OUTOFPAPUA database: Lexicons of the West Papuan language area

•  bat.

Note: TUL, TOR, WAI, BNG, ROU, BAH, MRB, PAD, MRA, TOM, MEK, RAH, KOD, TOL, LAL, WAR: poniki. We recorded five terms for bats in the Bungku-Tolaki languages, and when they cooccur in the same isolect, they can be ranked according to relative size: koea (largest) > kalua > poniki > wilalae & mori (smallest). In some areas of Bungku, poniki serves as a generic term for bat, including both large and small varieties. [PMP *paniki ‘bat’ (Dempwolff, cited in Zorc 1971 2616)]