verbs of carrying

[John Lynch]

Debbie

Ross Clark, in **Leo tuai: a comparative lexical study of North and Central
Vanuatu languages*, reconstructs Proto-North-Central Vanuatu *su?u-ni (? =
glottal stop) with the meaning 'carry or wear in the head'. Quite a few
reflexes refer to wearing a hat/putting some sort of covering on the head,
or as nouns meaning 'umbrella', but two are a bit closer to the 'carry on
the head' meaning you refer to:
  Namakir *hi?in* 'wear', *hin-ek* 'carry on head'
  Nguna *suu=suu* 'get dressed', *suu-ni* 'carry on head; put on, wear (on
upper body)'

In my *The linguistic history of Southern Vanuatu* I reconstructed
Proto-Southern Vanuatu *(a)-se(n,ŋ)a-i
'cover, wear on head', with reflexes like Kwamera *seŋi* 'cover, put over,
shelter under, wear a hat' and Anejom *aθŋa-ñ* 'put on head as protection'.

Blust and Trussel in the *Auistronesian comparative dictionary* (
http://www.trussel2.com/acd/acd-s_s1.htm#su) have reconstructed
Proto-Austronesian *suquN 'carry on the head', with quite a few reflexes in
Western Malayo-Polynesian, though none are given (yet) from Oceanic.

It seems likely that Longgu *sungi* derives from this: possible tjhe
adjacency of the glottal stop and the *n* may have given rise to the velar
nasal.

Hope this helps,

John




On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 10:21 AM, Deborah.Hill <Deborah.Hill at canberra.edu.au>
wrote:

>  I’m working on verbs of carrying in Longgu (Oceanic) and I wondered if
> anyone had any data on ‘carry’ verbs in other Austronesian languages (and
> especially Western Austronesian languages).
>
>
>
> The two things that I’m most interested in are:
>
>
>
> 1.       Is there a verb for ‘carry on the head’ (and if so, what is it)?
>
> 2.       Are there modes of carrying that are (semantically)
> gender-based?  (i.e. women carry things in one way, men in another).
>
>
>
> The verb for ‘carry something on the head’ in Longgu is SUNGI.
>
>
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
>
>
> Debbie
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Dr Deborah Hill Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts and Design. Teaching
> and Learning Fellow, Teaching and Learning Centre. University of Canberra
> ACT 2601*
>
>
> *Tel (02) 6201-2626 Fax (02) 6201-2649 Website:
> www.canberra.edu.au/faculties/arts-design/tesol--foreign-language-teaching
> <http://www.canberra.edu.au/faculties/arts-design/tesol--foreign-language-teaching>*
>
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-- 
John Lynch, FAHA
Emeritus Professor of Pacific Languages, and Editor "Oceanic Linguistics"
University of the South Pacific
PMB 9072
Port Vila.  VANUATU
Phone: (+678) 25036    Mobile: (+678) 5920220    Fax: (+678) 22633
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