Adapting and Writing Language Lessons/Appendix R

by Earl W. Stevick

APPENDIX R TO CHAPTER 6

CUMMTNGS DEVICES IN A TASK-CENTERED COURSE

(PONAPEAN)

The textbook from which this lesson has been taken was written in Ponape, for trainees who were living with Ponapean families. The authors were therefore able to write lessons which led very directly to real use of the language, with equal emphasis on linguistic practice and entry into the culture of the island.

Unlike most courses that have given prominence to Cummings devices, this one does not make each 'cycle' the center of its own lesson. Instead, there are several 'cycles' in each 'unit,' together with notes and dialogs. All these components are aimed at enabling the student to use Ponapean for clearly-stated purposes at the end of the unit. Nor is the textbook as a whole just a series of units. Aa the table of contents shows, there is a 'prelude,' which consists of preliminary lesson material with detailed instructions, followed by four 'books,' each of which contains four 'units' interrupted by 'interludes.'

This format is one of the most thoughtful, imaginative, and appropriate in the recent spate of 'microwave' courses. In addition to the table of contents and unit I of Book I, we have reproduced here the pages labelled Using these Materials from the remaining units of Book I.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	i
Preface	ii
Instructor's Notes	iii
Prelude	1
Map of Ponape Island	26
Book I
Unit I	27
Unit II	39
Map of the Trust Territory	40
Interlude	51
Unit III	63
Unit IV	76
Book II
Unit I	89
Unit II	102
Interlude	116
Unit III	131
Unit IV	142
Pronoun Chart	154
Book III
Unit I	155
Unit II	169
Interlude	183
Unit III	193
Unit IV	203
Ponapean Counting System	218
Book IV
Unit I	219
Unit II	257
Interlude	250
Unit III	261
Unit IV	272
Ponapean Verb Paradigm	290
Possessive Pronoun chart	291

PONAPE ISLAND

BOOK I

"People and Places - Comings and Goings"

Proceed as you did for the Introductory Cycles.

Cycle 1

M-1

wehi(et)	Ia eden wehiet?	(this) municipality	What's the name of this municipality?
kousapw(et)	Ia eden kousapwet?	(this) section of land	What's the name of this section of land?
sahpw(et)	Ia eden sahpwet?	(this) piece of land	What's the name of this piece of land?
wasa(ht)	Ia eden waseht?	(this) place	What's the name of this place?

M-2

Madolenihmw	Eden wehiet Madolenihmw.	The name of this municipality is Madolcnihmw.
Uh	Eden wehiet Uh.	The name of this municipality is Uh.
Kiti	Eden wehiet Kiti.	The name of this municipality is Kiti.
Net	Eden wehiet Net.	The name of this municipality is Net.
Sokehs	Eden wehiet Sokehs.	The name of this municipality is Sokehs.

M-3

Areu	Eden kousepwet Areu.	The name of this section of land is Areu.
Awak Powe	Eden kousapwet Awak Powe	The name of this section of land is Auak Powe.
Pohrasap	Eden kousapwet Pohrasapw.	The name of this section of land is Pohraapw.
Dolokei	Eden kousapwet Dolokei.	The name of this section of land. is Dolokei.
Palikir	Eden kousapwet Palikir.	The name of this section ofis Palikir.

M-4

Nanengk	Eden sahpwet Nanenek.	The name of this piece of land is Nancngk.
wasa	Eden waaaht Nanengk.	The name of this place is Nanengk.
Peinais	Eden wasaht Peinnis.	The name of this place is Peinaie.
sahpw	Eden sahpwet	The name of this piece of land is Peinais.
Pahn Poi Pwel.	Eden sahpt~ot Pahn Pei Pwel.	The name of this piece of land is Pahn Pei Pwel.
wasa	Eden wasaht Pahn Pei Pwel.	The name of this place is Pha Pei Pwel.
Luhke	Eden lissaht Luhke.	The name of this place is Luuhke.
sahpw	Eden sahpwet Luhke.	The name of this piece of land is Iohl.
Ihol	Eden sahpwet Iohl.	The name of this piece of land is Iohl.
wasa	Eden wasaht Iohl.	The name of this place is Iohl.

Give accurate responses in C-1 according to the location of your classroom.

C-1

A:	la eden (kousapwet)?	A:	What is the name of (this section of land)?
B:	Eden (kousapwet) (Pohraɜpew).	B:	The narne of (th:i.s section of land) is (Phraɜapw).

TO THE STUDENT:

The noun suffix /-(e)t/ indicates a location in the immediate proximity of the speaker. Thus, /kousapw/ meaning 'section of land' may take the suffix /-(e)t/ to result in /kousapwet/ or 'this section of land.' (In the case of ‘this place‘, the final vowel of /wasa/ is lengthened and /-t/ is suffixed to produce /wasaht/.)

when asking about the name of a piece of land, /wasa/ is commonly employed as an alternate to /sahpw/.

In M-2, the names of the municipalities of Ponape are listed as they are usually ranked. In M~5 and M-4, kousapws and sahpws of each of the five municipalities are listed in the order of M—2. Therefore, you may determine that Pahn Pei Pwel is the name of a sahpw which is located in the kousapw of Pohrasapw in the municipality of Kiti.

TO THE INSTRUCTOR:

Kataman ken sukuhlihkin irail eden sahpw, kousapw, oh wehi me kouson en sukuhl mihie.

Cycle 2

Carefully imitate your instructor's pronunciation and gestures.

M-l

Pohrasapw	E mi Pohrasapw.	It's in Pohrasapw.
Areu	E mi Areu.	It's in Areu.
Luhke	E mi Luhke.	It's in Luhke.
Palikir	E mi Palikir.	It's in Palikir.

M-2

pcilong(o)	E mi peilongo.	inland	It's inland.
pali(o)	E mi palio.	over there	It's over there.
pah(o)	E mi paho.	down there	It's down there.
powe(o)	E mi poweo.	up there	It's up there.

M-3

pah	E mi paho.	It's down there.
Areu	E mi Areu.	It's in Areu.
powe	E mi poweo.	It's up there.
peilong	E mi peilongo.	It's inland.
Pohrasapw	E mi Pohrasapw.	It's in Pohrasapw.
Luhke	E mi Luhko.	It's in Luhke.
pali	E mi palio.	It's over there.

M-4

sidowa	Ia sidowahn?	store	Where is the store?
ohpis	Ia ohpisen?	office	where is the office?
ohpisen Peace Corps	Ia ohpisen Peace Corpsen?	Peace Corps office	Where is the Peace Corps office?
ohpisen wehi	Ia ohpisen wchien?	municipal office	Where is the municipal office?

M-5

imwen wini	Ia imwen winien?	dispensary	Where is the dispensary?
ihmw sarawi	Ia ihmw sarawien?	church	Where is the church?
imen sukuhl	Ia imwen sukuhlen?	school	Where is the school?

M-6

sidowa	Ia sidowahm?	Where is the store?
imen wini	Ia imuen winien?	where is the dispensary?
ohpis	Ia ohpiswn?	where is the office?
ohpiswn wehi	Ia ohpisen wehien?	where is the municipal office?
iwen sukuhl	Ia imwwn sukuhlen?	where is the school?
hpisen Peace Corps	Ia ohpisen Peace Corpsen?	Where is the Peace Corps office?
ihmu sarawi	Ia ihm sarawien?	Where is the church?

Ask meaningful questions and give accurate responses in C-1 and C-2 relative to the location of your training site and classroom.

C-1

A:	Ia imwen winien?	A:	Where is the (dispensary)?
B:	E mi (Pohrasapw).	B:	It's in (Pohrasapw).

C-2

A:	Ia (ohpisen wehien)?	A:	Where is the (municipal office)?
B:	(Paho).	B:	(Down there).

TO THE STUDENT

/e/ is a third person singular subject pronoun and means 'he, she, or it.'

/ia/ in this cycle means 'where.'

/mi/ means 'exist or live' in the sense of being or dwelling in a particular location. (The short answer omitting /e mi/ as in C-2, B is perhaps the more ccmmcn response to a question about location.)

/palio/ in sentence final position is idiomatically translated in this text as 'over there.' Literally, though, /pali/ means 'side'; /palio/ thus means 'side-that' or 'the further side.' 'Over there', then, must be interpreted as 'over (meaning beyond or on the other side of) there.' Cycle 6 will further explore the use of /palio/.

/imwen wini/ literally means 'house-of medicine.' It may be translated either 'dispensary' or 'hospital.'

In this cycle, as in Cycle E, the noun suffix /-o/ is employed. Note, however, that this suffix is not used with proper nouns; therefore, it does not suffix to proper names of places.

The noun suffix /-(e)n/ as in /ia ohpis-en/ functions to indicate that the speaker does not know, nor has ever known, the location of the object that he is inquiring about. (If a rhetorical question is being posed, or if the speaker once knew the location of the object but has forgotten, the /-o/ suffix is employed; therefore, /ia sidowao/.) This suffix will subsequently be referred to in this tuxt as /-(e)n/² so as to distinguish it from the h~)otactical suffix /-(e)n/¹ you encountered in Cycles E and 1.

Noto that in M-5, the question word /ia/ sounds somewhat different than it does in M-4. This is due to the elision of the final vowel of /ia/ with the initial Vowel of /i(h)mw/.

Inquiries about the location of people or places are commonly responded to only by a general indication of direction.

TO THE INSTRUCTOR:

Kihong irail pasapeng me uhdan palm kaGulehieng irail wasah rna ihmaW pwkat me ie.

Cycle 3

M-l

me(t)	E mi mo(t).	here	It's here.
men	E mi men.	there by you	It's there by you.
mwo	E mi mwo.	there (away from both of us).	It's there (army from both of us).

M-2

palio	E mi palio.	It's over there.
me(t)	E mi me( t).	It's here.
paho	End paho.	It's down there.
mwo	Emi rowo.	It's there.
men	E mi men.	It's there by you.
pcilongo	E mi peilongo.	It's inland.
poweo	E mi poweo.	It's up there.

M-5

imwen kainen	Ia irm-len kainenen?	outhouse	Where is the outhouse?
wasahn duhdu	Ia wasahn duhduon?	bathing place	Where is the bathing place?
wasahn kuhk	Ia wasahn kuhken?	cooking place	Where is the cooking place?
rahs	Ia rahsen?	place of the stone oven	Where is the place of the stone oven?
wasahn kihd	Ia wasahn kihden?	garbage place	Where is the garbage place?

M-4

Iawasa?

Where?

The C phase of the cycle should be exercised in a real or simulated Ponapean comgound, or with appropriate visual aids.

C-1

A:	Ia (wasahn kuhken)?	A:	Where is the (cooking place)?
B:	E mi (rwo).	B:	It's (there).
A:	Iawasai	A:	where?
B:	(Mwo).	B:	(There).

TO THE STUDENT:

The final consonant of /met/ is often omitted in informal speech.

Common alternates to /met/, /men/, and /mwo/ are, respectively, /iet/, /ien/, and /io/.

In this cycle, the noun suffix /-(e)n/² as in /nen/ indicates a location in the direction and near proximity of the person being spoken to. Thus, it may be translated 'that (your way).'

You have now encountered the entire set of noun suffixes of location. In summary, they are /-(e)t/ 'this (my way),' /—(e)n/² 'that (your way),' and /-o—/ 'that (away from both of us).' As you will learn later in this book, an analogous set of directional suffixes exists for verbs.

The indeperdent form of the question word 'where' is /iawasa/-literally, 'what place.'

TO THE INSTURCTOR:

C phase en Cycle wet uhdan palm wiarli ni innicn mehn Pohnpei kan.

Cycle 4

M-l

Damian	Ia Damian?	Damian	Where is Damian?
Fred	Ia Fred?	Fred	Where is Fred
Larry	Ia Larry?	Larry	Where is Larry?
Pernardo	Ia Pernardo?	Pernardo	Where is Pernardo?

M-2

pali(o)	E mihmi palio.	over there	He's over there.
Pahn Pei Pwel	E mihmi Palm Pei Pwel.	Palm Pei Pwel	He's at Palm Pei Pwel.
mwo	E mihmi mwo.	there	He's there.
peiei(o)	E mihimi peieio.	toward the sea	He's toward the sea.
pah(o)	E mihmi paho.	down there	He's down there.
peilong(o)	E mihrni peilongo.	inland	He's inland.
Kiti	E mihmi Kiti.	Kiti	He's in Kiti.
powe(o)	Emihmi poweo.	up there	He's up there.

M-3

ohpis	E mihmi ni ohpiso.	Ho's at the office.
imwen sukuhl	E mihmi ni innlen sukuhlo.	He's at the school.
imwen wini	E Mihmi ni imwen winio.	He's at tho dispensary.
sidmra	E mihmi ni sidowaho.	He's at the store.
ihmw sarawi	E mihmi ni ihmw sarawio.	He's at the church.

M-4

met	E Inihmi. met.	He's here.
pah	E mihmi. paho.	He's down there
men	E mihmi men.	He's there (by you).
wasahn kuhk.	E mihmi ni wasalm kuhko.	He's at the cooking place.
sidowa	E mihmi ni	He's at the store.
ihmw-sarawi	E mihmi ni ihmll sarawio.	He's at the church.
Uh	E mihmi Uh.	He's in Uh.
powe	E mihmi poweo.	He's up there.
peiei	E mihmi peieio.	He's towards the sea.
imwen wini	E mihmi ni limwen winio.	He's at the dispensary.
wasahn duhdu	E mihmi ni wasahn duhdup.	He's at the bathing place.
mwo	E mihmi ni wasahn duhduo.	He's at th bathing place.
imwen kainen	E mihmi ni imwcn kaineno.	He's at the outhouse.
peilong	E mihmi peilongo.	He's inland.

M-5

Pwurehng via M-2, M-3, oh M-4, ahpw kieng /mwein/ ni tapi. Karasepe:	Practice B-2, 11-3, and 11-4 again, but precede each base sentence with /mwein/ For example:
pali(o)⁠Mwein e mihmi palio.	over there⁠He's probably over there.

C-1

Ask or anmwr questionD about the location of members of your class.

A:	Ia (Fred)?	A:	Where is ( Fred) ?
B:	E mituni (men).	B:	He' s (there - by you).

C-2

Now ask or answer questions about people likely to be found in the directions or locations drilled in the H-phases of this cycle.

A:	Ia (Damian)?	A:	Where is (Damian)?
B:	E mihmi (ni ohpiso).	B:	He's (at the office).
A:	Ia (ohpisen)?	A:	Where is (the office)?
B:	E mi (paho).	B:	It's (down there).

TO THE STUDENT:

/-(e)n/² is not employed Hi th proper names of people or places. Therefore, the question in M-1 is /Ia Damian/ - not /Ia Damianen/. (Note that 'Peace Corps office' is not considered a proper name; it is-simply the office that belongs to the Peace Corps).

With animate objects, the reduplicated form of /mil, /mihmi/, is commonly (though by no means always) employed. In Ponnpean, reduplication conveys the concept of a less definite, scattered, non-eorrlpletive action or state of facts.

/ni/ means 'at.' Do not expect to use /ni/, however, where you would use 'at' in English. In Ponapean, /ni/ is employed only with common nouns like those in M-3.

/ia ih Damian/ is heard as a common alternate to /ia Damian/. This is simply a dialect variation.

TO THE INSTRUCTOR:

Nan peidek oh pasapengen mwuhr kat, padahkiong irail ren idek aramas me kalap lili wasah me re sukuhlkier de wasah me ke idok rehrail.

Dialogues for Practice

1)	A:	Oaron. Ia eden sahpwet?	A:	Oaron. What's the name of this piece of land?
	B:	Eden sahpwet Pahn Pei Pwel.	B:	The name of this piece of land in Pahn Pei Pwel.
	A:	A 1a eden kousapwet?	A:	And what's the name of this section of land?
	B:	Pohrasapw	B:	Pohrasapw.

/a/ is a conjunctiYe vhich is employed to link clauses with different subjectso Therefore, though it best translates as 'and,' its meaning is closer to 'however.'

2)	A:	Largo. Ia wasahn kihden?	A:	Largo. Where's the garbage place?
	B:	Paho.	B:	Dwon there.
	A:	Iawasa?	A:	Where?
	B:	Kilang! E mi mwo	B:	Look! It's there.

/kilung/, like 'look' in English, is used either to direct someone's eye or mental atttention to something.

3)	A:	Maing. Ia eden soahng(o)?	A:	Sir. What's the name of that thing?
	B:	(Mwo}	B:	There?
	A:	Ei, (mwo)	A:	Yes, there.
	B:	Rahs.	B:	The place of the stone oven.

Using these Materials

Task 1

Find out the name of the /sahpw/ and the /kollsapw/ where you are living. Record this information below.

Do the names that you listed above have any special meaning, or are they just names? that does /Pohnpei/ mean?

Task 2

At your home, establish tho location of tho /washn kihd/ and the /rahs/. Belou, draw a sketch of the Ponapean howe site (the main dwelling and the adjacent buildings)where you are staying, and label ... the principal landmarks. If you do not know the names of some of the places, use the question /Ia eden soahng-(ot, en, o)?/.

Using those Materials

Task 1

With someone from the family you are staying with, or with your language instructor, visit your neighbors. Using the materials that you have learned thus far, converse about the following matters:

a) What are the names of the people at the household?

b) What are their titles?

c) What is the name of their /sahpw/ and /kousapw/?

d) Where is their cooking place, garbage place, bathing place, stone oven, and outhouse?

e) What are the names of other important places at their household? (For examle, they may have a copra-drying shed; find out what it is called in Ponapcan.)

When you approach the house, remember to use the greeting, /kaselehlie tehnpasen/.

Record any significant information that you may wish to remember below.

Task 2

Review all the lexical items or new structures that you have learned while carrying out the 'tasks' of this text.

Using these Materials

Two important sources of assistance while studying Ponapean are (1) children, because you need not be embarraseed about trying to speak Ponapean to them, and (2) nakau paries, because there everyone will be relaxed and most willing to help you in your language learning efforts. Therefore, carry out the following tasks:

Task 1

Talk to one of the children you know and find out what he plans to do for the remainder of the day and on tho following day. If he has no opinions on the subject, which he may not, find out what someone in his family plans to do.

Task 2

Specifically find out when one of the men in your family, or some adult male that you knoll, plans next to pound sokau. Upon acking this question, you are likely to be asked to participate. If at all possible, accept the invitation.

Task 3

Find out the meaning of the following expressions connected with sakau drinking.

⁠sakaula-

⁠ohn sakau-

⁠wungumng

⁠kelou-

Using these Materials

In addition to children and sakau parties, your training staff will be of great assistance in helping you to learn Ponapean. To tap this resource, carry out the following tasks:

Task 1

Find out when at least three of the American staff members of your training program came to Ponape, and when they plan to return to America. (Of course, do this in Ponapean.) Be prepared to report this information back to your class members.

Task 2

Find out the meaning of the following expressions,

⁠kaunen kaiahnen Peace Corps -

⁠kaun kariauen kaialulcn Peace Corps -

⁠kaunen sulruhlen lokaiahn Pohnpei -

⁠sounpadahken lokaiahn Pohnpci -