Semantic Primes in Bislama: A fieldwork report

Semantic Primes in Bislama: A fieldwork report Carsten Levisen, Aarhus University

This work is based on fieldwork in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in March, June/July 2014. The 150 sentences are taken from “Semantic fieldwork and lexical universals” (Goddard & Wierzbicka 2014). :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I~ME, YOU MI, YU SOMEONE~WHO, SOMETHING~THING~WHAT, PEOPLE, BODY MAN~HU, SAMTING~WANEM, MAN, BODI Man (someone) and man (people) is a case of motivated homonomy. NB man (someone) combines with the predicate marker i, and man (people) with the predicate marker oli. There is an alternative lexicalization of the latter, which is PIPOL. This word is found in traditional Bislama as well as in Urban Bislama alongside with MAN 1. Who did it? 2. Someone took (ate, broke, etc.) it. I don’t know who. 3. What happened? 4. I did something bad. 5. What is this? 6. This thing is big/small. 7. They are good people. 8. Many people don’t know this. 9. Sometimes bad things happen to (good) people. 1. Hu i mekem? 2. Wan man i tekem (kakae, spoilem etc.). Mi no save (se) hu. 3. Wanem i hapen? 4. Mi mekem wan nogud samting. 5. Wanem ia? 6. Samting ia i bigwan/smol. 7. Olgeta oli ol gudfala man. 8. Plante man oli no save samting ia. 9. Samtaem ol nogud samting i hapen long ol gudfala man.

PARTS, KIND PAT, KAEN 10. The body of a man is not like the body of a woman. 11. The stomach (liver, etc.) is part of the body. 12. This thing (knife, axe, etc.) has two parts. 13. This thing has many small parts. 14. Two kinds of people live here. 15. There are two/many kinds of yam (bat, bird, etc.). 16. [of two kinds of fish, fruit, etc.] This kind of fish is good to eat. This (other) kind is not good to eat. 10. Bodi blong man hemi no semak long woman. 11. Bel (leva) hemi pat blong bodi. 12. Samting ia (naef, akis) i gat tu pat. 13. Samting ia i gat plante smol pat. 14. Tu kaen man oli stap (or: liv) long ples ia. 15. I gat tu/fulap (plante) kaen yam (flaein fokis, bat, pijin). 16. Kaen fis ia hemi gut blong kakae. Narafala kaen ia hemi no gud blong kakae.

THIS, THE SAME, OTHER~ELSE HEMIA, SEMAK, NARAFALA Semak can also be sem or semfala. 17. This is good/bad. 18. This is a big/small basket (knife, bowl, etc.). 19. (I saw) these two people; all these people. 20. I saw the same person (or: the same people) the day after. 21. It happened at the same place/time, not at another place/time. 22. She did/said the same (the same thing). 23. Someone else did it. 17. Hemia hemi gud/nogud. 18. Hemia hemi bigfala/smol basket. 19. Mi luk tufala man ia (olgeta man ia). 20. Mi luk semak man afta long taem we mi bin toktok wetem yu. 21. Hemi hapen long semak ples/taem, i no long narafala ples/taem. 22. Hemi mekem semak samting. 23. Wan narafala man i mekem.

ONE, TWO, SOME, ALL, MANY~MUCH, LITTLE~FEW WAN, TU, SAMFALA, OLGETA, PLANTE~FULAP, HAMAS…NOMO~SMOLSMOL…NOMO Hamas…nomo is a circum-prime (like ne… pas ‘not’ in French). In Urban Bislama, fiu is replacing hamas…nomo. 24. How many children does she have? 25. She has one child (two/many children). 26. How much water is there (in that well, bowl, etc.)? 27. Many (or: not many) people live here. 28. (There were many people there.) After that, one/two (of them) left. 29. Some of these yams (lemons, etc.) are good, some are rotten. 30. In some places there are lots of fish (rabbits, birds, etc.). 31. There is much (a lot of) water here. 32. There is very little water here. 33. Very few people live there now. 34. Many of them went to the east, some of them went to the west. 35. All his sons (daughters, etc.) are now married. 36. The fire burnt everything (e.g. in the house, on the island). 37. (From the top of the mountain) I could see everything (below me). 24. Hamas pikinini hemi gat? 25. Hemi gat wan (tu, plante) pikinini. 26. Hamas wota I gat (long wel ia, long bol ia). 27. (I no gat) plante man oli stap ia. 28. (I bin gat plante man longwe). Afta wan man i bin go (tufala man oli bin go). 29. Samfala long olgeta yam ia (lemon ia) oli gut, samfala oli sting. 30. Long samfala ples i gat plante fis (rabet, pijin). 31. I gat fulap wota long ples ia. 32. I gat smolsmol wota nomo long ples ia. 33. I gat hamas man nomo we oli stap longwe naoia. 34. Plante long olgeta oli go long is, samfala long olgeta oli go long wes. 35. Olgeta pikinini boe (gel) blong hem, oli mared finis. 36. Faea hemi bin bonem evri samting (insaed haos ia, long aelan). 37. (Antap long hil), mi save luk evri samting, we i stap daun.

GOOD, BAD, GUD~GUDFALA, NOGUD 38. Good people don’t do things like this. 39. This was good/bad for me. 40. It is good/bad if someone (or: people) does something like this. 41. I know this person/place well. 42. Some people can do this well, some people can’t. 38. Ol gudfala man oli no mekem samting olsem ia. 39. Hemi gud/nogud blong mi. 40. Hemi gud/nogud sipos man i (ol man oli) mekem samting olsem ia. 41. Mi save gud man/ples ia. 42. Samfala man oli save mekem gud samting ia, samfala man oli no save.

THINK, KNOW, WANT, DON’T WANT TINGTING~TINGBAOT, SAVE, WANTEM, NO WANTEM 43. What are you thinking about? 44. I thought about it for a long time. 45. This person thinks something bad about me. 46. I thought like this: “ — — ” 47. Think well about it first (before you do it). 48. Where is he now? I don’t know. Maybe Mary knows. 49. He knows much (many things) about things like this. 50. I know (or: don’t know) that person. 51. I want (don’t want) you to do it. 52. I want (don’t want) this to happen. 43. Yu stap tingbaot wanem? 44. Mi tingbaot long taem finis. 45. Man ia i bin ting nogud long mi. 46. Mi tingting olsem: ”.......” 47. Yu tingting gud long hem fastaem, (bifo yu mekem). 48. Hemi stap wea nao? Mi no save. Ating Mary i save. 49. Hemi save fulap samting long saed blong ol samting olsem. 50. Mi save (mi no save) man ia. 51. Mi wantem (mi no wantem) yu mekem. 52. Mi wantem (mi no wantem) samting ia i hapen.

FEEL, SEE, HEAR HAREM, LUK, HAREM Harem is the exponent for ‘feel’ in traditional Bislama. In some forms of Urban Bislama filim is used. The two primes harem (feel) and harem (hear) are in a motivated homonomy relationship (see Levisen, forthcoming). 53. I don’t feel well today. 54. I often feel like this. 55. At that time (then), I didn’t feel anything. 56. I saw something (a dog, bird, etc.) there. 57. (After that), I saw something else. 58. She was singing — I heard it. 59. I hear something (over there in the bushes). 60. I couldn’t hear it.

53. Mi no harem gud tudei. 54. Mi harem olsem plante taem. 55. Long taem ia mi no harem wan samting. 56. Mi luk wan samting (wan dog, wan pijin) longwe. 57. Afta long hemia mi luk narafala samting. 58. Hemi stap singsing, mi harem. 59. Mi harem wan samting (longwe long bus ia). 60. Mi no save harem.

SAY, WORDS, TRUE TALEM, TOKTOK (WOD), TRU Toktok is the exponent for ‘words’ in traditional Bislama. In some forms of Urban Bislama wod is replacing toktok. 61. ‘This is good’, I said. 62. What did he say? 63. He said something to her, but she didn’t hear it. 64. If I do this, people can say bad things about me. 65. She said the same thing, but in other (i.e. different) words. 66. In language X, the word for ‘good’ is palya. 67. If you say one more word, … 68. That’s not true. 61. ‘Hemia i gud’, mi talem. 62. Hemi talem wanem? 63. Hemi talem wan samting long hem, be hemi no harem. 64. Sipos mi mekem hemia, ol man oli save talem nogud (long) mi. 65. Hemi talem sem mak samting be long narafala toktok. 66. Long lanwis blong Saot Efate, toktok ia ‘gud’ hemi iwi. 67. Sipos yu talem wan moa toktok …. 68. Hemi no tru.

DO, HAPPEN, MOVE, TOUCH MEKEM, HAPEN, MUV, TAJEM 69. What did you do then (after that)? 70. Those people did something good for me. 71. What do people do with things like this (a spoon, needle, etc.)? 72. People do this with a knife (axe, stick, etc.). 73. Something good/bad happened to this person (to me). 74. Something bad happened in that place. 75. (Look!) Something is moving over there. 76. Don’t move! (e.g. while putting on a bandaid or removing headlice) 77. I was very scared. I couldn’t move. 78. Something was touching my hand. (I could feel it.) 79. Don’t touch it! (It’s hot.) 69. Yu bin mekem wanem long taem ia (afta). 70. Ol man ia oli mekem wan gud samting blong mi. 71. Wanem nao ol man oli mekem wetem ol samting ia. 72. Ol man ia oli mekem samting ia wetem naef (akis, stik). 73. Samting gud/nogud i hapen long man ia (long mi). 74. Samting nogud i hapen long ples ia. 75. (Traem luk!) Wan samting i muv longwe. 76. Yu no muv. 77. Mi fraet tumas. Mi no save muv. 78. Samting i tajem han blong mi. (Mi save filim). 79. Yu no tajem. (Hemi hot.)

THERE IS, BE (SOMEONE’S) I GAT, BLONG (WAN MAN) 80. There is someone in the garden. 81. There is/are no [e.g. water/spiders] here. 82. There are no ghosts (unicorns, etc.). 83. There are many kinds of nuts (yams, bats, etc.). 84. This knife (dog, etc.) is John’s. 85. Whose is it? 86. Don’t touch it. It’s not yours. It’s someone else’s. 80. I gat wan man long garen. 81. I nogat wata/spaeda long ples ia. 82. I not gat rabis spirit (gos, devel). 83. I gat plante defren kaen nat (yam, nakarae). 84. Naef ia hemi blong John. 85. Samting ia blong huia? 86. Yu no tajem. Hemi no blong yu. Hemi blong wan narafala man.

BE (SOMEWHERE), BE (SOMEONE/SOMETHING) STAP (LONG WAN PLES), -I (HEMI WAN MAN/WAN SAMTING) 87. I want to be with my mother (grandfather, father, etc.). 88. This is something big/small. 89. I don’t know what this is. 90. I don’t know who this is. 87. Mi wantem stap wetem mama blong mi (abu blong mi, papa blong mi). 88. Hemi wan smol/bigfala samting. 89. Mi no save se wanem hemia. 90. Mi no save se huia.

LIVE, DIE LIV, DED 91. [In story of olden days] These people lived for a long time. 92. Turtles (horses, whales, etc.) live for a long time. 93. At that time she was living with her mother. 94. Fish live in the sea. 95. All people die. 96. Jesus (Buddha, etc.) died a long time ago. 91. (Long storian long bifo). Ol man ia oli liv long taem. 92. Ol totel oli liv long taem. 93. Long taem ia, hemi liv wetem mama blong hem. 94. Fis oli liv long solwota. 95. Evri man i ded. 96. Jisas hemi ded long taem finis.

TIME~WHEN, NOW, BEFORE, AFTER, A LONG TIME, A SHORT TIME, FOR SOME TIME, IN ONE MOMENT TAEM, NAO, BIFO, AFTA, LONG TAEM, SOT TAEM, SAMTAEM, WANTAEM NOMO 97. When did you do it? I did it when everyone was asleep. 98. I don’t know when it happened. 99. At the same time, something happened to me.

100. Sometimes dogs bark at night, sometimes they don’t (bark). 101. This happened two times (twice) / many times (often). 102. This dog always barks at night. 103. They live in X now. They lived in Y before (this). 104. It happened beforehand/afterwards. 105. John was born before/after Harry. 106. This happened a long time ago. 107. She slept for a long time/for a short time. 108. She thought about it for some time. 109. It happened some time ago (i.e. some time before). 110. He (only) stayed there for a short time, but she stayed there for a long time. 111. It happened in one moment. 97. Long wanem taem yu mekem? Mi mekem taem evriwan i silip. 98. Mi no save wanem taem i bin hapen. 99. Long sem taem ia, samting ia i hapen long mi. 100. Ol dog oli singaot samtaem lo naet, be samtaem oli no singaot. 101. Hemi hapen tu taem / fulap taem / plante taem. 102. Dog ia i singaot oltaem long naet. 103. Oli stap liv long Vila n aoia. Oli liv (stap) bifo long Santo. 104. Hemi hapen bifo/afta. 105. John i bon bifo/afta (long) Harry. 106. Hemia i (bin) hapen long taem finis. 107. Hemi silip long taem / sot taem. 108. Hemi tingbaot hemia blong samtaem. 109. Hemi hapen samtaem bifo. 110. Hemi stap longwe sot taem, be hemi i stap longwe longtaem. 111. Hemi hapen wantaem nomo.

PLACE~WHERE, HERE, NEAR, FAR, ABOVE, BELOW, ON (THIS) SIDE, INSIDE PLES~WEA, (LONG PLES) IA, KLOSAP, LONGWE, ANTAP, ANDANIT, LONG SAED (IA), INSAED 112. Where is he now? 113. It didn’t happen here. It happened somewhere else (in another place). 114. Is it far from here? 115. Was Fred standing (sitting, etc.) near John? 116. The house (camp, etc.) is near the river. 117. It is far above the ground. 118. This thing is above/below this other thing. 119. The head is above other parts of the body. 120. The feet are below other parts of the body. 121. John is now [standing/sitting] on this side (of me). 122. Mary was [standing/sitting] on my right-hand side, Sally was on my left-hand side. 123. They live on the other side of the river (mountain, etc.) 124. There were people standing on both sides of the road. 125. There is an insect inside this [e.g. walnut]. 126. This cave is very big — lots of people could live inside it. 127. There are many small things on the ground in this place. 112. Hemi wea naoia? (or: Wem hem nao ia?). 113. Hemi no hapen long ples ia, i hapen long narafala ples. 114. Hemi longwe long ples ia? 115. Fred nao i bin stap sitdaon/stanap klosap long John? 116. Haos i stap klosap long river. 117. Hemi antap longwe long graon. 118. Samting ia i stap antap/andanit long narafala samting. 119. Hed i stap antap (longwe) long ol narafala pat blong bodi. 120. Leg hemi stap andanit (longwe) long ol narafala pat blong bodi.

121. John i stanap/sitdaon naoia long saed ia blong me. 122. Mari i bin stap stanap long raet han saed blong mi, Sally i stap long lef han saed blong mi. 123. Oli stap long narafala saed long riva (blong hil). 124. I gat ol man (we) oli stanap long tugeta saed blong rod. 125. I gat wan bebet insaed long nangai ia. 126. Kev ia hemi bigwan tumas – plante man oli save liv insaed long hem. 127. I gat fulap smolsmol samting antap long graon long ples ia.

BECAUSE, IF, MAYBE, CAN, NOT FROM, SIPOS, ATING, SAVE, NO Sipos can also be sapos. In Urban Bislama, ating can also be mebi. *This sentence was deemed not acceptable in Bislama, and the current Bislama translation, doesn’t seem clear or meaningful to speakers. The alternative: Mi mas mekem hemia is both clear and acceptable. 128. There was a lot of noise (shouting, etc.). Because of this, I couldn’t sleep. 129. Why are you crying? Because he hit me. 130. If you do this, people can say something bad about you. 131. Maybe he will come tomorrow, maybe he won’t (come tomorrow). 132. I can’t do it now, maybe my brother (friend, etc.) can. 133. I can’t do it now, but I can do it later. 134. I can’t not do this. 135. Bad things can happen to everyone/good people. 136. This thing can move. 128. I gat plante noes. From hemia, mi no save silip. 129. From wanem yu krae? From hemi kilim mi. 130. Sipos yu mekem hemia, ol man oli i save talem nogud yu. 131. Ating bae hemi kam tumoro, ating bae hemi no kam. 132. Mi no save mekem naoia, ating brata blong mi i save. 133. Mi no save mekem naoia, be mi save mekem afta. 134. *Mi no no save mekem hemia. 135. Nogud samting i save hapen long evriwan (long gutfala man). 136. Samting ia i save muv.

VERY, MORE TUMAS, MOA 137. It is very good/bad/big/small. 138. This place [e.g. Gundaroo] is very far from here. 139. I very much want to do this. 140. More! (e.g. a child crying for food) 141. (I don’t know much about it.) I want to know more. 142. I want to see more. 143. She doesn’t live here anymore. 144. I want one more. 137. Hemi gud/nogud/bigwan/smol tumas 138. Ples ia (Havanah Bay) i longwe tumas long ples ia. 139. Mi wantem tumas blong mekem samting ia. (Or: Mi rili wantem mekem hemia). 140. Sam moa! (Or: Wan moa!) 141. Mi no save tumas long hemia. Mi wantem save moa. 142. Mi wantem luk (sam) moa. 143. Hemi no moa stap long ples ia. 144. Mi wantem wan moa.

LIKE OLSEM 145. This person is not like other people. 146. This is like lilac (or: any plant), but it is not lilac. 147. At a time like this; in a place like this. 148. He did it (sang, danced, etc.) like this: … 149. It happened like this: … 150. She sang like this: — — [to demonstrate loudness, pitch, voice quality, etc.] 145. Man ia i no olsem ol narafala man. 146. Hemia i olsem hibiskis, be hemi no hibiskis. 147. Long wan taem olsem ia; long wan ples olsem ia. 148. Hemi mekem olsem ia: (singsing, danis)…. 149. Hemi hapen olsem ia: 150. Hemi singsing olsem ia:

References Goddard, Cliff & Wierzbicka, Anna (2014). Studies in Language 38:1, 80–126.