New Britain Survey: Where We Went

New Britain Island is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago - a group of islands off the coast of the PNG "mainland." There are two provinces located on New Britain, aptly named East New Britain and West New Britain (WNB). On the survey, we stayed in WNB, surveying three languages on the South coast (Apalik, Lesing-Gelimi and Avau) and one on the North coast (Bebeli). (Click each language's name for some information about it.)

One thing we wanted to find out on the survey is what the people themselves call their language - many language names around PNG were assigned by early researchers who may or may not have visited the area or asked people what they call their language. As a result of our research, the name Lesing-Gelimi will probably be changed... people living in the "Lesing-Gelimi" villages had never heard of Lesing-Gelimi before!

I made a map that shows all four language areas we visited; the computer is acting up and not let me post it directly here, but you can use the following link to see it.

[Click here to see map]

Making maps of the areas we've surveyed is my favorite part of my job, so the time I put into this map was a labor of love. :-) Maps like these will also be included in the survey report that we will write for each language.

Look for a post about how we traveled next - we went by dinghies with outboard motors, small outrigger canoes, and larger outrigger canoes with sails! On the north coast, we drove around in a pickup truck.