Presentation given at the workshop on Hawaiian, Oceanic and Global Cultural Astronomy, Hilo, 16-20 August 2015

1. Gary Holton
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Calistius Hachibmai
Yap State Dept of Education
Alicius Haleyalur
Yap Traditional Navigation Society
East is a Big Bird:
Altair and the Carolinian sidereal compass
Hawaiian,
Oceanic
and
Global
Cultural
Astronomy
Hilo,
16-­‐20
August
2015

2. Toward
an
interdisciplinary
approach
to
cultural
astronomy
The
following
is
a
cauConary
tale
of
the
dangers
of
disciplinary
research.
For
the
past
35
years
a
misunderstanding
regarding
the
meaning
of
the
Carolinian
star
Mailap
has
persisted.
Unraveling
this
mystery
requires
delving
into
the
boundaries
between
the
fields
of
astronomy
and
linguisCcs.

3. Thomas
Gladwin
(1970)
“on
Puluwat
the
cardinal
direcCon
is
east,
under
the
rising
of
Altair,
the
‘Big
Bird’”
(p.
148)

4. David
Lewis
(1972)
“The
cardinal
compass
point
and
basis
of
the
Carolinian
navigaConal
system
is
the
posiCon
where
Altair
rises
in
the
eastward....
If
an
island
has
a
bearing
of
81.5°
from
the
navigator,
he
will
describe
it
as
being
'under
the
Big
Bird',
the
rising
Altair.”
(p.
64)

5. Stephen
Thomas
(1987)
Altair
is
“the
cardinal
direcCon,
east,
under
Mailap,
the
‘Big
Bird’”
(p.
83)

6. Finney
(2007)
“the
compass
is
not
oriented
on
due
east,
but
on
rising
Altair
(Mailap:
'Big
Bird')”
(p.
160)

7. Caroline
Islands

8. Goodenough
(1953)
sidereal
compass

9. Mailap
‘the
big
bird’
mai
+
lap
?
+
‘main,
primary,
big’
maan
‘bird’
(Puw,
Stw)
mal
‘bird’
(Woe)
<
PMc
*manu
‘living
creature
of
land/air’

10. Another
Big
Bird
• Mannap
‘big
bird’,
or
simply
Mal
‘bird’,
spans
an
arc
of
58
degrees
across
the
southeastern
sky
(mannap
=
?maliulap
<
maliu+lap)
Mannap
looking
south
from
Yap
(9°31’
N,
138°08’
E)
on
February
15,
2015
at
8:00
PM
local
Cme
(UTC+10)

11. Mannap
vs.
Mailap
• Could
Gladwin
and
other
observers
have
confused
these
two
constellaCons?
• Mailap
rises
26
deg
to
the
east
of
Sirius,
the
primary
star
in
Mannap
• Mailap
rises
13
hours
ajer
Sirius

12. Goodenough
(1953)

14. Confusion
with
Aquila
‘the
bird’?
• Could
Gladwin
have
based
the
‘bird’
gloss
on
the
western
constellaCon
Aquila?
• páá
‘arm,
wing’
Pááyefáng
(Tarazed)
Pááyéér
(Alshain)
Mááylap
(Altair)

15. Or
a
linguisCc
misunderstanding?
• “In
a
short
Cme
I
regained
the
fluency
in
Trukese
which
I
had
acquired
twenty
years
earlier,
but
the
combinaCon
of
minor
dialecCcal
differences
and
the
fact
that
Trukese
was
a
second
language
for
both
me
and
my
Puluwat
informants
made
it
more
difficult
to
talk
with
some
people
than
with
others.”
(Gladwin
1970:134)
• “Samuel
H.
Elbert
prepared
a
dicConary
and
syntax
of
the
Puluwat
language
which
among
other
things
relieves
me
of
the
need
to
reproduce
naCve
terms
and
phoneCcs.
Accordingly,
I
use
only
English
equivalents
for
Puluwat
terms.”
(Gladwin
1970:vi)
• The
‘big
bird’
gloss
is
the
“English
equivalent”
of
Puw
Mááylap

16. Reflexes
of
PCk
*l
and
*n
Proto-­‐
Chuukic
Chuuk
Puluwat
Satawal
Woleai
‘bird,
living
being’
*manú
maan
maan
maan
maliu
‘big,
main’
*lapa
nap
lap
nap/lap
lap
‘big
bird
*manú-­‐
lapa
mannap
mallap
mannap
mannap
‘Altair’
*maati-­‐
lapa
Máánap
Mááyláp
Mainap
Mailap
Chk
Máánap
shows
irregular
loss
of
original
*i
with
*a
>
áá

17. Some
authors
more
circumspect
• Goodenough,
from
whom
Gladwin
draws
heavily
for
both
star
names
and
the
layout
of
the
sidereal
compass,
says
merely
that
“the
meaning
of
the
name
is
obscure.
It
is
the
main
*maa,
….”
(1953:
12
• Alkire
(1970:
44)
does
not
offer
a
translaCon
for
the
star
Mailap
but
does
suggest
that
the
companion
stars
Tarazed
and
Alshain
in
the
constellaCon
Mailap
have
names
which
translate
as
‘line
to
the
north’
and
‘line
to
the
south’,
respecCvely.
• Riesenberg,
who
was
with
Gladwin
in
Puluwat
in
1967,
makes
no
asempt
to
gloss
Altair
in
his
detailed
study
of
Puluwat
navigaConal
knowledge
(1972).

18. So
what
is
*maC?
• Woi
mai
‘breadfruit’
<
PMc
*mai
• Woi
mmaiye
‘taut,
sail
into
the
wind’
(ojen
east,
i.e.,
toward
rising
Altair)
<
PCk
*mai(a)
• Woi
mailap
denotes
a
region
below
the
umbilicus
which
is
treated
in
a
certain
kind
of
tradiConal
massage.
In
this
pracCce
the
term
mailap
is
used
to
refer
to
a
central
area
of
the
abdomen
under
the
umbilicus
which
is
massaged
as
a
part
of
healing.
• Mortlokese
mailap
is
both
(i)
an
alternate
term
for
‘navel’;
and
(ii)
‘a
certain
form
of
massage’
(Odango,
p.c.)
• Meilap
is
a
place
name
on
the
west
coast
of
Pohnpei
(Sohl,
p.c.;
Panholzer
&
Mauricio
2003)

19. Why
does
the
‘Big
Bird’
survive?
• Gladwin
provided
an
otherwise
compelling
and
accurate
descripCon
of
Puluwat
navigaCon
• The
etymology
was
encapsulated
in
a
catchy
Ctle
• ConflaCon
of
two
important
concepts
– The
big
bird
Mannap
(i.e.,
the
constellaCon
centered
on
Sirius)
– Mailap,
the
central
point
of
the
Carolinian
sidereal
compass
• Linguists
and
astronomers
don’t
talk
to
each
other

20. Selected
References
Alkire,
W.H.
1970.
Systems
of
measurement
on
Woleai
Atoll,
Caroline
Islands.
Anthropos
65
(1/2):
1-­‐73.
Bender,
B.,
et
al.
2003.
Proto-­‐Micronesian
ReconstrucCons.
Oceanic
LinguisCcs
42
(1):
1-­‐110,
42
(2):
271-­‐358.
Elbert,
S.H.
1972.
Puluwat
DicConary.
Canberra:
Australian
NaConal
University,
Research
School
of
Pacific
Studies,
Dept.
of
LinguisCcs.
Finney,
B..
2007.
TradiConal
navigaCon.
In
K.R.
Howe
(ed.)
Vaka
Moana:
Voyages
of
the
Ancestors;
The
Discovery
and
Seslement
of
the
Pacific,
156-­‐85.
Auckland:
David
Bateman
and
Auckland
Museum.
Gladwin,
T.
1970.
East
is
a
big
bird:
NavigaCon
and
logic
on
Puluwat
Atoll.
Harvard.
Goodenough,
W.H.
1953.
NaCve
astronomy
in
the
Central
Carolines.
University
Museum,
University
of
Pennsylvania.
Johnson,
R.K
&
J.K.
Mahelona.
1975.
Nā
Inoa
Hōkū:
A
Catalogue
of
Hawaiian
and
Pacific
Star
Names.
Honolulu:
Togallant
Publishing.
Lewis,
D.
1972.
We,
the
Navigators:
The
Ancient
Art
of
Landfinding
in
the
Pacific,
2nd
ed.
Honolulu:
UH
Press.
Panholzer,
T.
&
R.
Mauricio.
2003.
Place
Names
of
Pohnpei
Island,
Including
And
(Ant)
and
Pakin
Atolls.
Honolulu:
Bess
Press.
Riesenberg,
S.H.
1972.
The
organisaCon
of
navigaConal
knowledge
on
Puluwat.
JPS
81(1):
19-­‐56.
Thomas,
S.D.
1987.
The
Last
Navigator.
New
York:
Henry
Holt.

21. Acknowledgements
• Ali
Haleyalur
• Calistus
Hachibmai
• Jerry
Lipka
• Don
Rubenstein
• Ken
Rehg
• Bob
Blust
• Emmerson
Odango
• Damian
Sohl
This
material
is
based
upon
work
supported
by
the
NaConal
Science
FoundaCon
under
Grants
No.
OPP-­‐1203194,
OPP-­‐1317245.