Night-time conversations 03 Y15_Canon_0273 Audio-visual documentation of Meakambut ways of speaking

Night-time conversations in a camp-house The Meakambut are semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, numbering about 60, moving between camps and rock shelters in their mountainous territory in East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea. As one of very few semi-nomadic groups in Melanesia, they are key for understanding the (socio)linguistic situation which would have prevailed before agriculture. Apart from basic word-lists there has been no prior research on the language. Using observational filming to supplement basic linguistic and ethnographic documentation, this project provides audio-visual documentation and analysis of a variety of Meakambut speech practices, embedded in rich ethnographic data. Night-time conversations in a camp-house while preparing a meal. (not yet transcribed) age estimated. Uriamey recently learnt Tok Pisin. She can iunderstand a bit of Anday and Enga age estimated can understand a bit of Anday, Enga, Awiakay, fluent in TP age estimated Fluent in TP Can understand a bit of Anday. Very communicative. Limited knowledge of Anday and Enga. Darja's mother tongue is Slovene, her working languages are Tok Pisin and English. She is fluent in Tok Pisin and Awiakay, but has only basic knowledge of Meakambut. She's the researcher and filmmaker.