Pandanus language

A Pandanus language is a special kind of speech used by some people in the eastern New Guinea Highlands. It is spoken when collecting nuts from the pandanus tree.

Every year, people go into the forest to gather and cook nuts from the karuka tree (which includes Pandanus julianettii and Pandanus brosimos). Many regular words are avoided during this time because they are believed to harm the plants or stop the nuts from growing properly. Over time, a special set of about 1,000 words has been created to replace the usual ones. These words are mainly used for talking about trips to gather the nuts, and new words are added as needed.

The language is also used to control magic linked to high places where the trees grow. People believe it helps keep dangerous spirits calm, like Kita-Menda (also known as Giluwe yelkepo ), who watches over wild dogs. The language should only be used in the forest where the trees grow. If people speak it elsewhere, mountain spirits might hear and come down to check what’s happening.

Everyone, no matter their age or gender, is expected to know this special language before entering these forest areas. However, visitors who don’t know it can speak Tok Pisin, a common trade language. As more people use Tok Pisin , fewer use the pandanus languages. Younger people also seem less afraid of the forest and don’t think they need the special language anymore. By the 1990s, some pandanus languages like those of the Kewa and Imbongu were already fading away.

The grammar and words of the pandanus language come from the local native language but are simpler and more limited, especially for naming living things. Some words are grouped together in ways that don’t exist in everyday speech. Also, some words may come from other languages.

For example, the word for karuka varies across languages. In Kewa, it’s usually aga , but in the pandanus version, it becomes rumala agaa . In Kalam, however, the word stays the same in both normal and pandanus speech: alŋaw .

Pandanus languages have been studied most in these groups:

• Imbongu
• Kalam
• Kewa
• Kobon
• Melpa
• Mendi
• Taiap

In Kalam, the pandanus language is called alŋaw mnm or ask-mosk mnm , which means "avoidance language." It is also used when eating or cooking cassowary meat, instead of speaking the normal language, called monmon mnm .^[1] People use it not just to avoid spirits, but to make sure the nuts are good to eat — not watery, tough, or rotten. And unlike other types, it can be spoken outside the forest without causing problems. This form could be thousands of years old and may have started from older pandanus languages.

The Huli people also have a special way of speaking called tayenda tu ha illili , or “bush divide taboo.” They use it when gathering pandanus, hunting, or traveling. Like others, it is meant to keep harmful forest spirits away. Tayenda, like many of the above, is used to evade malevolent bush spirits.^[2]

• Ulrich Ammon, 2006. Sociolinguistics/Soziolinguistik 3: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society/Ein Internationales Handbuch Zur Wissenschaft Von Sprache und Gesellschaft, p. 2042.
• William Foley, 1986. The Papuan Languages of New Guinea, p. 43.