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.