Nukuoro English

atoll.

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 349

verb stay up all night (sing.)

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

love; compassion; affection

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun sole (of foot)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 10

pronoun our (dual, exclusive; for plural, alienable noun)

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun generation, age set

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 6

noun fish sp.

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 20

noun husband

noun banana tree fibers (for making cloth)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 28

humai

noun sibling (mostly children’s talk)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 33

verb say

Speaker: Mina Lekka

custom, habit

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun sisters

noun farmer

Speaker: Kurt Erwin

that one (over there)

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun the cooking house

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

that

half of a clam shell

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 71

impossible

coconut with a shell of a size appropriate for use as a cooking vessel

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 76

early evening, late in the afternoon.

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 78

verb eat (intransitive)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

a method of pole fishing at night (on the seaward reef)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 79

reef heron - white phase

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p.87

verb undress

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb bark (dog)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun hat

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun hat

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun ankle

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun louse

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun measurement

Source: Johnny Rudolph

verb born, be

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun an elevated platform (e.g. for placing Samouli deity, or for sitting, sleeping, etc.)

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

the name of a ghost in Nukuoro legend.

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 102

verb put weight on, make unhappy

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 123

verb return

Speaker: Mina Lekka

fortunate result

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 119

verb proscrastinate (about work); refuse to participate in work

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 214

verb exchange, trade

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

ebbing of tide

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 139

adjective stubborn, willful

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 228

noun baseball

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun hive (house for animals)

noun store

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb go

Speaker: Mina Lekka

to transfigure oneself

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 232

secret friend of the opposite sex

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 233

noun the sound of tapping

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 235

noun female; woman

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

canoe house

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 242

verb (transitive and intransitive) turn (something in a direction)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

a habitual thief

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 247

the submerging of flying fish below the surface of the water (making them difficult to net)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 250

verb decreasing

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 98

noun dry wood

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

noun day after tomorrow

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun drought

verb stretch; raise one’s eyebrows

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 262

type of prepared food made from breadfruit

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 265

noun testicles

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

verb open (intransitive, pl.)

Example: Denga abaaba gu maahuge. (The doors are open.)

verb be unfastened; be untied; bloomed

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective old (persons), mature, full-grown; parent, elder (senior relative)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

die in agony (owing to having led a bad life)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 279

open

adjective to feel the nibbling of fish on a fishing line

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 284

adjective breathing

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective scared; afraid

Source: Mina Lekka

noun insect

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

adjective broken up (into many pieces or groupings)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 288

noun non-living thing

adjective high

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun mosquito

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 302

coagulation of blood

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 306

verb break, break up, destroy, damage, ruin

Speaker: Mina Lekka

sea cucumber

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 315

noun pipe

fornicate, have sexual intercourse

Speaker: Mina Lekka

mollusk, Spondylus

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 322

verb having white hair

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb to wave back and forth (as a coconut tree in the wind)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

number nine

Speaker: Mina Lekka

a young breadfruit tree

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 330

orphaned

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb drip (liquid)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

grated raw taro which has dried out

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 334

verb wash hair

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun Monday (’first day’)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 72

noun maternal aunt

stupid ass!

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 73

noun spear

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun mother-in-law

noun coconut seed

Example: Photo by Emily Drummond, 06/16/15

elbow

Speaker: Maynard Henry

verb enter

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb like (someone or something), feel affection for

Speaker: Mina Lekka

intensifier too; overly

verb give greetings

Speaker: Mina Lekka

apprehensive, nervous, anxious (in social contexts)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 348