Pryor David Sharran 1980 PNG

7/25/2019 Pryor David Sharran 1980 PNG

1/8

i i

Volume V, I s s u e 2

YOU REALLY MAKE A

DIFFERENCE

God

is fai thful

and has answered prayer.

fai th and love have encouraged

us, too.

t ru ly bel ieve

t h a t you share in a

v i t a l

in our t ransla t ion ministry.

I t seems

evident

tha t you glean very

b it of

and even r ead be tween th e l i n e s i n

our

and personal correspondence. We

certain

tha t you

empathize in every way

sharing

our burdens, our heartaches,

ur

excitement, and

our

joy.

Evidence in

he

progress

of our

work,

our

good

heal th,

ur

peace,

and

God's

da i ly

bless ing

in

our

proves

that

the

prayer

requests we

back

to you

are by no means

neglected.

t ruly

shudder

to

think

what

problems we

be

having

without

the

support

of

your

and praye r s i Oh, how we thank God

fo r

u r

b ro the r s and

s i s t e r s in Chr i s t

You

a re

he

backbone of our missionary

endeavor.

God

praised for

the

work

of

His

Sp i r i t

in

us

to ge th er fo r

t h i s

work

T

-H.

i 9 mo

PIONEER

BIBLE

TRANSLATORS

AMinistry in

Bible Translation

and Literacy Instruction

DAVID

W.

SHARRAN O BRIEN PRYOR MISSIONARI

Kevin L. Donna J. O'Brien

Route 2, Box 26

Oakland City, Indiana

47660

Forwarding Agents

Mar c h , 1980

WHAT

ABOUT

THE ALPHABET?

t has been

a

while ago s ince announced

tha t

we were very close to

having ou

anology

of

the sound

Kire(Pronounced

kee-re)

system comple ted enough to e s t ab l i s h a

ten

ta t ive

orthography

( wr it ten a lphabe t ). W

know

tha t

many of you have been prayerfully

support ing th is e ffo r t

and

are

waiting

for

the

news

o f

i t s complet ion. We

encountered

severa l

ob s t ac l e s and

compl ica t ions

which

hindered us

in

the

accomplishment

of

th i s

goal.

Our

work

was interrupted by

the

divorce of

our language

helper ,

Daranpu.

After much prayer Daranpu i s again working

with us, and

we also

have

two new

language

helpers .

This a rr angement

should

prevent us

from being without a language-helper

again,

but

th rough checking some of our

previous

work

with

them,

we found

some

inconsistency

So , we

have

had t o

c o r r e c t some o f

our d a t a .

We a l so had t o t a ke

t ime

o u t

to r e tu rn to

Madang for seven weeks

to

serve as buyer-

shipper

while

Ron Augsburger returned

to

the

Sta tes to ra is e more

suppor t .

Upon re turning

to

our

v i l l a g e , we took t h r e e

weeks

to com

p l e t e our house so we cou ld concen t r a t e more

comple te ly

on

th e

work o f t r a n s l a t i o n .

These

a re all beh ind us now, and i n t h i s article

we

want

to

sha re

some

p r a i s e

i t ems .

Our

work on

the

ana ly s i s

could

be com

pared with an

obs tac le

course t ha t has

a

big

swampy bog

a s

on

o f

its last few o b s t a c l e s .

The bog

is

where you

reach a

par t

of

the

analys is

where you

have b ee n working with

the data to the po in t tha t you can ' t

see

the forest for

the

t rees . At tha t

point i t

i s

he l p f u l

t o have

someone

o f f e r a

d i f f e r e n t

viewpoint .

Those

spec ia l

someones

a re

called consultants


2/8

F o r

t h e last two week s

I

have had t h e

p r iv i l ege o f

consu l tan t helpr

and

I am now

ou t o f th e

bo g running in

the

home s t r e t ch

with j u s t

the

l a s t smal l obs tac les remaining

t h e s e

last tw o

weeks

ha ve

been filled wi t h

exc i t ement

and

unexpec ted b l e s s i ng s .

I a t

t ended

a

workshop

on how to p repa re t r ans fe r

primers to

teach

those who

know how

to read

Pidgin to

lea rn how

to read t he i r

own

lan

guage.

The workshoD was

snonsored by

th e

Summer I n s t i t u t e o f Lingu is t i cs (SIL)

which

i s

th e academic

arm

o f

Wy c lif fe B ib le

Trans

lators One o f S IL s best c o ns u l t a n ts in

sound

sys tem ana l y s i s

was

t he r e

an con s en t

ed to

help me during

o f f

hours

o f th e work

shop .

Trying

to handle the ass ignments o f the

workshop and

c on tin ue th e

ana ly s i s sure made

t hose

tw o

weeks busy , bu t

ge t t i ng

t h rough

the bogs

on th e

ana l y s i s made

th e workshop

more

p r o f i t a b l e .

By th e t ime

the

workshop

f i n i shed ,

I

only lacked

a

little

more w ork

to prove my

ana ly s i s ,

some psycho- l ingu is t i c

t e s t i ng

w ith the people to see if t hey f e e l

th e ana lys i s i s a c cu r a t e , and f i n a l l y , wr i t

ing up

the

ana ly s i s and subm it t ing the a l

phabe t I have

proposed

to r e p r e s en t th e Kire

language . Lord

wi l l i ng ,

th e

nex t news l e t t e r

wi l l

con t a i n

an a r t i c l e

exp la in ing

th e new

Kire

a lphabe t .

The

workshop

was no t

j u s t fo r

t r a n s

lators also i n c l u d e d a c o u r s e

for

o u r

language

he lpe r s i n s t r uc t i ng them

on

how

to

wr i t e

s t o r i e s ,

news

a r t i c l e s , and a r t i c l e s

on new th ings

they exper ience

out s ide

o f

th e i r v i l la g e

and

cu l t u r e .

They

were

a l so

given

i n s t ruc t ion

on how to p r i n t and

make books

on

a v i l l a g e budge t by us ing a

s i lk - sc reen

p r i n t e r . Thei r

new knowledge

wi l l be

a

big

help when we

begin

our

l i t e r a cy program.

The

most benef i c i a l b y- pr od uc t o f t h e i r

cou r se was th e e xc ite m en t and f e e l i n g o f

se l f -wor th

they gained

t h e r e .

Each

o f our

three

he lpers

au thored , p r i n t ed ,

and

made a

book

t e l l i ng about d i f f e r en t

t oo l s ,

weapons,

and types o f

c lo th ing

used by t h e i r

people .

A ll

o f

t h i s

i s exc i t i ng enough,

but

the most

exc i t ing pa r t

fo r them

was t h a t

they

wrote

them in t h e i r

own l anguage

using th e

t en t a

t ive alphabet we

have developed and are

propos ing . They wrote and made

the f i r s t

books

in th e Kire

l anguage

And

wha t s more

when they brought

them

back to G ara ti ,

some

o f those

who can

read Pidgin were ab le

to

read (with

a little help) those

books .

I

was so proud

o f

them, and you can we l l im a

gine

t h a t

I was

j u s t

as

exc i t ed

as

they.

The

teachers

who instructed

all

of

the

na tio n a ls sa id

t h a t

our t hre e h elp er s and

tw o o the r s

from

ano the r

l anguage

were

best and most product ive s tudents

in

group

This

i s a g ian t s tep forward ge t t ing

even c lo se r to our

goa l o f t r an s l a t i ng Go

Word

i n t o th e

Ki r e l a nguage .

r

SHARRAN S SHAKINGS

So

much

has

happened

s i n c e

the new

y

began t h a t I can sca r ce ly b r ea the it all

We

have

never

felt

discouraged

o r

downhea

ed

and could a lways t r u s t t h a t whatever

happening

here

was God working ou t

h is p

f e c t plan to c a l l these Gi r i people to h

s e l f . God i s working in the

l i v e s

o f so

o f

our

peop le , and maybe if I sha r e some

my expe r i ences

wi th

you , you can see

- you r s e l f . - -

In the mornings I have had

th e

oppor t

i t y to c l ean and

d r e s s

th e so re s o f Bigi sw

Big i swa i i s a young Gi r i girl abou t s i x t e

who

has been

pu t

in

th e

house

to s t ay fo

y ea r . B ig isw a i s pa r en t s a re

fo l lowin

t h ei r f o re f a th er s l aws by keeping he r

th e house all day long fo r a whole yea r .

has

c lods

o f red

ground

c l ay and coconut

clumped on her ha i r , and

on top o f t

adorn ing whe

wears

a bi l lum ( s t r ing ba

She a l s o wears two

l a r ge r

b i l l ums to co

her body.

Pa r t

o f th e r eason she

mus t s

in i s

to

keep

her from working o f f

c a l o r i e s

she

migh t

consume so t h a t a t

end o f

th e yea r

she wi l l be very f a t .

has a l ong way

to go to

be f a t She

been

promised

to

marry

our

l anguage

he l p

Namput,

bu t she

i s no t

a Chr i s t i a n ,

and


3/8

s . She i s

very conce rned t ha t

he

not

s in

n

t ak ing her

as

h is wi fe . That t e l l s us

h e

is

at least c o n c e r n e d that s h e n o t c a u se

e l s e to s in . I v e re a l ly en joyed

an excuse to go in s ide th e house

i s s tay ing

in , to ge t to

know her ,

nd let

her te ach

me Gi r i and t h i n g s

abou t

l i f e .

I

now

know

how to weave the

l lu m s th e l ad i e s in the v i l l age make. I ll

more l i k e

a

Ga r a t i

woman

knowing

how

to

the

bi l lums .

Our

people

seem

to

r e a l l y

any e f f o r t

we

make to be

l i k e

Each

a f t e rnoon

I have had ano the r oppor

t un i t y

to see God

a t

work

in

th e l i v e s o f

o f

our peop l e .

I have been t each ing a

mothe r .

Pone , how to be a

f o l l owe r

o f

Le t

me

tell

you

abou t Pone . I

have

to love he r , and I know

you

would

too.

While

we

were in Madang

doing

Ron

work

we

began pray ing t h a t God

r a i s e

up

a t l e a s t one l eader from our

fo r the

v i l l age

church . Pone a l so

ad

a

big concern t h a t th e church her e had

o l e ad e r s . She i s a Ca t ho l i c ,

b u t

r e a l i z ed

he had not r e a l l y

l earned

anyth ing

about

e joys o f

be ing

a Chr i s t i an . She wanted

become

a

Chr i s t i an

and was

cons tan t ly

to

encourage

h er h usb an d Marakus

ho h ad on c e be e n

a n

active Christian

i n t h e

t o

come

back t o

God and

show he r

how

become a Christian We

r e t u r n e d t o

t h e

on

a

Fr iday , more exc i t ed th an ever

wha t God co u l d

do

wi t h one

man who

we

He wou ld call

to

Hims e l f

to

do H is

work

our

peop l e . On Monday

Marakus came

welcome us home. We s a t on the s teps

o f

ur house fo r a

long

t ime t a lk ing , and we

ou r

co n c e r n that

t h e r e we r e

no

men in

e

Gar a t i v il l a ge th at wanted

to

be a l ead

r

in the

Church

to bring

back

h is

people

to

God. Immediately Marakus became se r ious

He s a i d ,

Pone has

been

t e l l i n g

me

fo r

long t ime

t h a t I

ought to come back to th

Lord and

t h e n

l e a d h e r and others i n ou

v i l l age back to God. Unt i l today

I

j u s

heard her t a l k , bu t I

d id

no t

let

it conv i c

me. Now a s

you

t o ld me o f your concern

fo

a

man from ou r

v i l l a g e

to become

a

s t ron

Ch r i s t i a n ,

I f e e l

God

c a l l i n g me to be t h a

man . If P o n e h ad

no t

h a d a

desire

to

lear

abou t

God M arakus would

n o t

have

let

ou

talk

convict h im o f wha t h e

s h o u l d

d o . B u

b e c a u s e this s w e e t

l ttl

wi f e h a d be e n t e n

der ly plead ing

for

him to re tu rn to God an

show he r

and

o the r s

how

to f in d h is God to

he was ready to beg in h is walk wi th

Go

aga in . Marakus

s a i d

I m

going to my hous

now

to

tell Pone what

I am

now

ready to do

We

wi l l be

back t on i gh t

and you

can

tell

m

what

I

need to do to come back to

God

an

you

can

t e a ch

Pone

wha t

sh e needs t o do t

become

a ch i ld

o f

God. They d id come t h a

n igh t ,

and

Marakus

had

a

f eas t a f t e r

bein

withou t

s p i r i t u a l

food fo r

so

long .

Learn ing th e Gi r i cu l t u r e as

wel l

as th

language

i s

very

impor tan t , and

t h i s

n igh

we wer e

g l ad we knew ab o u t their cus tom o

f i n i s h ing

a

c ross between

tw o

men who wer

once

f r iends^ bu t

because o f

a disagreemen

had become enemies . The disagreement be

tween

the

men

can only

be f in i shed

by on

man

having h is

wife p repa re

a

l a r ge bowl

o

sago and

then

i nv i t i ng

th e o th er

man

to com

and

e a t

sago and

p ig with

him. I f th e ma

accep t s

th e

i n v i t a t i o n

and

comes

and

e a t

p ig

and sago

with

h is o ld

f r i end ,

the b i t t e

ness and anger i s

f in i shed

and now t h a

they have

e ate n t og et he r, they can no longe

remember t h e i r disagreement .

Isn t it be au t i fu l th a t

God too , ha

t h a t cus tom. I f we

p arta ke o f

the Body

an

Blood o f

His Son wi th Him a f t e r

we a re

onc

His

ch i ld ren , we

renew our r e l a t i on sh ip an

r ece ive

s p i r i t u a l s t r eng th in t ak ing th

Lord s

Supper with our

Friend and Lord Jesu

Chr i s t . Our family

a nd Marak us

shared

i

th e Lo rd s

Supper

t oge the r wi th J e s u s . I

was

a

be au t i f u l

t h ing in Marakus s life

t

know t h a t

now

he had

f e a s t e d

wi th God

asked

fo rg ivenes s , and God would

no

longe

remember h is s in s .

Pone i s da i l y

hear in

abou t

God and she hangs on

God s

eve ry

wor

It

t h r i l l s

my

sou l to

hear

her

pray

as

sh

bubb l e s ou t

p r a i s e

and t hanks to our God

Marakus

and Pone a re

now

p lann ing to

go

t

Bib l e Schoo l

nex t yea r

so

Marakus can

becom

a p as to r to h i s

own peop l e .

Meanwhile

Go

h a s wo r k for h im to d o .

Pone and Marakus a re j u s t

a beginning

o

how God is work ing in

th e

l i v e s o f

ou


4/8

people. Before

Pone finished her classes

I

began having

classes with Hutty,

I r a i s

brother. Before I finished the classes

with

Hutty, I r a i and Hutty 's mother sent word for

me to

come see her as

she

too, wanted to

become a C h r i s t i a n . She and I

had

2 c l a s s e s

together with Marakus and Pone helping

me

t each

her i n

G i r i when

she

d i d n t understand

Pidgin, and

then

things really began to hap

p e n 1

The end of January we had to go

to

Madang to attend the PET annual meet ing, and

when we returned to the

v i l l a g e and

I

l e t

those

few know t h a t

we could

resume our

c l a s s e s

I d i s c o v e r e d t h e r e

were

19 a d u l t s

and

l o t s

o f

c h i l d r e n .

I ll

have

t o s t a r t

another

c l a s s

when I 'm

f i n i s h e d

a s it

looks

l ike

t h i s

may only be a beginning.

I ll

a l s o need

t o

have

a separa te c l a s s

with a l l

the children

as many are

very young and

know

v e r y

little a b o u t J e s u s .

This a l l

sounds very

exci t ing,

and

it

i s

but

please

pray

t h a t

t he se exp re ss ing

d e s i r e

to

become

C hr i s t ia n s a r e

coming out of

a

t rue

desire

to know Jesus. Many times in

Papua New

Guinea people come

f o r

th e r i t u a l

o f baptism

th inking it i n i t s e l f i s

the

doorway

t o

e n t e r

h e a v e n . J e s u s s a i d He i s

the

door

and the

way.

Pray for me

t h a t

I

can

be

used

of God to help these people come

to

Jesus.

WE

ARE

I N GOD'S HANDS

A

little

while

ago

we

g o t

a

l e t t e r

from

a

dear

f r i e n d who expressed

d e s i r e

t o see us

and

concern

f o r

our s a f e t y . Then

he

added,

but we know you a r e in good hands'. How

true

J a n u a r y

28

was a f laming day

f o r

us I We

h a d

a

h o u s e fire c a u s e d

f r o m a

fault i n o u r

kerosene r e f r i g e r a t o r ^

It

had n o t been

PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS

David & Sharran 0. Pryor, Missionaries

Kevin L &

Donna

J. O'Brien, Forwarding

Agents

R.R.

2,

Box 26

Oakland

City,

Indiana

47660

m i s s i o n

s e r v i c e s

ASSOC.

RESEARCH

DEI

BOX

1 7 7

KEMPTON IN 46049

working properly fo r quite a while, b

Monday was worse than

ever.

I t hummed

our blue flame fridge had a yellow flame.

had been

watching i t a l l day,

and arou

5:30 pm asked John to come

and

do one

of

routine jobs

while

his daddy is gon

was

a t

a

workshop in Madang.)

I

hoped t h

is the fridge was full of kerosene

i t

mi

work b e t t e r . I r a i

John 's

friend, was

porch

waiting fo r

him,

so

he

put

the

pump

th e kero tank

and

l e t the kero pump i t s e

and l e f t for a moment, but st ayed awa

moment to long. I was

standing

by

stove cooking suppe r when

suddenly kero

w

under

and

on a l l

sides

of the fridgeI

quickly cleaned

up a l l

the kero I

c ould w

o ld ra g s

then p u l l e d

t h e

tank o u t so

I

cou

c l e a n under th e f r i d g e .

I t u r n e d t h e

r e f r i g e r a t o r

ba

on and

then

answered the door finding Su

an

old

man

from the

v i l l a g e I

explained

him tha t the fridge

wasn't

working

prope

so he

said

he'd^come

help me

watch

i t .

no sooner got ^own to watch than he yell

for me: the whole

cas ing

for the wick was

flames

j final

persuaded Sup

to

help

me carry

the th

flaming

tank

outside to

the

back porc

knowing that was the only way I could sa

t h e h o u s e .

It took a week f o r t h e k i d s and I

sett le down completely and two week fo r

burns t o h e a l . We miss the cold d r i n k s a

f r e s h meat, but we

a r e

thankful

t h a t

G

saved our house

and

us and has even

provid

money f o r

a

new r e f r i g e r a t o r .

We

a r e

tha

ful

for our

God who answers Our

pray

and

keeps

His eyes on

us. His

ears open

o u r p r a y e r s

and

H i s hands o u ts tr et c h e d

us. God i s good. My

t imes

a r e Psalms 31:

Love to a l l

of

you because o f Jesu s, Sharr

U.S.

Postage

Non-Profit Or

Permi t 7

Oakland

City,

I>T.


5/8

AUG 2 7 88

PIONEER I LE TR NSL TORS

AMinistry

in

ible Translation and

Literacy

instruction

DAVID

W. SHARRAN O'BRIEN PRYOR, MISSIONAR

Volt ime

IV . . I s s u e 2

NEWS ABOUT

THE

ALPHABET

WhewS

What a grind What frustration

But it i s a lmost over . I have fo r a l l prac

t i ca l purposes completed the

analysis

of the

Kire

(prounounced

KEE-ray)

sound sys tem and

have decided

on

the a lp ha be t to be used.

What remains i s f in ish ing the

write-ups

of my

analysis

to be

submitted

to fellow

l inguis ts who are

on

the

Orthography

Commit tee o f th e Summer Institute o f

Linguist ics .

They

wil l examine

the

analysis

and

quest ion my conclusions.

Hopeful ly,

through

th i s

process our

t en ta t ive

ortho

graphy

t r i a l

alphabet)

wil l

be

an

accurate

and acceptable re pre se nta tio n o f the sound

system

t ha t

wi l l

be eas i ly read

by the

people .

Representat ives

of

our

language

group

have b een c on su l t e d in th e

cho i c e

o f

alphabet symbols.

Most

of the i r symbols

wil l

correspond with those of

the

Pidgin and

English

alphabet, but there wil l be

some

symbols tha t are

d i s t i nc t l y

t h e i r

own.

The Kire language has 45 di f fe ren t

sounds \^ ich wil l be represented by

22 d if

ferent symbols.

You

can compare the

follow

ing

with

the English alphabet .

The

con

sonants a re :

b , d, f g,

h

k ,

m,

n

n

p ,

r s t V, w,

and

z . The vowels

a re :

a e

i

o, u,

and

f . The n

represents the

sound of ng as in the word

sing .

However

r a ther

than occuring a t the end of words as

i s usual ly the

case in

Engl i sh,

it a l so

occurs frequently

in

the middle and a t the

beginning o f words in the

Kire

language.

The

language

i s

fu r the r

complicated by

the

fac t th at

.

near ly

a l l

o f

the

consonants

Kevin L. Donn a J . O'Brien

Route 2, Box 19

Oakland City,

Indiana 47660

Forwarding Agents

July 1 9 8

PLEASE

JOIN

US

IN PRAYING:

. . . that

we

will

be

able

to

continue

maki

our

language goals in learning to

speak K

f luent ly .

. . .

for

Daranpu, Namput, and Palau, o

three

language helpers. Daranpu

and Pal

completed

t he i r National Trans la to r s *

cour

but were

held

back

in

x^at

they were

able

leam

because

of their lack of fluency

English. They have been granted

permissi

to

r epea t the

course because o f

t h e i r

s i

cere

desire to

do

the

work.

Meanwhile,

have ar ranged

fo r

them to t ake

some

cours

in English. Daranpu will be repeating t

course accompanying Namput,

who wi l l

be

ta

ing i t for the f i r s t

time

during July a

August.

Please

pray

for

them during

th

time as

the

course

Is

r ea l ly d i ff ic u lt ..

. . . for

Palau

as

he stays behind and

hel

us

daily to

learn

Kire.,

Though he IS no

Christ ian,

the

Lord

continues

to

work

w

him. His in teres t was really

strong

wh

in the Christian environment a t Ukarum

but he has had

some

real

problems

sin

r etu rn in g to

the

v i l l age .

that

P .B . T . will be

a b l e

t o

raise

t

money it needs

to

bu i l d th e two

houses

Ukarumpa (SIL's main

center )

which

wil l

e

a b l e P .B .T . members

to a tt e nd th e need

l ingu i s t i c l i t e r acy and

t r ans la t ion

wo

shops .

fo r

us

sp i r i t t i a l ly

t ha t

others

may

able to see Chris t in

us ev en th ro ugh

o

cul tura l dif ferences . Pray t ha t we can kn

how to present Christ as being

the

vi ta l

essent ia l dynamic tha t i s lacking in t he

culture


6/8

SHARRAN'S SHARINGS

just returned home after being gone

three weeks

left

home by our

car;

traveled the northcoast

road

as fa r as the

washed-out bridge; took ourselves and

our

cargo across

th e

r iver

in a

l i t t l e

boat; and

met Ron Augsburger on

the

other side of

th e

river. He

took us to

Madang where we

board

-

ed a

small

coastal

freighter

called

the

Unboi, which rocked us a ll the

way

to Lae

where

v e

spent a week's holiday. We were on

the Umboi 27 hours. That was quite

an

ex-

periencel The

relaxation

and change at Lae

j u s t

what the k ids

and I

needed . We

hadn't been out of the bush since January,

and i t always

takes

us a while

to get

used

to the

gli t ter

and prosperity of th e city

and i ts towns people. Seeing women in shorts

and slacks

is as

hard for

us^t^get

used to

now as when we

f i rs t

saw that a l l my bush

l ady

f r iends wear a re sk i r t s

1

Af t e r o u r

week t

Lae we f lew

to

Ukarumpa for a 2

week

language learn ing

workshop. We

had Daranpu flown

up to meet

us

a t Ukarumpa

to help us a t th e

workshop.

We

made some

breakthrough discoveries

in

the

grammar

of our language

and gained f luency

i n some o f th e diffi ult a r e a s . We set new

goals for language learning unt i l September

and

are very much enjoying our

progress .

There a re

no

sho r t cu t s

in

l ea rn ing a

new

language. I t s a l l just hard

work^

As always t he f el lowsh ip we

shared

a t

Ukarumpa was

great . We

have

been given

permission by SIL to build 2 PBT houses a t

Ukarumpa for PBT t r ans la tors . The language

learning workshop we

attended i s

the

only

one

we

can

at tend a l l year because

we

can

only attend

when SIL

has housing for us, and

they are always short

for

their own peoples'

housing. fe

ask

you

to pray with

us

tha t

25,000

would be

raised so

we

can build

two

houses

a t Ukarumpa, We a l l see it

as

our

biggest need, because withou t S IL 's

help a t

th i s

po in t

we can

make

l i t t l e

progress .

We

hope

you enjoy the

family

pic ture .

I t is long overdue. John and my sure have

grown in size, but

the

biggest th r i l l has

been to watch t he i r re la t ionsh ip with our

Lord

Jesus

Chr i s t grow.

We look forv&rd

to

seeing

you

a l l some

time a f t e r April

of

1981.

We continue

to

thank God

da i l y

fo r your f a i th fu lness to

Him,

u s ,

and

our

Gir l

people .

Love,

S h a r r a n

can be pre-nasalized which results

in

change of

th e

meaning of

the

words. F

example,

i f you

were wanting to

t e l l

someo

that you were trying something but

sa

pari i ns tead o f Mpari , you would hav

said

you

were

spi t t ing.

Food could

also

g

burned i f you Ndi in your

i ns tr uc ti on s i

s tead of d i .

The f i r s t

verb

mea

scratch and

th e second

means

s t i r

(th

food) .

Another

feature of

our

language

nasa l ized vowels . A ll

o f

the vowels in Ki

can be

nasalized,

so we wil l be using

diaeres is over the vowels i f

they

a

n a s a l i z e d . Nas a l i z e d vowe l s can

a l s o make

difference

in

the meaning of

words.

Y

might

intend to say tha t you were eat in

( gu pi ) ,

but

instead call yourself a

_animai_ia_

tall_C gu_piJu

The meaning of words can also be change

by a

feature called aspirat ion . It

can b

described

as

a puff

of

a ir

fol lowing th

pronounciation of

consonants, yet precedin

the pronunciation

of

the vowels. Fo

example,

put your

hand

about an

inch

i

front of

your

mouth

and

say puff . Do

yo

feel

the puff

of air? Now jus t say the P

withou t t he niff . So you feel

the

puf

Now t ry to say it without

the

puff

of a i r

That 's the

difference

between a P bein

asp i ra ted

and

unaspi ra ted .

In

Kire

the p , t , and k sounds can b

unaspira ted o r a sp ir at ed to give words

d i

, f e rent

meanings.

Rather

than c r ea t

d i f f e r en

symbols

for the

aspi rated

consonants ,

w

merely

combined

the

consonant symbols wi

h to make

ph,

th , and

kh .

The dif

fe rence

between

kh i

and k i i s

th e

d i f

ference

between cough and smile . I ha

to master

tha t dif ference to

be able to g

good

photographs

o f our-peoplfr, o r you wou

think they

were

always

sick

with

a coldI

There are some other in te res t ing fea ture

about the Kir e l anguage

tha t

rea l ly

make

i

di f fe ren t from English , but

instead

of t ry

ing to expla in them a l l

in

the newsle t te

we

wil l

br ing

back

a copy

o f

our

analys

when we re tu rn

on fur lough.

I know

from th

l e t t e r s

we

receive

tha t many of

you

ar

genuinely interes ted

in th i s

so r t of thin

and

wi l l enjoy s i t t i ng

down

and t ry ing

t

pronounce these words

an d im agine

what th

r e s t

of the words

in the language

a re

l ik

Well, le t

your imagination

run w ild knowin

t h a t ll t h e s e d i f f e r e n t

f ea tu r e s

(and

mor

can

and do

combine

in

many d i f f e r en t

com

b i n a t i o n s to

form th e

words i n

th e

Ki

language. Then remember to pray

for

us a

we

continue to

l eam

how to speak and unde

stand

a l l

t ha t

i s

spoken

to

us

in th i s

ne

l anguage .


7/8

r '

,1

.

K

f

m.

MM

mm


8/8

FURLOUGH

IN 8 l

The Pryor family wi l l be back in the

states in April of

1981

for

a

year of re s t

from t hei r l i n g u i s t i c work an d t r a v e l to

v i s i t with family f r i e n d s an d

s u p p o r t e r s .

If your

congregation

would

like for

them to

v i s i t and share the i r work w i t h you p l e a s e

c o n t a c t Kevin O B r ien immediately. He is

arranging th eir itin er ar y and th e sooner

you send your

request

the better. Please

s e n d y o u r reques ts to :

K e v i n

L .

O Br i en

R . R . 2 Box 2 6

Oakland

C i t y Indiana 47660

Or

ca l l 812-749-3351 o r 812-749-3132

Tentatively th e

P ry or s w ill trav el

th e

Un ited States in th e f o l l o w i n g fashion:

April 1981 - Ellwood City

Pennsylvania

May 1981 -

St i l l wat er

Oklahoma

June

1 9 8 1

-

O k l a h o n f l

- Te x a s

- New Mexico

- Ar i zona

July-August 1981

- Kentucky

-

Nor t h Ca r o l i n a

-

Tenn e s s e e

- Virg in ia

- West Virg in ia

September-October-November

1981

- ll no s

- I n d i a n a

December

1 9 8 1 - Pennsy lvan ia

-

Ohio

P I O N E E R B I B L E TR ANSLATOR S

David W. S h a r r a n 0 F r y e r M i s s i o n a r i e s

K evin L Donna

J ,

O B r i e n Forwarding

Agents

R. R. 2 Bo x 26

i

Oakland C i t y I n d i a n a

47660

happy

BIRTHD Y

my Our l i t t l e gir l i

g ro wi ng u pl

July 24

marks

Amy's

10th b irth

day

an d we

say

congratulations my

Non - P r of it O r g a n iz a ti

U.S . Pos t age

PAID

O a k l a n d Ci ty ,

I nd i ana

4.

ji ^

4766

Pe rmi t 7

i ;I[

li

J

ADDRESS

CORRECTION REQUESTED

Pryor David Sharran 1980 PNG

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