Re: Palawa Kani
| From: | Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, September 8, 2003, 6:38 |
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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.
[...]
> 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~~~~~~
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