Guria

Pirpir Ure Ra Guria (Guria Story)

Ismael K. Isikel

After the destruction and loss caused by a guria and tsunami we realize or remember the funny things of the event  and in spite of our losses we laugh (nongon) about them. Da nongone. We laugh over it/them.

The word GURIA is known and used widely in Papua New Guinea and understood by some people abroad, especially those working in seismology. It means earthquake or tremor. In many parts of the world where it occurs it is terrifying, depending on the magnitude, and destructive.  In maritime areas a guria is sometimes followed by tsunami forcing people to escape to higher ground. Tsunami is Japanese for tidal wave.

Last week, Saturday 17th December 2016,  there was a major guria centered somewhere in the area of  New Ireland Province, That is only a speedboat ride away from East New Britain Province to the closest point at Namatanai. After feeling relieved that most things were alright, I remembered  some funny stories relating to guria occurrences and share two of them here.

The first one was of an old man, his puppy, and his grandson. They were in a hut sharing the same coconut mat on the ground floor. Grandpa was sitting up while his two companions were fast asleep. When the guria suddenly struck, grandpa  quickly picked up the puppy and ran out. Someone noticed he was cradling something and asked, what are you holding? He quickly glanced at what he was cradling and responded, "aisiah ra papu ta" (Oh, the puppy). Instantly he dropped the puppy and ran back into the hut to fetch his grandson.

The second one is about an old folk at Rakotop village. This old fella was notorious for holding onto something steady when a guria struck. He would grab something that was steady, including tree trunks and house post, One time a guria struck and the nearest steady object was a cocoa tree. He dashed for it, grabbed hold of a branch, and hung on it for dear llife. Iga taba tara ingara kakao.

Counting: Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers

Niluluk
Ismael K.Isikel 13/12/2016

In response to queries on Counting i now post on cardinal and ordinal numbers bearing in mind that  there are no written records of counting in higher numbers especially by the thousands and up when counting in general. This excludes counting shell money (tip ma tabu) which is the Tolai traditional currency, and still in use today, Tabu once it is in a loop is called a tutana regardless of the number of fathoms, but the individual owners knows how many fathoms of tabu is in the loop. Bear in mind also our old folks had different counting types for certain items such as taro, coconuts, and fish. A bundle of four or six taro (pa) is called a kura pa. Let me not digress further and get back to cardinal and ordinal numbers. Below is a table showing the numbers.

CARDINAL	ORDINAL
1. Tikai	1st Lua, Luaina, Tamaluina
2. Urua	2nd Waurua, Wauruana
3. Utul	3rd Wautul, Wautuluna
4. Iwat	4th Waiwat, Waiwatina
5. Ilima	5th Wailima, Wailimana
6.Laptikai	6th Walaptikai, Walaptikaina
7. Lavurua	7th Walawurua, Walawuruana
8. Lavutul	8th Walawutul, Walawutuluna
9.Lavuvat	9th Walawuwat, Walawuwatina
10.Winun	10th Wawinun, Wawinununa
11. Winun ma tikai	11th Wawinun ma tikai
12. Winun ma urua	12th Wawinun ma urua
......	......
20. Urawinun	20th Wawaurawinun
30. Utulawinun	30th Wawautulawinun,
40. Iwat nawinun	40th Wawaiwat na winun
50. Ilima na winun	50th Wawailima na winun

Sample usage of ordinal numbers

ToWaira a wawaurua na bul kai IaWalaun. ToWaira is IaWalaun's second child.

Ia ra wawauruana. He is the second.

Nam awawautuluna. That is the third.

Nam ia ra wawaiwat na koai utar ienia. That is the fourth mango you have eaten.

A tamaluaina wunuai kai nam ra wudu. That is the first time for that banana to bear fruit.

Rising from the Ashes

Ismael K. Isikel Edited 22/9/2017

Rising from the Ashes is viewing the return of Rabaul through the eyes of photographer Esau Meli after the twin volcanic eruptions on 19th September 1994. 

Faith propels
That nature bashed

Seemingly desolate
A booster  of hope

The aftermath
Is beauty
Of the divine brush

Now thrive back
To find your sustenance

The grass shall grow back
The palm standing
Promises that

The mountains
Distant they may
We shall get there

Toiling on the  sea
Shall we sail again.

We are harvesting again

Knowledge we shall find
Through nurturing
The next generation

We  refuse to lie down shaken

Even if the road is rough

We shall get there

However long and winding
We shall get there

Even from humble beginnings
We shall rise from the ashes

Fire Dance

The descriptive phrase "malagene na iap"may be translated to English as fire dance.  No, in Tolai culture fire dance is not part of the types of dances. However, our neighbors the Bainings do perform fire dance as it is part of their culture. Recently I learnt that there is a type of Baining fire dance that is performed during the day.  The other type that i had witnessed many times is the one performed at night over a big fire. And big fire means a fire of small size logs with flames  higher than an adult height.

The fire dance that is performed during the day was recently performed at the Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau, Milne Bay Province. A photograph of it appeared in the Post Courier (7/11/2016, p.8).  I posted this on Facebook in the New Guinea Islands Historical Society Group  because i doubted that this was a Baining fire dance and sought help there.  Indeed it was a Baining fire dance; the one that is performed during the day as confirmed by Gideon Kakabin in his description with photo:

These creatures do not jump into the fire. They dance around a small fire during the day. I photographed them dancing last month.

I also interviewed the man in charge and he said that this is a fun creature that lives in the trees. When it comes out to dance it carries goodies in a small bilum bag that kids and adults keep running over and stealing.

The dance was performed by the Uramat at Gaulim village.

Further confirmation of this type of Baining fire dance are reaffirmed by the following photographs by Angie Kolita-payne taken during the Kenu and Kundu Festival in Milne Bay.

Head dress
Photo credit: Angie Kolita-payne

Fire Dancer
Photo credit: Angie Kolita-payne

Members of the fire dance group.
Photo credit: Angie Kolita-payne

Fire dance performance.\
Photo credit: Angie Kolita-payne

Acknowledgement

My gratitude to Gideon Kakabin (one photo and description) and Angie Kolita-payne  (4 photos) for enabling me to do this post, Iau watang boina tuna.

Note: After about a month of this post the borrowed photos no longer appear due to "expiry of url" iki 13/9/2017

Mourning (Palai)

Mourning is a time of grief (niligur) over the passing of a relative, a loved one, a friend, or a colleague. The time of grief, pakana bung na niligur, may take a week or more before it ends with a ceremony. The period of mourning is known as palai and the ending ceremony is known as kutupalai.  Kutupalai is made up of two words kutu and palai. The prefix kutu means cut. Others call the ending ceremony as umawoko. The prefix  U (oo) means wipe and mawoko is the word for dew. Umawoko means wiping off dew. In other dialects of Kuanua tunkubin is used. Similarly, tunkubin is made up of two words: tun and kubin. The prefix tun means burn and kubin means mat and in English that is "burning off mats". There are other terms depending on the dilaect but these are just a few.

Ending of mourning ceremony is usually a ceremony of gratitude to relatives and friends who come and stay with the grieving family. It involves the distribution of food, nian, and shell money. tabu, to the mourners.

In some cases the kutupalai is the initial mortuary ceremony and a big one or two (warwakai ba balaguan) usually follows some months or years later.

Late Tevita of Rakotop Village

All of us have attended a kutupalai and i have lost count of the number of times. However, i remember one that I attended of a dear friend and fellow villager. He passed on at a very very old age in his nap one evening in 1996.

The kutupalai for late Tevita was conducted by the late Conrard ToBung after about two weeks of mourning. Food including rice, bananas, pork, tinned fish as well as tabu were distributed during the kutupalai.

Dance (Malagene)

Types of Dances (Aumana Mangana Malagene)

Ismael Isikel Edited 30/06/2017

Types of Tolai dances performed during traditional ceremonies and celebrations are briefly discussed and listed here. Some of these dances may be performed by both males and females (tarai ma warden) together while others are restricted to one gender. The actual performances of most Tolai dances are usually in a two-line formation with the two at the front as lead dancers (lualua) and the last pair is known as murwarbat.  So, you dance in pairs. The term for partner in a dance is wartalai.

Many Tolai can tell from far away when a dance is about to be concluded when they hear the slow beat or tempo of the olo oloai. Introduction of the dance is known as lalarai where short rapid beatings of tidir or kundu is done and accompanied by quick body movements.

Tubuan dances (tapialai) are performed by initiated male members only of the tubuan society. One has to be an initiate in order to take part in the “ancestral dance” of tapialai. Pairing (wartalai) also occurs in tubuan performances where two tubuan dance together. There are other types of dances but the list provided here are of the commonly performed types.

Types of dances and which gender performs.

Libung                Male and female

Perapere              Male only

Kulau                  Male only

Pinpidik              Male

Parpari                Female

Patete                  Female

Bilolo                   Male and Female

Tabaran              Male 

Tubuan               Initiated   Males only

Dance Terms

Kubak -  Preparation; preparation for the actual performance may take a couple od days to a week or two and include final practice and costume.  The action of preparation is called kunubak.

Lalarai -  Introduction; introduction of the dance is known as lalarai where short rapid beatings of tidir or kundu is done and accompanied by quick body movements. Lalarai is the noun form of the verb Lalare.

Langoron -  Charm; dance charm.

Lartamuna -  Rehearsal; dance rehearsal usually conducted a day before the actual performance.

Lualua -  The leading pair of dancers

Minong -  Dance costume 

Murwarbat -  The last pair of dancers at the end of the line. 

Olo oloai -  Concluding part of the dance in slow motion.

Pinipit -  Composition of the dance song including choreography.

Puak -  Begin; begin the dance song and involves solo and responsorial singing.
Tena buai - A dance choreographer and may also be the composer of the dance song.
Wartalai -   Partner; dance partner.
Wartumu -  Design; body design.
Wunuwung  - Choreography; dance movements.

Kewapi Language

The purpose of this review is twofold and the first is to publicize this book The Kewapi Language of Papua New Guinea  to interested readers and in particular the Kewapi speakers of Southern Higlands, living at home and in other parts of the country. Those who study language will find this book interesting, especially those working on morphology and syntax. It poses an important challenge to many other languages in PNG that there is a need for most of them to be studied and their syntax, grammar, verbs, etc., are recorded. Therefore another purpose of this review is to draw attention to the importance in study and record of languages in Papua New Guinea.

Dr Apoi Yarapea showing a copy of his book The Kewapi Language of Papua New Guinea

The Kewapi Language of Papua New Guinea was written by Dr Apoi Yarapea.' The book  resulted from  his doctoral thesis Morphosyntax of Kewapi Language conferred by the Australian National University in 2006. An electronic copy of the thesis is kept at Matheson Library, PNG University of Technology. The abstract of the thesis may be viewed freely on the university's website.

At the beginning of the book there are black and white illustrations including a map of Southern Highlands specifically showing where the language is spoken. The book is appropriately organized for study. Abbreviations used are clearly explained in the beginning and at the end there is an excellent index as well as references. In-text citations clearly lead the readers to other works on the subject.    It is hard cover and sells at  K150 per copy and may be purchased from the University of PNG Bookshop.

The study and description of how words are formed in language is known as morphology. That is largely the main part of this book. Specific topics such as phonology (sound system), grammar, noun, verbs, and verb  structures and phrases, are treated in various chapters of the book.

This work secures further Kewapi language because it adds on to the existing literature (previous studies) that have been conducted on this language. In addition, and my own view, it makes Kewapi a language for development, especially in the modern era. The Kewapi speakers have a broader understanding of their language. They are able to communicate orally and in writing. They identify with local and world events and issues and are able to make informed decisions relating to their local needs. Furthermore, the Kewapi cultural practices are guaranteed continuity.

 What about other languages in the country?

Other languages have been studied and recorded in Language and Linguistic studies and Anthropology however, there  are others that are in danger of disappearing or on the brink of extinction. For example, Makolkol, in East New Britain,  is listed under  Highly Endangered Languages as shown in SIL's webpage. There is also discussion in Wikipedia on  endangered languages in PNG. I am from East New Britain but to date I have not heard anyone speaking the Makolkol language. I hear and read from time to time Baining people talking, singing, and writing.

The preservation of our languages is not only the responsibility of government institutions and other organizations, but all capable individuals and groups in the communities.

Cover page of the Kewapi Language of Papua New Guinea.

References
Yarapea, Apoi. 2013. The Kewapi Language of Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea University Press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_endangered_languages_in_Papua_New_Guinea (23/09/2016)

www-01.sil.org/pacific/png/endangered.asp (23/09/2016)

Enquiry (Tinitir)

 Edited 30/10/2017

Ismael K. Isikel

 Inquiry terms and examples.                                                                
Aumana pakana tinata ure ra tinitir. Itale da watangia bula ba "Aumana mangana tinitir".

Aivia ure ra en?

       
What?          Awa?
Aha?/Asah? (Boawa dialect)
What is that?     Awa nam?
What do you want?    Awa u mainge?
What is the reason?    Awa ra vuna?

When?        Wingaia?
When are you going?     Wingaia una vana?

Where?       Awe?/Akave?/Akava?/Mamawe?
Where is To Limut?     To Limut akave?
Show me where is it.    We taria.
Where are you going?     Una wana uwe?    Also commonly shortened to Uwe?
From where?     Mamawe?
Where is it?     Akave?

Which?        /Duwe?/Dowe?/Guwe?
Which of these two?     Duwe tago dir?

Who?          Toia?/Ia?
Sia? (Boawa dialect)
Toi? (Pronounced toee, is used in other dialects including Kuanua speakers from Matalau and Nodup villages)
Who is that?  Toia nam?
Who is going? Toia na vana?


How?         Dave?/Davatane?
How do we fix  the damage?    Data mal davatane ra wakaina?
How much?     Aivia?
How many?    Aivia?
How are we going to build the house?    Data mal davatane ra pal?
How much for the fish?     Aivia ure ra en?
Why?   Tago? The phrase "tago dave?" is also commonly used to mean Why?

Counting

In Kuanua the word reading is used in two different ways. Firstly, it is used to mean count  (counting items) and secondly, it is used to mean read, as in reading a book or article. The word  for counting is niluluk and for count is luk. Here the main numbers and general counting method is written  for you to count in Kuanua.The letter a is usually added at the begining of most nouns. The number 1 is tikai but is one of those numbers you do not need to add the letter a in the beginning to change tikai into atikai. No, never! 1 is tikai, but 2 is urua to aurua and 3 is utul to autul and so forth. Counting 1 to 10 is tikai (1), aurua (2), autul (3), iwat/aiwat (4), ilima/ ailima (5), laptikai/alapitaka(6), lavurua/aluvurua (7), lavutul/alavutul (8), lavuvat/alavuvat (9), winun/awinun (10). A counting guide is presented below for counting and using higher numerals.

 Counting in Kuanua

10 - 1000

10  winun

20 ura winun

30 utula winun

40  iwat na winun

50 ilima na winun

60 laptikai na winun

70 lavurua na winun

80 lavutul na winun

90 lavuvat na winun

100 mar
200 ura mar
300 utula mar
400 iwat na mar
500 ilima na mar
600 laptikai na mar
700 lavurua na mar
800 lavutul na mar
900 lavuvat na mar

1000 - arip

1 - 10

1 tikai

2 urua

3 utul

4 iwat

5 ilima

6 laptikai

7 lavurua

8 lavutul

9 lavuwat

10 winun

11 - 1000+

11 winun ma tikai

21 ura winun ma tikai

31 utula winun ma tikai

41 iwat na winun ma tikai

51 ilima na winun ma tikai

61 laptikai na winun ma tikai

71 lavurua na winun ma tikai

81 lavutul na winun ma tikai

91 lavuvat na winun ma tikai

101 mar ma tikai

1001 arip ma tikai
2001 aura arip ma tikai
3001 autula arip ma tikai

Shooting Stars and Folklore

Google image (4/8/2016): Shooting Star

Shooting star. (Tulungen na virua)

About a week ago I observed a fast streaking light that only lasted a few seconds travelling south above the sky. The name for shooting star in my language suddenly appeared in my thoughts. In Kuanua (Kabakada dialect) it is "tulungen na virua" and translated to English as "spirit of the dead". The phrase translated word by word to English: tulungen = spirit; na = of the; virua = dead.

Tolai folklore on shooting star varies slightly or differently from one area to another but what is common is that a shooting star is the spririt of the dead travelling to its resting place. The name may also vary according to dialect.

Soon after my observation of the shooting star i posted on it on Facebook and received two comments, from two Tolai Facebook friends. The first from Gideon Kakabin and the second from Doreen Samm Howes and here are their comments.

1. Also known as a gaugau na tup. If a shooting star appeared after a burial, than that person went unto tingana tabaran, our heaven..

2. Few times I heard my parents named a shooting star that disappeared towards Duke of York Islands,the sea ,as a good and brave spirit.A melem.A shooting star that didn't disappear towards the sea was a Kaloata, would drown in the sea. Was a bit confused about shooting stars.

And for the star gazers,  this is the time of the year when we observe more of these 'tulungen na virua' up in the sky.

Possesive Nouns in Kuanua

Edited 12/9/2017 Ismael K. Isikel

Unlike the English possessive nouns, Kuanua has two sets of possessive nouns. One set is used for food items and another set is used for non-food items. In this post plural possessive nouns are indicated with plr and singular are indicated with s. var is used to indicate variation in word which is influenced by dialect. In everyday conversations plural possessive nouns are indicated clearly from two to three persons and more than three persons are referred to as plural in general. Note also that the letter a in the beginning of each word indicates possessive noun of food item. The letter k in the beginning of each word indicates possessive noun of non-food item. Below is a list of possessive nouns of Food Items and Non-Food Items with examples. 

Food Items

adat plr For us. More than three persons
Tubugu ipare ra pa adat. My granny roasted taro for us.

adatal plr For us. For the three of us.
Nam ra en adatal, That fish is ours/for the three of us.

adital plr For the three of them.
Nam ra en adital. That fish is theirs/for the three of them

adir plr For them. For the two of them. var aduru
Iau warwe u ba adir nam ra tup. I told you the sugarcane is theirs/for the two of them.

ador plr For us. For the two of us.
Ador kulau. Ador is used when the owners (two persons) of an item are speaking amongst themselves. 

adiat plr For them. More than three persons

Nam ra en adiat. That fish is theirs.

agu  s Mine

Nam ra en agu. That fish is mine.

am s Yours  var. amu
Nam ra en am. That fish is yours.

amamir  plr For the two of us.
Amamir igir. Amamir is used when speaking to others about an item belonging to self and another.

amamur plr For the two of you
Amamur igir

amamital plr For the three of us
Amamital nian.

amamutal plr For the three of you. var. mutalu
Amamutal ku.

amavet plr  For us. var avevet  More than three persons
Amavet kakika. Only for us.

Non-food Items

kaugu s Mine; For me.
Kaugu robong.

kaum s For you. var. karum, karumu, karimu
Kaum robong.

kamamir plr For the two of us. Used when speaking to others about our possession. 
Kamamir uma.

kamamur plr For you. For the two of you.var. karimui
Kamamur tiniba.

kamavet  plr    For us. More than three persons. var.kawavet, kavevet
Kamavet nam ra pal. That house is ours'

kamamital plr For us. For the three of us.
Kamamital kakika. For the three of us only,

kamamutal plr For you. For the three of you. var. karimui
Nam ra boroi kamamutal. That pig is for the three of you.

kamavat plr For you.
Nam ra papkana pia kamavat. That piece of land is yours.

kana s His,hers/its. var. kaina, karina
Kana uma iwawailik. His/Her garden is far away.

kadir plr Theirs. For the two of them.var. karidi
Kadir uma. Their garden.

kador plr  For the two of us.  Used when speaking to ourselves about our possession.
Kador pal. Our house.

kadiat plr For them. More than three people. Used when speaking of other people's possession
Kadiat nam rapal. That house is theirs.

kadatal plr For the three of us. Used when speaking of our possession
Kadatal nam ra pal. That house is ours.

kadital plr For the three of them. Used when speaking of other people's possession

Kadital nam ra kakailai. That song is theirs.

A Kapono

kapeo  

The word kapeo means single, one, or solo. Example usage: A bul kapeo. An only child.There is a variation to the word and that is kapono.It means only one. Another meaning of kapono is old person, usually old male. Example usage: Ra kapono. The old man. An old female is tubuan. A tubuan. An old woman.

The word kapeo is used by many as name for both males and females. For the female it is Ia Kapeo and for the male it is To Kapeo.

This fellow standing with his bicycle is To Kapeo. He was named after his great grandfather Ruruaur To Kapeo who was one of the last "blackbirds" at Mackay sugarcane farm, Queensland. 

Midi

Midi is one of the Kuanua words that had almost disappeared from the Kuanua vocabulary and was on the brink of extinction. The closest phrase that has some relationship to midi is nuk midimidi or nuk midamida. Nuk midimidi means feast in remembrance and honor of dead relatives.

Midi itself is a necklace made from a type of sea shell. From historical photographs it strongly appears that it is worn by males. Pur is the term that is still in use as the name for the necklace worn by people during ceremonies, including dances. Pur is made from tagete leaves and other natural fibres, while midi is made entirely from one type of sea shell except for the rope that is used to string the shells together. The general name for necklace is kurkurua.

This cultural piece (midi) is just beginning to be revived through study and research for a master’s thesis by Lisa Hilli. While doing her study she communicated with me and Gidoen Kakabin (New Guinea Island Historical Society) regarding her research and in one of her correspondences she wrote:

In a couple of weeks I will be for the first time publicly presenting some outcomes of my Masters research into Tolai Middi, through an exhibition in Brisbane, QLD. A key aim within my research is to repatriate back knowledge to the Tolai community, within PNG and Australia. This is an image of Pearson Vetuna, Tabunatip Clan, wearing the middi that I have made. Making this middi was a very special and profound experience and connected me to my cultural ancestry. I chose Uncle Pearson as he is a respected elder in the Tolai & PNG community here in Melbourne. I have gained A LOT from using this very special and unique group and thought it was time to give something back. Thank you Gideon for establishing this group - see facebook isn't such a bad thing is it? 

Photo by Lisa Hilli showing Pearson wearing a midi, 2015.

Tolai man wearing a midi c,1883
The photo is from R. Parkinson's records  that was recently shared by Gideon Kakabin in New Guinea Islands Historical Society's timeline on Facebook, 2016)

The time difference between these two photographs is from about 1883 to 2015. Fortunately the word midi was recorded by R, Parkinson in the form of a photo of a Tolai man wearing a midi. Over a hundred years later Lisa Hilli studied this cultural piece of jewelry and recreated the midi which is shown in the first photo.

Ornamental Plants

Some ornamental plants used for body decorations (minong ba marmar) in Rabaul during various traditional activities. Tagete is used frequently to make pendants (midal) and pur. The tigil and lomo are also used for other purposes such as in making ku.

Tagete (iki)

Tagete (iki)

Tigil (iki)

Labira (iki)

Lomo (iki)

Tagete (iki)