Saturday, November 5, 2011

Tuesday, November 1


Yesterday, I spent some time walking around Marulaon and trying to carry on some limited conversations in Lavukaleve.  I asked Kiko and her sister Daisy to help me by giving me a word - any word!  They really struggled with choosing a word, so I finally gave them some suggestions like vivisa (flower) or the verb root -lai- (paddle).  Kind of defeats the purpose for me to choose the words, but at least I got a word I knew!  They helped me construct short sentences, making sure each word agreed.  We were all mentally fatigued by the time we finished!


I passed Naris making a broom from a coconut leaves.  I asked if I could video her while I talked to her.  I can't post the video from Marulaon, but here's how our conversation went:

J:  "Naris, man avolori ngome?"  (Naris, what are you making?)
N:  "Birum avolorine." (Making a broom)
   "Fofoira rugi."  (Big work)
and after a pause...
N:  "Ngai lakun!"  (I don't want to do it!)

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