Problem:IOL/2008/i3/en

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IOL 2008 Problem #3 Drehu and Cemuhî

The following are words and compounds in two languages of New Caledonia - Drehu and Cemuhî - and their English translations given out of order:

Drehu
English
drai-hmitrötr, gaa-hmitrötr, i-drai, i-jun, i-wahnawa, jun, ngöne-gejë, ngöne-uma, nyine-thin, uma-hmitrötr sanctuary, bunch of bananas, calendar, bone, church, coast, awl, Sunday, skeleton, wall
Cemuhî
English
a-pulut, ba-bwén, ba-jié, bé-ôdu, bé-tii, bé-wöli, bé-wöli-wöta, tii, wöta bed, animal, fork, cup, pencil, coast, to write, twilight, spur

And here are several words translated from Drehu into Cemuhî:

Drehu gaa ngöne-gejë nyine thin
Cemuhî a ba-jié wöli

(a) Determine the correct correspondences.

(b) What do you think the words wahnawa and drai mean in Drehu, and wöli and pulut in Cemuhî?

(c) In Drehu tusi is book and bii is bee. Translate from Drehu: i-bii, tusi-hmitrötr.

⚠ Drehu is spoken by over 10 000 people on Lifu Island to the east of New Caledonia. Cemuhî is spoken by approx. 2000 people on the east coast of New Caledonia. Both languages belong to the Austronesian family. In Drehu ëa in aspen, ö = French eu or German ö, hm and hn are specific unvoiced consonants; dr and trd and t in word and art, uttered with the tip of the tongue turned back; j and th = English th in this and thin respectively; ng = ng in hang; nyni in onion. A sanctuary is the principal, most sacred part of a church.

—Ksenia Gilyarova