<<: Mon, 13 May 1996 10:03:14 -0800
>To: scowan who-is-at uclink2.Berkeley.EDU
>From: david_meyer who-is-at ncsu.edu (David Meyer)
7m--More--m
>Subject: nit picking academic details
>
Hey, my brother -in-law sent the message below. Please send any leads you
have to him - or just reply to me and I'll forward your info to him. Also,
please forward this query to anyone appropriate -- native speakers from
Papua New Guinea???
>Hi Scott,
>
>You're at the hub of the intellectual universe. Can you tell me more about
>the word "mokita"? It comes from a Papua New Guinea word (one word from one
>of thousands of languages) and I think the rough translation is "things
>that we all know but choose not to speak about". Could you ask one of those
>famous linguists, experts at New Guinea languages, if this work does, in
>fact, actually exists and if my definition is correct?
>
>I want to use this word in my dissertation (maybe in the title) but, well,
>you know how it is: I suppose to use ACCURATE language. Humph. Isn't
>meaning what we assign to the word?
>
>Thanks,
>
>David>>