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tekinged / missing

The repository where the tekinged.com committee tracks and defines missing words. Anyone can join!
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Ngera/ ngara #283

Open johnbent opened 2 years ago

johnbent commented 2 years ago

Ngera/ ngara created by johnbent@gmail.com on 2018-06-18 12:41:05

johnbent commented 2 years ago

johnbent@gmail.com replied,

All, Thoughts on the below please? My personal thought is it ngera is a question word and ngara is a declaration of existence/location. And, probably, that inconsistent spelling has muddled them for decades.

I thought I'd share this email from Bena Sakuma with you. This was regarding a translation/transcription of the words to Mangtekang which includes the phrase "e di ngera aikal moruul", which I had originally had as "e di nga era aikal moruul". I had made the comment that according to the dictionary, ngara and ngera are alternate spellings for "what, which". Bena said:

(NGERA) is question such as (NGERA SOAM? NGERA KEDILUNG? NGERA UNGIL? (NGARA) BELONGS TO ORGANIZATION) NGARA OMERAEL OR NGARA TLOK OR NGARA BOES ngera is always a question. ngara is never used to ask question

I see that Josephs has "ngara/ngarang" as the question word "what", so I'll let you figure out who is the correct on this. When I was in Palau in March, I was told that Bena (who I knew back in the 80s) is considered to be someone quite authoritative on the language.

johnbent commented 2 years ago

belausim@gmail.com replied,

Ngara Metal, Ngara boes, Ngara kikm, Ngara chelong , Ngara mlengui. Ngaraard, etc. Some place names like States have changed their spelling from Ngara to Ngere . Good to find out why the changes were made.

johnbent commented 2 years ago

palau371@gmail.com replied,

ngera / ngerang is a question word that is sometimes misspelled as ngara / ngarang. 

ngara as a verb is contraction of ngar er a... absolutely different word from the first one...

johnbent commented 2 years ago

palau371@gmail.com replied,

this question is one of the reasons why I don't like contractions in written speech...

johnbent commented 2 years ago

jlukesemiwo@gmail.com replied,

It is not necessarily misspelled all the time. They are both used in questions.

"Ngara" is used in questions that ask about location, direction, time of event, and the likes. Examples: 1) Ngara keskelel a uum? Where in the kitchen is it? 2). Ngara telang el klok ra mekong? About what time did you get there? 3) Ngara mo bedul ker a blim ra urerem? Which direction is your house from your work?

Then "ngera" is for all others. Examples: 1) Ngera meng uaisei a blekerdelem? Why are you acting like that? 2) Ngera ke dilung er tir? What did you tell them? 3) Ngera rolel e ak rullau el ocherchur? How do I make you laugh?

J