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Advantages of using parallel texts in

describing the languages of PapuaNew Guinea

Masahiko NOSE

Shiga University

Japan12th International Language, Literature and Stylistics Symposium,

Oct. 18-20, Turkey

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This study concerns:

Contrastive linguistics and

Typology

Describing the languages of

Papua New Guinea: Amele, Bel, and Tok Pisin

By Using Parallel texts

Grammatical differences (syntax, morphology)

Contrastive word-formations (verbal/nominal)

Lexical semantics (borrowings, loanwords)

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Contrastive Study and typology

Contrasting from 2 languages to 100 or more

Clarifying grammatical/lexical differences

Contributing to Second language acquisition Haspelmath (1997), Knig & Gast (2009)

By using Parallel texts

Linguistic purpose > Creating Contrastive Corpus Educational and pedagogical purpose

Granger & Petch-Tyson (2003), Granger (2003), Johansson

(2003)

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Languages of New Guinea: my research

Amele: Trans New Guinea

Bel: Austronesian

Tok Pisin: English-based Creole

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Advantages of Parallel texts

Easy to contrast grammars

Counting frequency

Helpful for Second languagelearning (Knig & Gast 2009)

Which kinds of Parallel texts?

1. World Literature(Folk tales, Harry Potter, etc.)

2. Bible, the Old and New Testament

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1: World Literature

Folk tales: Snow White, Little Red-Cap, etc.

Translated in many languages (more than 100)

Limited availability of printed books

Contemporary Literature: Harry Potter, Le

Petit Prince, the Alchemist, etc.

Translated in many languages (71 languages of the

Alchemist, 67 languages of Harry Potter)

Stolz (2007) discusses the quality of translations

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The Alchemist collection

There is no

translation of the

languages of

Papua New

Guinea and many

minor languages

Language skillsare necessary!

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2: New Testament and Bible

Bible is translated in at least 450 languages,

partly translated in over 2000 languages.

SIL is translating New Testament in the

languages of Papua New Guinea and other

minor languages.

Bible translations are available on the Net.

Haspelmath (1997) points out the texts are old-

fashioned, and therefore, might not reflect the latest

naturally occurring language characteristics

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The New Testament collection

New Testament(Bal

Cehec je Haun) of

Amele (1997)

Nupela Testamen of

Tok Pisin (1969)

New Testament ofEnglish-Japanese

bilingual book(1992)

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Advantages and problems

Availability of

translations

Quality of

texts

The languages

of Papua New

Guinea

WorldLiterature

Good, but only

printed books

Depending on

the translators No

New

Testament

Good,

available on

the Net(corpus)

Texts are old

fashioned, but

easy tocontrast

Yes

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PNG: Show White Project

Amele (Trans-New Guinea,around 5000 speakers)

Only the translation of

the New Testament Some mistakes and not

interesting (Mosel 2009)

We (informants and I) started translatingSnow White in Amele (2012-)

For my linguistic analysis

For Amele community

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Translating Snow White in Amele

Sain osona, queen ja acbahic oso bi-ro-ri. Time one, queen

beautiful one be-habitual-3s.remote past

Win sain osona, uqanwindow-na bili-mecetec samah dodon, Winter time one, her

window-postpositionsit-down-incorporationthing some sewing

Once upon a time,

long long ago, there

lived a beautiful

queen, and onewinter, she sat sewing

at her window.

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Observations: an exciting work!

In translations, The work was hard,

and the quality is notenough yet.

Grammatically,

I have already foundseveral new features

(usages of narrativeand demonstratives).

More grammaticalanalysis is needed

Socio-linguistically, Borrowings from Tok

Pisin, and helping

Amele education

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Conclusion

The parallel texts can be utilized in cross-

linguistic studies and other purposes

The new Amele texts are translated withinformants, and they can be comparable

with other languages

Amele is borrowing many words from Tok Pisin,

and this translation task is helpful for more

detailed research

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Thank you for your attention

Acknowledgments:

CASIO Science Promotion

Foundation, 2011-2012

Grant-in-aid for Young Scientists

(B), Japan Society for Promotion ofScience, 2011-2013

Contact:

nousemasa@facebook.com

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References

Granger, S, J. Lerot, and S. Petch-Tyson (Eds.). (2003). Corpus-based approaches to

contrastive linguistics and translation studies. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.

Granger, S. (2003). The corpus approach: A common way forward for contrastive linguistics

and translation studies. Granger et al. (Eds.). (pp. 17-30).

Haspelmath, M. (1997). From space to time: Temporal adverbials in the world languages.

Mnchen: Lincom Europa.

Johansson, S. (2003). Contrastive linguistics and corpora. Granger et al. (Eds.). (pp.31-44).

Knig, E., and V. Gast. (2009). Understanding English-German Contrasts. Berlin: Erich Schmidt

Verlag.

Mihalic, F. (1971). The Jacaranda dictionary and grammar of Melanesian Pidgin. Brisbane/

Hong Kong: The Jacaranda Press.

Mosel, U. (2009). Collecting data for grammar of previously unresearched languages. Ms.

Roberts, J. R. (1987). Amele. London: Croom Helm.

Stolz, Th. (2007). Harry Potter meets Le petit prince: On the usefulness of parallel corpora in

crosslinguistic investigations. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 60, 100-117.