Documentation and Morphosyntactic Analysis of Bebeli, an Austronesian Language of Papua New Guinea

FAIN: FN-249650-16

Hiroko Sato
University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI 96822-2216)

Fieldwork and research for a dictionary, grammar, and scholarly articles on Bebeli, an endangered language of Papua New Guinea.

The purpose of this project is to do research on Bebeli, an endangered Austronesian language spoken in the West New Britain region of Papua New Guinea. Bebeli has been replaced by Tok Pisin, the region's lingua franca. Although there are perhaps 780 speakers with some knowledge of the language, only four elderly individuals are fully competent speakers. Younger generations do not learn Bebeli anymore, and very little information about the language currently exists. The main goals are 1) to elicit and build a corpus of culturally significant Bebeli texts in various genres such as myths, historical stories, legends, and children’s stories, 2) to expand a trilingual dictionary of the language (with English and Tok Pisin) and create a comprehensive grammar, and 3) to research and publish papers comparing morphosyntactic aspects of Bebeli and related languages (Avau, Akolet, and Lesin-Gelimi), which are significant for comparative and historical linguistics. All materials will be stored at Kaipuleohone, the University of Hawai’i Digital Ethnographic Archive, for permanent archiving. (Edited by staff)
 

Associated Products

An unusual marital distinction marker in Akolet (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: An unusual marital distinction marker in Akolet
Abstract: Akolet (Austronesian, Papua New Guinea) has personal pronouns and noun markers that distinguish gender and marital status, e.g., ‘unmarried 3sg masculine’ versus ‘married 3sg masculine’. While singular pronouns mark both gender and marital status, plural pronouns mark gender only for married people. Given that the choice of pronouns and noun markers depends on social status and societal role, these pronouns and noun markers denote how a person contributes to the life of a community, rather than simply indicating marital status. This analysis suggests that some aspects of linguistic structure cannot be understood outside the cultural context of language use.
Author: Hiroko Sato
Date: 11/29/2016
Location: University of Hawaii at Manoa
Primary URL: http://ling.hawaii.edu/tuesday-seminar-series/tuesday-seminar-series-fall-2016-archive/#nov29sato
Primary URL Description: This is a weekly seminar series held by the linguistic department at University of Hawaii.

Gender and marital status distinctions in pronouns and articles in Akolet (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Gender and marital status distinctions in pronouns and articles in Akolet
Author: Hiroko Sato
Abstract: Akolet (Austronesian, Papua New Guinea) has personal pronouns and articles that distinguish gender and marital status, e.g., ‘unmarried 3sg masculine’ versus ‘married 3sg masculine’. While singular pronouns mark both gender and marital status, plural pronouns mark gender only for married people. Given that the choice of pronoun depends on social status and societal role, these pronouns and articles denote how a person contributes to the life of a community, rather than simply indicating marital status. This analysis suggests that some aspects of linguistic structure cannot be understood outside the cultural context of language use.
Date: 1/7/2017
Primary URL: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/abstract/gender-and-marital-status-distinctions-pronouns-and-articles-akolet
Primary URL Description: This is the Ninety-First Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Austin, Texas, U.S.A
Conference Name: the Ninety-First Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America

Hiroko Sato Collection - Bebeli Documentation (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Hiroko Sato Collection - Bebeli Documentation
Author: Hiroko Sato
Abstract: Raw data collected during my fieldwork consists of (1) audio-recordings, (2) video-recordings, (3) written notes, and (4) photographs. The data include narratives (myths, historical stories, legends, children’s stories), public events (ceremonies, rituals), and conversations (daily matters, politics). It is archived at Kaipuleohone, the University of Hawai‘i Digital Ethnographic Archive, for permanent archiving. In accordance with Kaipuleohone requirements, I collected OLAC compliant metadata for every item. This includes folder number, title, speakers, language name, time and location of recording, linguistic type, description, and genre keyword.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/34526
Primary URL Description: This is a collection of Bebeli language, an Austronesian language spoken in Papua New Guinea. The corpus includes audio and video recordings, photographs, and written materials.

Bebeli (Catalog)
Title: Bebeli
Author: Hiroko Sato
Abstract: The endangered languages project is a language catalog, which is a resource on information, resources, and research concerning the world's endangered languages.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/9809
Primary URL Description: This is the summary of language metadata of Bebeli.
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: Endangered Languages Project

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