Feri: ….. ngam ko mamakai opuak. (white suits you)
Me: .. (with my broken Kadazan and a bit perasan) ..ya, nokuo? alawa ka? (ya, why? good looking is it?) – my definition of alawa is good looking
Feri: … iziau? Au ko alawa. Iziau nopo nga avanus. (you? you are not alawa you are avanus) - what is his definition of alawa and avanus? I didn’t ask.
I went home probing … what actually is the difference between alawa and avanus? My Kadazan vocabs prove to be limited. …searched in our Kadazan dictionary
yes, we have one, somebody gave it to dad on my wedding. And surprise, surprise … it’s not listed. There is no alawa or avanus in the dictionary.
My curio remains.
16 comments:
...my bro selalu call si sora tu opuak...he said kadazan bilang putih...but sora tu yellow *scratch head*...
I think I ever saw the word avanus in that dictionary..or maybe it is gavanus instead.
This is just my opinion...cos my kadazan pun broken pieces juga...perhaps alawa is Dusun and avanus is Kadazan??
Btw, sia bloghop from mrsjordan's blog. :)
Thanks chegu carol. I'll check gavanus later.
My friend was telling me this morning - alawa is for things, avanus untuk orang. Maybe juga lah.
Thanks for dropping by. I've visited your blog too. Cool to lepak.
hi,thanks for dropping by my blog..yep, i think alawa is for thing and avanus is for person but we in penampang normally say "avanus" to someone who is pretty ;)
Hey, kopisanangan? okuro-kuro koh noh? hahaha I don't speak Kadazan but my Dusun is still ok (I think). I want that KADUS dictionary... can I order it online? help!
In Dusun from my understanding alawa can be said to someone pretty but mainly to an object or express with 'things'. Olundus is the word you're looking for in Dusun. Enough of my 2 cents here. Thanks for visiting my blog Anies...
Gapus,
Mel Janes
hotgipan, thank you for dropping by. Good la if you still remember your Dusun. Some people kalu sudah tinggal lama di oversea tu pandai lupa kunun.
Dunno if you can order the dictionary online. I try to find out juga nanti.
Gapus to you too.
Try looking for the word 'Tavanus'.
Macam dulu time sk0ol rendah ada ni dalam pertandingan bercerita kadazandusun di muzium sabah.
Anonymous, O ya ka ...I'll search for Tavanus & thanks for dropping me a line.
my opinion:
avanus / vanus = cantik (pretty)
ex.
"avanus tanak ie Sarah ko ni?"
or
"vanus tana ie Sarah ko ni?"
means
"Sarah's daughter is pretty isn't it?"
tavanus = antara yang tercantik (among the prettiest)
ex.
"Isai tavanus?"
means
"whose prettier"
p.s these words usually for girl/lady
"alawa" / "talawa" same meaning but it is borrowed from the malay (lawa) so its not really kadazan
additional:
ogingo = sedap mata memandang (pleasant)
ex.
"ogingo zou toi nung pakazon ku tia gaung topuak?"
means
"am I pretty if I wore this white gown?"
ex.
"nung saaton ku damin ku opuak ogingo nangku?"
means
"if I paint my house in white, would it look nice?"
p.s more towards things like jewelery but sometimes people in metaphor kind of way ;-)
Gerd, thats a nice one. Thank you for taking time to explain.
I would be glad to visit your blog.
wah,nice post o.
I did learn something..since I'm a sino-Dusun, I only know a few chinese words and a few dusun/kadazan's words..
Good job!btw,thanx 4 visiting my blog
thx for the positive comments.. at time being I do not have blog :P
If you want to know more pls post here (just tumpang sikijap boleh ka? hehe)
there are more vocab in kadazan.. i just being lucky speaking it since i was little..
Wow...i was just surfing the net looking for kadazan poetry but i ended up here...it's nice. :)
I was googling for an online Kadazan dictionary but end up here too.
I experienced the same thing few years back when I was climbing Mount Kinabalu. My guide assumed I knew how to speak Kadazan but I replied to him in a broken version of it.
Sad though. If a lot of us Kadazans don't know how to speak the languange anymore, in the near future the languange will completely die.
Hi guys, I am sure you all aware of Facebook.. you can join "Kadazan Pride" group for more info & discussion.. there is alot of good speaker you can ask directly. I am one of them there.
i'd love to learn kadazan language! the group kadazan pride is no longer exist ka?
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