Ama, Ambonese

[Ross Clark (FOA LING)]

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Rader
To:  AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
Sent: 12/01/2002 2:23 AM
Subject: Ama, Ambonese

>I hope that AN-LANGers can help me with a couple more
>problems. My apologies, by the way, if I have been remiss in
>individually thanking respondents in the past.  I have been under
>heavy deadline pressure of late and many things slip under the rug.

>First:  is the word <ama> designating the outer float or hull of an
>outrigger canoe used in any Polynesian language other than
>Hawaiian?  I have no way of checking this easily.


/ama/ 'outrigger float' occurs in virtually all Polynesian languages, even
in Maori (though outriggers were not common in Aotearoa). The two exceptions
are Tongan and Niuean, which retain the original initial consonant (/hama/).


Ross Clark