Somehow I dug myself out of a mini PhD-writing slump this week and finally tabulated the last results of some research I did at Ngukurr a couple of months ago where I interviewed 14 young Kriol speakers about bush medicine and also a bit about lizards.
The people I interviewed taught me lots of interesting stuff, but analysing what they told me is doing my head in. I've basically been writing about the same stuff for six months and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of my thesis in general. I mean, I'm still *kind of* interested in what I'm doing and learning but I'm at the stage where I've flogged the topics I'm focusing on to death so much so that I barely care anymore and I just can't see how anyone else might care. (Yes, I'm at *that* stage. It's known as the Valley Of Shit).
But here's your chance to restore some faith that what I'm devoting all my time to might actually interest someone. A trivia question! Part of my thesis discusses the taxonomic knowledge of lizards that Marra speakers have and compares that with what Kriol speakers know, and I've just finished analysing data that ranks the 10 most salient types of lizard to young Kriol speakers in Ngukurr. So can you guess:
The people I interviewed taught me lots of interesting stuff, but analysing what they told me is doing my head in. I've basically been writing about the same stuff for six months and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of my thesis in general. I mean, I'm still *kind of* interested in what I'm doing and learning but I'm at the stage where I've flogged the topics I'm focusing on to death so much so that I barely care anymore and I just can't see how anyone else might care. (Yes, I'm at *that* stage. It's known as the Valley Of Shit).
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| What I will look like if I have to write about lizards for much longer |
Q: What is the most salient type of lizard among young Kriol speaking people in Ngukurr? (based on a survey of 14 people aged 22-35)So please: have a go at answering in the comments. If you don't, I will cry. The first correct answer will restore a skerrick of faith that my PhD thesis won't be a total waste of time/piece of crap! And I'll shout you a drink when I see you next!
Comments
anyway, I'd say gecko, but is it considered a lizard?
And gecko is indeed considered a lizard but it was only the 8th most salient lizard among the guys I interviewed. Nice try though! :-)
Now if you want bonus points, can you give the name its more commonly known by in Roper Kriol??
You guys have really brightened my day. Thank you.
Tu kleba, yu.
The names they did use for the lizard was often 'gabai lisid' where 'gabai' is a verb that means 'to wave' or more specifically refers to the beckoning gesture (that looks like waving to munanga/kartiya). But a couple did use the Marra name for it: garn.gulugulu.
Cheers,
Lydia