Wamesa and Tongan/Lexical Selection

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wad → ton

The Wamesa word matotap can mean to fall or to collapse.

  • (wad) matotap (to fall) → tō (ton)
    • Ex: Babinpai antumpai sumatotap. (The woman and child fall.)
  • (wad) matotap (to collapse) → holo (ton)

Example sentences

    • Ex: Aniopasiat simatotap. (The houses are collapsing.)

In Wamesa, mun means to hunt or to kill.

  • (wad) mun (hunt) → fakaʻete (ton)
    • Ex: Imun pimunapesi. (I am hunting a pig.)
  • (wad) mun (kill) → tāmateʻi (ton)
    • Ex: Imun muanpai. (I killed the man.)

ton → wad

The Tongan word tangi means to cry/weep as well as to ask/appeal.

  • (ton) (to cry/weep) tangi → sau (wad)
  • (ton) (to ask/appeal) tangi → utanusara (wad)

In Tongan, kakalu means either cricket or whistle. Generally speaking, kakalu will likely translate to cricket more often than whistle, because it is a secondary definition for whistle.

  • (ton) (large cricket or cicada) kakalu → sararer (wad)
  • (ton) (whistle) kakalu → nginggisi (wad)

Example sentences

In this example sentence, the lexical selection tool should choose the translation "nginggisi", because the "kakalu" is preceded by the verb "angi", which means to blow.

ʻOku ou angi e kakalu. (I blow the whistle.)


In this example, the translation "utanusara", because "tangi" is followed by the word for question.

ʻOku ou tangi a fehuʻi. (I ask a question.)