Kapingamarangi English

adj. brilliant (used only with the color red)

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

earing

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

blood clot

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. father

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

father-in-law

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. floor (house)

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

maternal grandfather

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

defecate (shit)

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

fish species

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

raise

adj. dumb

n. rabbitfish

Example: Photo by Jan Messersmith November 29, 2006 via Flickr License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Scientific name: Siganus puellus,
Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vi. sorcerize

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

Goodbye

ai. broad space

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

a coconut whose meat is dry without having been opened

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. pray

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. shark sucker

Example: Photo by NOAA Photo Library September 12, 2013 via Flickr License: CC BY 2.0

Scientific name: Echeneis naucrates,
Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. teacher

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. sorcerer

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. box

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

adj. always late

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

adj. unable to stand (e.g. in high tide)

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

adj. unceasingly, always

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

adj. to grow poorly, unable to grow

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. scissors

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. wind around

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. moorish idol

Scientific name: Zanclus cornutus

phrase What’s your name?

sweep

poorly balanced

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. dragonfly

Example: Photo by Klaus Stiefel January 5, 2008 via Flickr License: CC BY-NC 2.0

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. ladder

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

thin cloth

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

soft meat of green cocount

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vi. bathe

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

wash hair

type of turtle

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

noun sand

Example: Photo by Matt Kiefer October 6, 2006 via Flickr License: CC BY-SA 2.0

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974, Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

phrase we eat together for dinner

place having many depressions (e.g., corrugated surface)

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. playground

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. grass

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

school of red snapper

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

noun mud

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

to feel about in the dark, to grope

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

adj. multi-colored

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

snore

loincloth; makeshift, to do or tie temporarily

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. level (e.g. ground)

vt. make up your minds

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. use sparingly

vt. amaze

vt. try to make (something) stand up

vt. to try to formulate (e.g., an idea or plan)

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. to sear (e.g., meat)

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. lengthen

Wag (a tail)

find

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. outhouse

Example: Photo by Joel Abroad September 29, 2007 via Flickr License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. foreign lands; the earth; the world

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. fish fin

n. blacktip reef shark

Scientific name: Carcharhinus melanopterus,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. hair not on the head

n. beard hair

n. armpit hair

both

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. sponge

n. thorn branch

escape

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

Musky smell of sex

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

name of coral head in Kapinga lagoon

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. club used for beating fish

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. six-blotch hind

Scientific name: Cephalopholis sexmaculata,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. starfish

Example: Photo by NOAA Photo Library September 24, 2010 via Flickr License: CC BY 2.0

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

have fever

Speaker: Hawortson Heinrich

n. hurricane lantern

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

kind

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

going any direction

n. frying pan

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

eat

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

have breakfast

n. tin roofing

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. zero

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

v. mutter

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. a knot that unties when pulled

sit down

noise of multiple claps

n a fruit salad made of breadfruit and soursop, mixed with sugar or coconut juice, eaten raw not cooked

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

an islet of Kapinga Atoll (uninhabited)

Source: Buck 1950, Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

second coconut stage; small green coconut

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

v. to pound

n. a three pronged fishing spear

n. slipper lobster species

Scientific name: Scyllaridae sp.

name of coral head in Kapinga lagoon

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. place name: heavily populated central islet

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

sister

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

wooden pounder for pounding breadfruit

Source: Buck 1950, Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. post supporting a house

noun bark

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich