Re: Palawa Kani

Isaac Penzev wrote:

>David Barrow wrote:
>
>
>
>>Roger Mills wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>The word _palawa_ struck me, ASSUMING it means 'language'-- looks and could
>>>sound a lot like old US slang _palaver_ 'talk, discuss; confer etc.', <
>>>Span. palabra.  But it could just be coincidental, as I doubt "palaver" ever
>>>made its way into Brit. slang/ S.Pacific pidgin English.
>>>
>>>
>>Palaver is heard in British English.
>>
>>
>[...]
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>>And it could quite easily have reached the South Pacific with sailors
>>from Britain and other countries  who went that way.
>>
>>
>
>Hmm. I don't know if the language is NA or AN typologically, so I used to assume
>that the word for 'talk', 'language' is _kani_. But you may be right. Strange
>coincidences may happen! E.g. Japanese _yama_ means 'mountain', while in Russian
>it means 'pit', 'hole'.
>
>~~~~~~Yitzik~~~~~~
>
I myself have no idea of the typology of the language either. I was just
making a comment on what Roger had said about the the word 'palaver' and
the possibility of it reaching the South Pacific.  Does anyone here know
of 'palaver' or 'palavra' entering the lexicon of any of the languages
in the area?

David Barrow