Wand Tuan wand puate: Yumbo yumbo buagi raqe wund (As tok ...

y a committee of Wand Tuan speakers, and reflect Tok Pisin as used by members of the
Kamasau community. Tok Pisin spellings given in The Jacaranda Dictionary and Grammar
of Melanesian Pidgin were followed as much as possible.
5. Dialect information is included after the entry word when the other dialect differs from the
Segi dialect. “Gh:” stands for the Ghini dialect, spoken in Ibab, Wandomi, and Wobu villages.
“H:” stands for the Hagi dialect, spoken in Kenyari village. “So:” stands for the Soigi dialect,
spoken in Kamasau and Murai villages. The entry words are in the Segi dialect, spoken in
Tring and Wau villages. For example,
suwo n bamboo, type that can be eaten; liklik mambu bilong kaikai
Gh: tuwo; H: huwo; So: singaw [singaw].
When the expression in one of the other three dialects is the same as that used in the Segi
dialect, information for that dialect is not listed separately.
6. Examples are given to demonstrate different areas of meaning. First the Kamasau phrase or
sentence is given in italic type, then the meaning in English using regular type. For example:
Ni ngaim Maikel abo wundig. She rebuked her husband Michael.
7. Idioms and derived expressions are listed in bold type. If there are dialect variants of an idiom,
the variants are labelled by dialect as described in number 5 above, and written in italic type.
For example, under buany, “sugarcane,” is the following entry:
buany tuase: it has a lot of very sweet liquid; waitpela suga
H: buany tuha; So: maqaw
8. “KT” indicates a Key Biblical Term which has been used in translating the New Testament,
and gives the English meaning of the Key Term. These Key Terms are given in all capital
letters, for example,
KT- WAND PUAQ NINDIG: He forgives him.
9. This dictionary includes pictures to illustrate cultural items, to help identify types of birds and
other animals, and to add interest. Augustine Womosa, a Kamasau-language speaker, did most
of the artwork. The label “AW” occurs next to the bird pictures that he drew. Most of the bird
pictures came from Birds of New Guinea by Bruce Beehler, Thane Pratt, and Dale
Zimmerman. Entries illustrated by pictures taken from that book include a notation of a colour
plate number and a bird number on the cited colour plate. For example, the notation (PL39#3)
in the entry wapi ambedurengyi indicates colour plate number 39, bird number 3, the
Lowland Peltops. Scientific names do not appear in the main entries, but, where known, they
are in the "Index to Scientific Names." Some of the bird pictures were touched up, because the
drawing of some of the birds overlapped on the colour plates, and because contrast suffered by
photocopying into black and white. The interested reader should consult the original book.
These birds were not identified by an ornithologist, but by speakers of the language looking at
the pictures in the colour plates. Their identification was confirmed by reading the
descriptions of habits and ranges of the birds. They could not identify some birds with
certainty. These may represent new species that have not yet been classified.