Limol #12

Today, I am celebrating the new moon! In Ende, the phrase new moon (kok sisor) is used on the first day that a sliver of the moon is visible. When the moon is gone, it is called dead moon (kok kuddäll). Sometimes people greet the new moon by tapping their mouths with their hand and yelling out, which reminds me of my sweet baby Sisi. 

My run today went well this morning. I walked the whole third kilometer because I was trying to figure out a phonology problem in my head. I have a few concurrent analyses about how some verbs have "moving" sounds. In one instance, the verb is tänd and in the next it's ntäd. The "n" moves from the middle to the beginning or vice versa. Anyway, I was worried because an alternative analysis that came to me in my dream last night seemed to negate my current analysis, but on the run I found the example that killed it so I could put it to rest!

As I was walking back through the village home, I passed old man Giniya's house who beckoned me over and whispered that he had to show me something. I was prepared for anything but what he led me to. A huge, mammoth caterpillar (molegmoleg)!! It was at least six inches long and maybe about an inch around with enormous spikey legs and a collasal head and mouth! I was assured that it wouldn't eat me, just the leaves it was pleasantly chewing. I can only imagine what the butterfly (apapi) will look like! I ran to get Lauren and Grace to share in the morning entertainment.

I spent the rest of the day productively organizing verb data. I selected 100 verbs from the corpus to elicit next week. I took my laptop to Giniya's house just to sit and work and hear some Ende, but I was quickly given an audience so I made my way through the GramBank questionnaire and learned a lot about Ende grammar and structure. Giniya had us all over for dinner, banana cake (up sana) and pineapple (panya). After dinner we had a thunder and lightning show and now I'm lying down in my bug sanctuary, perspiring from the heat but unable to be outside with the mosquitos. All in all a lovely day. I hope tomorrow is similar. 

Until next time,
Kate

Comments

  1. ElizabethNovember 27, 2017 at 9:12 AM

    Were you able to find a Bible in Tok Pisin for Giniya?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kate Lynn LindseyNovember 27, 2017 at 10:56 AM

      He actually wanted one in Motu, and thanks for reminding me. Still working on that... :)

      Delete

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