Blateno, oie vilo pe li-padi me kape le-woi ne to mane.The “blateno” is a wooden pole that is painted and erected in the middle of the village area.
Taluaito ini basa beme, kape i-padi basa ini: ne to ne, koro; ne lava tilu, kape bworo. Awoiu kape i-tabo koro pwo mijaka.The (heathen) priest had a bald head, which he would paint: white in the middle; black on each side; and then, white a bit again underneath.
Po mwaliko malaria i-vagasi, basa i-meli, ebele i-ekilikili, panavono i-ke.When somebody has malaria, they have a headache, they tremble, they sweat. [lit. sweat comes out]
iepiene pe noma[story from the past] traditional story
3 – causal meaningdue to, because of ‹s.th., s.o.›
Li-le pe ngaten' ae?Why did they go? [lit. they went due to what thing?]
Tokoli i-dobuo pe tebo.The bridge is wet due to the rain.
A-rom' ini ai-ovei a-ko ini pe Japan, pe mata ini.You can see straight away that she's Japanese, due to her eyes.
Dapa kula li-wablei piene, ia li-tobo ñe, pe dapa ie mwaliko po awa dapa i-su.funeral ceremoniesSome people may make jokes, as long as they restrain themselves, with respect to the family who are in mourning.
Bcoordinator
1 – causal linkerbecause
Kape jebute i-karau na metae, pe ero tae.Taro can't grow here, because there's no water.
A-kai lusa ene na pe i-kae?Why did you tear my shirt? [lit. because why?, ~kae]
Ebel' ini me, pe a-venei network na.It's a great thing that [lit. because] you set up this network.
sometshorter form of ponu ‘that’, always clause-medial
Buka ono po, tone peini tivi?That notebook of yours, how much did it cost?
Ka mwaliko po i-ko “Wako.”recognitional useThe man said “Alright.”
Tepapa i-dai ka ne mane po, li-vo aero i-dai.clause topicalizer (ponu ⓐ▻⑤)The stomping boards were laid out all around the dancing area; then they erected a fence around them.
U-wai ebele u-ka pon etapu!Don't shake your body like that!
Awis pine peini ngatene pe a-la ponu.Thank you for your efforts. [lit. for those things you did]
2 – that, mentioned by you or in our dialogue. Points to an easily retrievable referent
Pon kaiawo tae, ova revo.That's not smoke, that's steam.
Basavono pon ene mamote apali.At that time [you're talking about], I was still a child.
Okoro 'naka pon i-wene vele?So where's that knife of mine (we're talking about)?
Ponu nganae pine ponu? Pon tadoe? Pon tepakola?What's that giant creature? Is that a god? Is that a giant?
Li-kila temaka pon li-ko “Moe ma Tadoe”.That place is called “Devils' Lair”.
Grammar
3 – hencedefinite determiner, referring either to discourse or to shared knowledge
Ini i-papa men' iap' pon la-ke.She took her baby on her back and out they went.
Emele pon i-mene i-te i-etengi.in narrativeThe girl refused, and then she sat crying.
Mwasu ponu, ini mwaliko pe i-metei dapa ne ini tae.with proper nameThat Mwasu was a person who felt no shame with his relatives.
Grammar
4 – hencenoun-phrase topicalizer
N-atevo iepiene amjaka peini Laperus. Iepiene pon na, ni-lengi tev' et' one.foll. by demonstrative na ① ⓐI'll tell a short story about Lapérouse. This story, I heard it from my mother.
Uña ngatene pon na pe vele?All those things, where do they come from?
Toñaki ie Laperus ponu, ae, tepakare. Lovia tilu, ne?Lapérouse's ship, you know, it was a catamaran. With two sections, you see?
Voko iote pon li-re ne elene Lege ponu.There was once a large stone down there, in the clearing known as Lengge.
Dero ponu, vilo pe emele i-ve.mythThe kauri is a tree that was first born out of a woman.
Discourse
5 – clause topicalizer: marks a clause as backgrounded, before introducing a foregrounded main clause; hence ‘since X…, Y’, or ‘as X…, Y’, or ‘X…, then Y’
Ka i-mamei ponu ka i-maliawo ka i-wene teve.As she was feeling cold, she lit a fire and lied down beside it.
Ka vitoko pe la-koie ponu la-lengi dapa.As they were about to land, they heard some voices.
Voko i-te ponu ra ka i-vagasi nanana.The stone has been there until this day.
Li-ae kie tepapa i-dadai awoiu pon, li-iu tepapa ene.They dug holes for the dancing boards all around (the village area), and then they buried the boards in them.
Li-vesu iuro; awoiu pon li-avi otovo. Li-kamai li-wete; li-wete awoiu pon li-ejau telemoe. I-su awoiu ponu ponu, i-vete “Wako”.tail-head linkageThey erected the post; after that, they went to pick sago leaves. Brought them, began sewing them; once they had sewn them, they made the roof. Once it was over, he said “Alright!”
Bcoordinator
Discourse
then, so
Pon i-la visone iape i-ka i-ngago.So he took his bow, and strung it.
Pon bavede i-vio pon ka la-ka.And so they sailed, heading this way.
1 – Mt Popokia, the second highest mountain of Banie island (after Mt Banie), with 776m
Basa iupa re po i-wen’ iu re, enga ini Popokia.That mountain of ours up over there is called Popokia.
Ka Popokia ponu, li-ko kulumoe tilu. Ka toplau pe i-wene ene toplau tilu.myth of Mt PopokiaThey say that Mt Popokia has two villages. And that there are two ritual houses there.
AnthropologyThe mythology locates on Mt Popokia the abode of the dead.
event, timeflow and droppass, go by for a while; run till the end, finish
I-leng' i-ko mobo ngapiene kape ka i-pu i-sali.She heard that the next morning, the festival would finish.
Idi pe li-te ne toplau pe i-wene i-wene, ebieve kape i-pu i-sali.Some (boys) live in the Men's house for a lo—ng time, sometimes for years. [lit. years will run by]
~pu2(i·)pu
Averb, intransitive
burst, blow up, explode
Bomb i-pu ne kulumoe.A bomb exploded in the city.
Bverb, transitive
watersplash, spatter ‹s.o., s.th.›
Revo i-pu viabasa ene.The sea has spattered my hair.
2 – hencebetel leaves, picked (~kidi) in numbers, and chewed (~kanu) in combination with Areca nuts (buioe) and lime (awo)
Lai-au jebute, la-kidi puluko ada, lai-ali buioe ada, la-kamai ponu.They went to harvest some taros, pinch off some betel leaves, pick some areca nuts, and came back.
Puro, li-bo vilo korone, li-ejau i-vio ne viapwene.To make an arrow, you sharpen a piece of strong wood, and insert it into a reed shaft.
Tabuluburi, tonge iote pine pe li-loko puro i-koie ene.A quiver is a long basket were you can insert your arrows.
TechnA puro arrow consisted of three parts: a reed shaft (viapwene); an arrowhead (agilo) made of hard wood (vilokorone); and a symbolic tip made of human bone (dieidi).
Dapa iakapa noma li-ovei pe li-pwalau: li-katau kanimoro li-le ne basakulumoe kula.Our ancestors used to practice navigation: they would follow the stars, and reach new islands.
Ngiro Palapu i-ka ka li-aiu li-ke li-pwalau i-le iura.As soon as the northern wind began to blow, they left [Vanikoro] and set off to sail southwards.
Li-te ne pwama iaero re ka li-ko me kape li-apilo toñaki.They stayed on the river bank, with the plan to build a ship.
pwama olenoun
shore of sandbeach
ne pwama oleon the beach
Monone po ene ni-vete, ene tawora ne, ne utele vewo pine pe i-vio ne, pwama ole ponu.That chest I was talking about was located down there, by the large chestnut tree standing over there, on the beach.
pwa tokolipʷatokolinoun
Architecture
empty space under the raised floor platform (tokoli) of a stilt house
