or ia nglum mur ma mamas, va halger mur This sound occurs so often that this language makor a tongman nong a iar. Amen. has been called the ‘L-language’. Perhaps this can be traced back to the transformation of the ‘r’ Supplement into ‘l’. The ‘r’ is peculiar only to very few words, like tamatūtur, ‘sleepy’; giri, ‘hungry’; but my Side-by-side comparison of Sulka, O Mengen and informant from the northern Gazelle Peninsula, Tu˚muip words whom I thank for these notes, also gave several of The O Mengen and the Tumuip are friendly these, occasionally in the form with ‘l’ instead of ˚ neighbouring tribes of the Sulka. Their languages ‘r’, like kalake-la, instead of gerage-ra with the same show similarities only here and there with the Sulka meaning: ‘to be happy’. language. But the O Mengen language too has The numeral group from 1 to 10 also shows great many assonances with the language of the northern similarity with Samoan, as the outline below will Gazelle Peninsula. demonstrate. In addition, the word laulau for ‘leaf’ It will certainly interest the reader if we append recalls the Samoan lau, ‘leaf of a tree’. to the above outline of the Sulka grammar a short The Nakanai language appears to have absolutely compilation of Sulka, O Mengen and Tu˚muip no connection with the languages of the Sulka, the words (Table 25, overleaf) from the very industri- O Mengen or the Tu˚muip on the south coast of ous mission brother Hermann Müller’s collection, New Britain. Only the words, a uamba (‘the axe’) which has already offered a valuable glimpse into and a visso (‘the knife’) that we heard during our the word forms and several grammatical construc- first visit to the O Mengen at Waterfall Bay, seem tions of both the latter languages. to have found their way across New Britain. The term for ‘sago’, a labia, almost coincides with the term used in the New Ireland language, 5. The Nakanai Language a bia. The Nakanai people do not appear to be closely re- In spite of the vast difference in character, a lated either to the inhabitants of the northern coast great number of words show great similarity of the Gazelle Peninsula nor to those of the interior, or even complete identity with words from the the Baining. Rather, almost everything: physique, language of the peninsula. Words like pitimulu traditions and customs, communal life in the vil- (‘to smoke’), tobe-ni (‘tabu’), obéne (‘fishing net’), lages, and so on, points to a relationship with the galamu (‘gara­mut drum’) and others, may perhaps Papuans of New Guinea. Comparison between the in small part have been introduced by the Gazelle languages of the Nakanai and the northern Gazelle Peninsula people annually gathering shell money, inhabitants also shows this difference. I cannot say but mostly they hark back to relationships of older how far the relationship with the Papuan languages date; see, for example, Table 27. extends; it is significantly different to the language Even more surprising is the similarity and, in of the northern Gazelle ­Peninsula. places, total correspondence, in grammatical forms.

335 Thirty Years in the South Seas

Table 25 English Sulka O Mengen Tumuip ˚ man a ngokól a punúngata nōbung woman a vlom a vail ta nōlo child a kalsie a goita kotik mother ka nān na-name tēnon brother ka nopia tein or taun dīek sister k’ētim li-•nipi devín uncle ka kāk va-n ulōv anon soul ka múnu kaununa ta don body ka vūok meria-na ta nēon head ka’lpek kuruna ta blālum eye ka kīek mata-na (kana ta) ngomtan ear ka ngēla longana ta palieng ndólgan mouth ka gu kaúna ta ndálien nose ka vorngap inapoga-na ta mblōdun tongue ka naperei meme-na ta tamlon arm ka ktiek kama-na ta lalman foot ka nhar kaina ta kean blood ka iindiel savaluna ta matómlon vein ka spang loloi ta kie kahem men’s house a ngaulu ginga ta ndo-nu family house a rik vail ta bále mat a tamneng tamneng ta ratámeneng taro a iok ma- ta lāmuop yam a tu kole-va ta mbungian banana a vip pu-r tua mau sugar cane a kil tu- tia ne kunkun coconut a gisie lamas tia kálme ˚ garden a lūt gu-r ta lero tree a ho veaga ta ? leaf a mīr launa ta raro blossom ka ngeihi pu-na ta búngen fruit ka mīt péna ta vúēn breadfruit a iangmeil meiga ta membiria canari nut a kaisiep kangail tia kangali Carica papaya a pepeka teteka ta ? canoe a langeil mananga ta nuang paddle a pārai kote-anga ta lopōte spear a mūs juo- ta nodie shield a gólie galéi ta hedige slingshot a iān ta-va ta télva path a ngoi gu-e ta nsal compound a ringmat mangkuna ta vatōno dog a guéla goíva ta nē pap pig a morek gie- ta mbuo mouse a vogor vogo-r ta me crocodile a iāme iame- ta ? fish a silang siláng ta mpe earth a mie magal ta ndan mountain a vūl tugu-r ta mani-•r sea a mau piléi tia nde water a si (a ii) me- ta nuje sand a vai vuai ta nkin stone a kóri vanga ta mper sun a kolkha kei ta nega moon a kienho ina ta nekang wind a ngausgi isonga ta ilúk rain a kus kue- ta nier fire a pui pui tia niu my faher ku tit máma mimaio

336 languages your father i tit tama¯n mimem his father ka tit tama¯n mimam my brother ku nopia teig dieo your brother i nopia teim dieka his brother ka nopia tein diek my name kua mūnik jaig tia sáieving your name ila mūnik jan sáievim his name ka mūnik jāna ta sáien my garment kua iet māla ta ko kapinge aning your garment ila iet māla ta koen kapinge anim his garment ka iet māla ta kīe kapinge anon my belly kua virik siaig tia búgheling your belly ila virik sian tia búghelim his belly ka virik siāna ta búghelon I nduk (kua) jeo (ia) io you in (ia) goen (no) ike he, she, it en (ta) i, e, ti bita we two mua (mu) isuo (mamuo) kuta both of them mui (mi) imuo kuma the two mun (min, ngin) luo turu we mur (ngu) iz (mam) kusier you muk (mu) mo ikom they mar (nga) re (ri) ti to eat it ēm kain ītia īn i to drink it eiviem īn ītia inūn i to strike him ospum sp ītia tul i I am drinking it ku eiviem ia īn ītia ta unūn i he eats the taro t’em a iok e kain e mā ta t’in la muop one a tiang (tia) kēn dēnan two a lo (tia) lūo ro huru three korlotige (tia) molēg horum detu four korlolo˚ (tia) toūl horumo horum five a gitiek ta ne lim ko līem six a gi˚tiek he hori kana kēn — orom˚ a tiang seven a gitiek he hori kana lūo — orom˚ a lo min eight a gitiek he hori kana molēg — orom˚ korloti˚ge nine a gitiek he hori kana togūl — orom˚ korlolo ten a lo gitiek kana lim or līem ˚ tángau na ta twenty a mhelum a gigi tia ken tamdil what? a nie? tár tia? mene? what is that? a nie to? tar tīgie? mene na? who? erie? tejo? amo? who is this? erie tie? té gie? amo na? what is his name? ka munikerie? iána ta nē tie? saien amo? where? tam? jē tie? aua? where to? ngamriem? mangeili? ta noa? where from? tam? ngeitie? tōa? why? kaman? to mer? moho? how many? la nēr? tia pīe? ko ne vai? good ia pe mēpka bad la ia soail mēblik big laut vúlo mēpur to live ktal mat mēmar to die iur mait mer to sit orsang tar ndun to sleep ōnit kenda lēr to go ngoi la pu-

337 Thirty Years in the South Seas

Table 26 northern Gazelle Peninsula Nakanai brother turana tuana casuarine a iára a iala pig a borói a bolo to smoke pítmur pitimúlu wooden drum a gáramut a gala‑mu dead person a vírua a vilúlua

Table 27 northern Gazelle Peninsula Nakanai dead mat mate woman vavina tavine fire iap (iavi) oāvi son natuna natuna youth natnatina natatuna to weep tangi tangi come here! mai! maivele! hair īvuna īvuna ear taligana taligana eye matāna matāna mother na¯ n a tināna pig boroi bolo fruit vuaina vuana sea ta (tas) das, etc.

A is the definite and indefinite article for all susungu, my wife natungu, my child genders. On the other hand, a special personal susum, your wife natum, your child article does not appear to exist, except in names susuna, his wife natuna, his child that they have adopted from their friends on the a dalangu, my blood a mangalingi, my Gazelle Peninsula. stomach Corresponding here to the possessive genitive a dalam, your blood a u’ungu, my finger with kai, is one with manei; for example, a māvo a dalana, his blood a ingu, my hair manei Saēka, ‘the taro of Sāeka’. a lamingu, my back Also, a genitive with na exists, with the same a inangu, my body meaning as on the north coast, like a vua na obu, Counting is based on the 10 system. ‘the fruit of the tree’; a malala na obu, ‘the blos- som of the tree’. 1 tassa 6 pantassa Besides the singular, the personal pronoun has 2 lua 7 badilua the triple plural, and in the dual, triple and plural 3 tolu 8 baditolu it has inclusive and exclusive forms as well, as the 4 iva 9 alasue scheme shows: 5 lima 10 savulu 11 savulu timana tassa eau, I aetau, we two aetaolu, we three 12 savulu timana lua (inclus.) (inclus.) 13 savulu timana tolu, etc. o, you amilu, we two amiteu, we three 20 savulu lua (exclus.) (exclus.) 21 savulu lua timana tassa, etc. i he amulu, they two mumataina, they 30 savulu tolu three 100 savulu savulu sulue, the two isou, the three sauluve-n, we In conjugation of the verb, three tenses are dif- (inclus.) ferentiated: present, past and future. amito, we (exclus.) Present Past nunu, you eau ini, I am drinking eau ini osi, I have drunk sou, they o ini, you are drinking o ini osi, you have drunk Correspondingly, the suffix possessive pronoun i ini, he, she, it is i ini osi, he has drunk is common here, just as on the Gazelle Peninsula: drinking

338 languages

Future ina ini, I shall drink na ini, he will drink

The imperative in the singular coincides with the simple infinitive form of the verb. I do not have examples of the dual, triple and plural forms. Negation is achieved by placing boa, or saboa, in front of the verb. It seems that here too, as on the Gazelle Penin- sula, verbs can be doubled, but, here, doubling does not occur so frequently. Also, the prefixva is the causative prefix in front of verbs here; for example, davut, ‘to ache’, vada­ vutisi, ‘to cause pain’. The prefixma serves to form the reciprocal, like lobe, ‘to insult’; mailobe, ‘to insult one another’; maubi or masi, to fight with one another’. The entire passive voice, with the exception of a few perfect participles, seems also to be missing here, and to be replaced by circumlocution with the active form. It is unfortunately not possible for me to go into greater detail about the verb, nor to be able to establish general rules on the other types of word, due to the small number of notes that I was able to make during a trip. With the numerous adverbs, it was surprising to me that the same word, alisa, was used for ‘the day before yesterday’ and ‘the day after tomorrow’, while ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’ (alavi and savulo) are precisely differentiated. In adverbs of place I feel able to conclude, at least after a few examples like tana, ‘there’, ‘yon- der’; utano, ‘outwards’; usala, ‘above’; umasala, ‘upwards’, that there is differentiation by use of separate forms and also between rest and move- ment, as on the Gazelle Peninsula. For language comparison we add a small group from the Nakanai vocabulary and follow this with several examples for characterisation of euphony the pearl, a masilai to go, polo Plate 50 Masked men as well as sentence construction. In pronuncia- the object, a góulu to laugh, poli or from Lihir tion it must be pointed out that the ‘s’ is always the slave, a sousani palipōli pronounced like ‘ss’. the stranger, a sovasīla to know, sa’āvi or the man, a bibi to fetch, ala the dog, a būse saviusi the house, a luma to give birth, susuási poor devil, a livisea to remain, patimōni the coconut, a niu to give birth, alaia the shark, a pōio to stay, patimōni the sun, oasu to swim, soavutu the turtle, a bōnu to buy, ōli the moon, a gama to fall, bosa the lime, a oāvu always, asuosi, or tukasi the rain, a davo to wake up, mailutu good, milimili now, seideitunka the wind, a vivíli to straighten, salipili beautiful, kuba in the evening, panga the ashes, a pipísa to ask, suale bad, lumu lavilāvi the flesh,a osovīni to fear, lae heavy, māva by day, panga malāta the image, a bōka to kill, guāle light, malamāla by night, panga lodos shadows (spirit), a to serve, osovīni small, kamumua in the afternoons, lagalāna bellapósa true, seitōlo panga tanaósi the village, a ūbu to fast, maniōto full up, masuluōsi quickly, tototo the spear, a gāta to see, ite weary, balis why? ili? decorated spear, a to anger, abutu red, tasoso what? sava?

339 Thirty Years in the South Seas no, ue yes, maili Goulu mineo kubana. Your object is beautiful. so, vate with, a Mu pidi a vivili divi. Sing, to bring the wind. and, e oh woe! ui-•na! Saboa pulu. It is still not ready. to speak, voilei cry of astonishment, Bili Saeka a ma‑vo. Give Saeka a taro. to sit, ungu homo-! O lae sa‑va? What, are you frightened? to stand up, lisi Soro baini-•ni, mu- maivéle. Boys, come here! O ma lei lae lou! Don’t be afraid! Esa‑na savallo? What is your name? O mamu tabosa! Thou shalt not kill! Vatelli? What is your name? O mamu malolo osi! Thou shalt not commit O poli ili? Why are you laughing? adultery! A obu a lili i toto-la. The plank is hard. O mamu pa’a‑li! Thou shalt not steal! A mangalingi i davut. My body aches. O mamu manasi! Thou shalt not bear false witness!

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