Night-time conversation 02 Y15_Canon_0249to251 Audio-visual documentation of Meakambut ways of speaking

In-house conversations at night 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 meal time conversations within a narrow family circle in the camp-house (MP4 files 250-51 are not transcribed and translated) 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 date of birth estimated 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.