Helen Kugl

2.1 Counting system

The Yabiufa language is spoken by the Yabiufa people in the Eastern Highlands Province. There are some other languages which sound the same but vary in the dialect. The language has a base of counting system from one to two but is not necessarily used from practical point of view. Instead they use their fingers, palms, toes and feet and refer to numbers exceeding 100 to heap of sticks or bundles of some objects or rather more concrete objects. Let’s look at the corresponding names for numbers 1 to 10 in the Yabiufa language;
one ______________________ makoko
two ____________________ loweki
three -------------- loweki makoko
four ____________ loweki loweki
five _____________ loweki loweki makoko
six ______________ loweki loweki loweki
seven ___________ loweki loweki loweki makoko
eight ____________ loweki loweki loweki loweki
nine ___________ loweki loweki loweki loweki makoko
ten ___________ loweki loweki loweki loweki loweki

As we go further away from number ten then, the number of times we have to say loweki increases and addition of makoko for every odd numbers and they do not have specific names for numbers apart from loweki and makoko. Thus, for convenience sake they refer to five as one full fist or palm of hand, ten as two hands and numbers exceeding 100 as heaps or bundles of certain concrete objects such as sticks and firewood.

They mainly deal with practical numbers or in other words they deal with numbers that do not go beyond ten or twenty. The Yabiufa speaking people do not have corresponding names for negative numbers, however they have names for zero and fraction. They refer to zero as menameya which means nothing and they have a corresponding word for half which is called sikedimiyo but nothing apart from half. Half is only applicable in the sharing of food between friends or among groups in a village setting.

They do not have proper method of keeping records of dates, weeks, months and years just like the Kuanua [Tolai] speaking people and I guess this is so for the same reason I discussed with the Kuanua language. They just say now, tomorrow and yesterday and also by watching the appearance of the moon.

2.2 Measurement.

The Yabiufa people plant tangets around their gardens to determine the size of the garden. The greater the number of tangets, the bigger the size of the garden and the lesser the number of tangets the smaller the size of the garden. They determine that by comparing their new garden to the old or previous garden. The size of the house is also determined by the number of chopped timber being used and also the length of the house. The longer the length the width is also widened and the size of the house is eventually big. The length and width of the house is measured by means of cutting strong bush ropes and the desired length and width is marked with other colored ropes.

The distance between two villages is measured in terms of how many rivers and mountains you come across to get to the other side and sometimes the number of days it takes to get there by indicating the fingers if the other village is located some longer distance from where you stay. They had no special devices to represent time but they looked at their shadow.

2.3 Patterns and Designs

The Yabiufa people have geometrical patterns and designs from the walls of the house by using pitpit, making designs on spear which is used during tribal fighting, traditional dances, compensation payment and bride price ceremonies, and ladies make bilums with bush materials as well as imported ropes in shops and markets.

The type of designs does not vary much especially in all Highlands provinces. The most popular patterns seen on blind walls in the Yabiufa area as well as the other areas in the Highlands regions are mainly diamond, mountain like, zigzag, square and a mixture of those designs. The designs on bilums at present are becoming so sophisticated unlike those ones our grand mothers and great grand mothers had some years back.

The young girls are taught by their mothers to make bilums especially in the night and most ladies in the Yabiufa area know how to make bilums before they reach their teenage stage.

This is done in order to get them prepared to get married so that they can make bilums and carry babies and food for the husband’s family. The boys on the other hand are taught by their fathers to build house and make bamboo or pitpit house walls.

The main findings of the Yabiufa language

The Yabiufa speaking people seem to have a counting system but they also represented numbers with other objects and only use numbers that were more practical in their every day use. Even though they had a number base they never apply it because they had to repeat the same word so many times. For instance, if it was a number between twenty and thirty the number of times they would say loweki especially increases.

They also had ways and means of measuring the size of the garden and house by sowing resources around them, like tanget plants, timber and bush ropes. Some still use these materials in the remote and even in the villages today. These are some of the cheapest materials we can obtain freely and use them in our societies compared to those ones sold in shops which serve the same purpose but are very costly.

The Yabiufa people also have geometrical patterns in some of the items like bilums, house walls and spear which serve other social interests of the society. The bilums represented womanhood, spear was used during tribal fights, bride price ceremonies and compensation payments and pitpit walls were used for house walls before but now people are selling them for money, however it still serves the same purpose.

Interestingly, the Yabiufa people had traditional games like playing stones which involves counting. They also used nuts from certain trees to juggle with. Sometimes they will have three nuts and at other times they would have seven nuts. The person who juggles the longest is the winner and they start juggling again. This game is normally played in groups of two and beyond.