Kilivila love poem

Mapana Saribu

Kamgigisa o saribu

Sena pilamanabweta ula yeyona

Bukunanakwa, taga bitamwau

Besa kalavigimikoila, Ayobwelim.

Kilivila translation and audio by Aggie Martin
Saisai love poem

Book of poetry "La Glace"
Original version
French poem

Kilivila language

Love poem translated into Kilivila (Kiriwina) the Austronesian language, from the Papuan tip, spoken in the Trobriand Islands (Milne Bay province) in Papua New Guinea.

If this translation comes from Losuia on the main island (Kiriwina), Kilivila has three or four dialects (Kitava, Vakuta, and Sinaketa).

The main island has 19,000 inhabitants, and the other islands, around 3,000.

The Kilivila lexicon has important similarities with Muyuw (southeast) and Dobu (Southwest).

The Trobriand Islands

The Trobriand Islands are a group of atolls which form an archipelago in the East of Papua New Guinea.

They were first approached by the French in 1793, who called them Trobriand, the name of the first lieutenant, of the ship L'Espérance.

The Trobriands are known from the work of Malinowski on the sexual freedom of its inhabitants , and on the importance of the kula in all these islands.

Papuan Tip languages
Nimoa - Motu - Kaninuwa - Suau - Kuni - Roro - Keapara - Taboro - Nimoa
Poem translated into kilivila (554 languages)