Language Variation and Social Identity in Kanjimei, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide for the documentation of endangered languages and knowledge. Grantees create audiovisual collections with transcription and translations of endangered languages and practices. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR).
Awiakay is an undescribed Papuan language, belonging to the small Arafundi group, spoken by about 300 people living in Kanjimei village in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. This project aims at documenting speech varieties (definable registers) in Awiakay and their relation to the overall social scene. This includes recording lexical substitution registers such as 'mountain talk' and 'hidden talk', language of disputes and fighting, language used in Catholic charismatic activities, dirges and all-night dance/song cycles, together with traditional knowledge necessary for understanding their use. Documentation of all speech varieties will be accompanied with observational ethnographic films.
Primary investigator: Darja Hoenigman
Project Details
Location: Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, Oceania
Organiser(s):
Endangered Languages Documentation Programme
Project partner(s): Australian National University
Funder(s):
Arcadia
Funding received: £21,491.00
Commencement Date: 01/2007
Project Status: Completed
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