Appendix B - Transcription conventions and abbreviations used in the Samoan examples

Summary

In transcribing Samoan speech, I have tried to use in a consistent way the spelling conventions adopted in the nineteenth century by the members of the London Missionary Society who introduced literacy in the process of translating the Bible into Samoan and making its text available in print (see Chapter 7). Some of the conventions that the missionaries chose at times create some confusion in foreigners and native speakers, partly because they are not used consistently. I have followed G. B. Milner (1966) in trying to be as consistent as possible in my spelling, but I have deviated from his use and from the choice of most students of Samoan, including anthropologists (e.g., Mead, Shore, Freeman), in one thing: I have not altered the sounds of what people said in order to conform to the standards of written Samoan or of the language that is considered to be proper by the general population. In most of the interactions that I recorded (and participated in), including the informal conversations among peers and the highly formal meetings of the village council (fono) discussed in Chapters 3 and 5, Samoans use a phonological register where the opposition between /t/ and /k/ and between /n/ and /ŋ/ are neutralized so that the alveolar segments (/t/ and /n/) disappear (see Mosel and Hovdhaugen 1992: 22–24). This means that a word like talitonuga ‘belief’ will often be pronounced [kalikoŋuŋa] instead of [talitonuŋa] and the word for ‘village’ nu`u is pronounced [ŋuʔu] instead of [nuʔu]. Samoans call this pronunciation ‘bad speech’ (tautala leaga) and contrast it with the ‘good speech’ (tautala lelei) that is written, read, and spoken in prayers, songs, and in classroom interactions (see Duranti and Ochs 1986).