5) KAMTOK VOCABULARY

Most Kamtok words are from English, but many have been widened in meaning. For example, 'buk' means a book, can also mean letter or anything written.
There are also many borrowed words from local languages. 'Savi buk' to mean ‘know book’ refers to educated.

There are many loan translations from local languages. For example, idiomatic phrases are usually directly translated from local vernaculars:

drai ai : dry + eye = 'courage’
krai dai : cry + die = 'wake'
put han : put + hand = 'help'
haf dai : half + die = 'difficult'

In early Kamtok, only a few words only were borrowed in the plural form:
ans : 'ant'
ashis : 'ash'
bins : 'bean'
tit : 'tooth/teeth'

Plurals have been taken into the language, the most widely used of which are:
aidiaz :'ideas'
chips :'chips, crisps'
machis :'matches'
pleaz :'football players'
sohks :'socks'
twinz : 'twins'

In addition, a few uncountable words have been pluralised:
advaisis :'pieces of advice'
johngks :'items of junk'
slangz :'slang terms

Non-English vocabulary relates to culture and kinship
ngɔmbi : a ghost, spirit of the dead.
danshiki :a tunic-like shirt
mbanya :co-wife in a polygamous family,
mbombo :someone with the same name
as someone else,
njamanjama :green vegetables.