[An-lang] Song in Halia

[Christoph Holz]

Dear all,



Do you know anyone who is familiar with Halia or related languages of
northern Bougainville? While doing fieldwork on Tiang in New Ireland, I
recorded a song that might be in Halia. The consultant did not speak Halia
himself and does not remember the meaning of the song (so his version might
be a little off from the actual language), but his parents were from the
Carteret Islands in Bougainville. This is a transcription of the song in
IPA:



a ja (ɾ)u ʨi na

a ja (ɾ)u ta ma

se ja tu i a ləw ma

se to ɾɛ mə ɣə tu a twɨ



The first two lines probably mean ‘ouch, (our?) mother’ and ‘ouch, (our?)
father’. The song is part of a story about a woman made of paint, who dies
during a boat trip because she touches the sea and loses her colour (this
is how the sea became blue). I would be happy for any ideas about what the
third and fourth line could mean.



Best wishes,

Chris

-- 
*Christoph Holz* | PhD Candidate
School of Education and the Arts
CQUniversity Australia | Cairns, QLD 4870
https://www.cqu.edu.au/research/current-research/profiles/profiles/sea/christoph-holz
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/an-lang/attachments/20210929/81fc2181/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
An-lang mailing list
An-lang at anu.edu.au
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/an-lang