Kapingamarangi English

n. white and purple flower plant

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

adj. windy

n. white-edged lyretail; yellow-edged lyretail

Scientific name: Aetobatus narinari; Variola louti,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. floor (house)

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. pot

defecate (shit)

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. mahi mahi or common dolphinfish

Scientific name: Coryphaena hippurus

raise

n. mollusk sp.

Scientific name: Atactodea sp.,
Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. rabbitfish species

Scientific name: Siganus sp.,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

tooth brush

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

trumpet shell

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vi. confused, be

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

to gossip about someone

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. lower ridge pole; the very top

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. pray

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. box

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

adj. continuous

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

adj. unceasingly, always

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

which one

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. moorish idol

Scientific name: Zanclus cornutus

bosom/breast

Speaker: Hawortson Heinrich

n. zenith

n. house post

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

school of surgeon fish

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. octopus ink

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. climb

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. whimbrel

Scientific name: Numenius phaeopus,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. spadefish and batfish species

Scientific name: Chaetodipterus sp.,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

v. wash self

tentacles of an octopus

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

disk-like sand particle

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

sand

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. hives

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. cloud

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

noun mud

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

chest

Speaker: Hawortson Heinrich

loincloth; makeshift, to do or tie temporarily

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. cause to sink, accidentally or temporarily

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

first light of the moon or sun

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. level (e.g. ground)

vt. always reluctant

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. add more coconut meat

vt. to add more coconut meat

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

boundary of taro plot

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. to squint

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. get drunk

vt. try to formulate

vt. always keeping someone company

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

mother and daughter relation, a mother and her children

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vi. be quiet

vt. to stagger under a weight or when very sleepy

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

name of coral head in Kapinga lagoon

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

it doesn’t matter which

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

help

vt. memorize

Manta ray

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. outhouse

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

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. lionfish in general; red lionfish

Scientific name: Pterois volitans,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

adj. skinny

an islet of Kapinga Atoll (uninhabited)

Source: Buck 1950, Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

vi. look around

shark’s first dorsal fin

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

near

Bark

n. hair not on the head

n. armpit hair

n. kidney

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. mirror

n. sea green wrasse; dragon wrasse

Scientific name: Novaculichthys macrolepidotus; Novaculichthys taeniourus,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. tree

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

plywood

n. nipple of breasts

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. six-blotch hind

Scientific name: Cephalopholis sexmaculata,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

adj. early (for an appt)

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. starfish

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

Scientific name: Asteroidea sp.,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. open area around the house

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

first

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

phrase a triple hook

an islet of Kapinga Atoll (uninhabited)

Source: Buck 1950, Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

fan

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

To chew or masticate

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

vt. mumble

sit down

n. maternal grandmother

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. gust of wind

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

bang bang

v. to pound

n. a three pronged fishing spear

n. teenage girl

n. teenage boy

n. hungry whine

famine

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,

n. double lined mackerel

Scientific name: Grammatorcynos bilineatus,
Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

Box

bleed

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

tongue

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

youngest sister

Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

wooden pounder for pounding breadfruit

Source: Buck 1950, Speaker: Howartson Heinrich

n. long line for bottom fishing

Source: Lieber & Dikepa 1974,