Woiwurrung–Taungurung language
Pama–Nyungan language spoken in Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Woiwurrung, Taungurung and Boonwurrung[3] are Aboriginal languages of the Kulin nation of Central Victoria. Woiwurrung was spoken by the Woiwurrung and related peoples in the Yarra River basin, Taungurung by the Taungurung people north of the Great Dividing Range in the Goulburn River Valley around Mansfield, Benalla and Heathcote, and Boonwurrung by the six clans which comprised the Boonwurrung people along the coast from the Werribee River, across the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory. They are often portrayed as distinct languages, but they were mutually intelligible.[4] Ngurai-illamwurrung (Ngurraiillam) may have been a clan name, a dialect, or a closely related language.[1]
| Woiwurrung–Taungurung | |
|---|---|
| Melbourne, Woiwurrung[1] | |
Wominjeka 'welcome' at the entrance of Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, within Melbourne Museum | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Victoria |
| Ethnicity | Woiwurrung, Wurundjeri, Taungurung, Boonwurrung, ?Ngurelban, etc. |
| Extinct | by 2004[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:wyi – Woiwurrungdgw – Daungwurrung |
| Glottolog | woiw1237 |
| AIATSIS[1] | S36, S37 |
 The five Kulin nations. Woiwurrung proper is in yellow, Taungurung is in the northeast in green, Boonwurrung is in the southeast in cyan. | |
Phonology
Consonants
The following is the Woiwurrung dialect:
It is not clear if the two rhotics are trill and flap, or tap and approximant.
Vowels
The exact qualities of vowels in Woiwurrung are unclear, due to conflicting transcription in early written accounts.[5] Blake describes Woiwurrung as having at least three vowels, though mentions that there could be as many as six, much like Hercus' descriptions of Wemba Wemba.[6] Hercus describes Woiwurrung as having five vowels, though noting that the vowel /o/ was potentially quite limited in use.[7] Both describe an amount of allophonic variation within each vowel.[6][7]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | (o) | |
| Open | a |
Allophonic variation
Woiwurrung appears to have had a number of consistent allophonic variations in vowel sounds, particularly those following /w/ or when next to a laminal consonant. /a/ seems to have been pronounced closer to /æ/ when next to a laminal consonant and /ɒ/ when following /w/.[8]
Pronouns
In the case of the Woiwurrung pronouns, the stem seems to be the standard ngali 'you and I', but the front was suffixed to wa-, so wa+ngal combines to form wangal below.[9] In Kulin languages there is no grammatical gender.[10]
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woi. | IPA | Eng. | Woi. | IPA | Eng. | Woi. | IPA | Eng. | |
| 1st Inc. | Wangal | [wa.ŋal] | We two (you) | Wanganyin | [wa.ŋa.ɲin] | We (& you) | |||
| 1st Exc. | Wan | [wan] | I | Wangan | [wa.ŋan] | We two (not you) | Wanganyinyu | [wa.ŋa.ɲi.ɲu] | We (not you) |
| 2nd | Warr | [war] | You | Wabul | [wa.bul] | You two | Wat gurrabil Wat gurrabilla Wat balak Wat wurdundhu |
[wat ɡu.ra.bil] [wat ɡu.ra.bil.la] [wat ba.lak] [wat wu.ɖun.d̪u] |
You |
| 3rd | Munyi | [mu.ɲi] | He/She/It | Munyi gurrabil | [mu.ɲi ɡu.ra.bil] | Those two | Malu gurrabila | [ma.lu ɡu.ra.bi.la] | They |
Vocabulary
- biik = land, country
- boorondara = shade, darkness, night (origin of the name of the City of Boroondara)
- nyilum biik = poor soil / hard land (origin of the name of Nillumbik Shire)
- wominjeka = hello / welcome (womin = come, je [dji] = asking to come, ka = purpose)
- yabber = to talk (this word, with the same meaning, has made its way into informal English)[11]
- yarra = flowing, (also means "hair"). It is thought to have been mistakenly given to the Yarra River (referred to as Birrarrung in the Woiwurrung language) by an early settler who asked a boy what it was called, who was confused and answered "it is flowing".
Number and sign system
A numbering system was used when Wurundjeri clans sent out messengers to advise neighbouring clans of upcoming events, such as a ceremony, corroboree, a challenge to fight or Marn grook ball game. Messengers carried a message stick with markings to indicate the number and type of people involved and a prop to indicate the type of event, such as a ball for a Marn grook event. The location of meeting was spoken, but neighbouring clans might not use the same language, so a sign language was used to indicate the number of days in the future when the people should assemble. The number was indicated by pointing to a location on the body from 1 to 16. After 16, at the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body.[12]
| Numeral | Spoken number | Sign of the number | Literal meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bubupi-muningya | little finger | child of the hand |
| 2 | bulato-ravel | third finger | little larger |
| 3 | bulato | middle finger | larger |
| 4 | urnung-meluk | forefinger | urnung means a direction, meluk means a large grub found in some eucalypti |
| 5 | babungyi-muningya | thumb | the mother of the hand |
| 6 | krauel | wrist-joint | |
| 7 | ngurumbul | the divergence of the radial tendons | a fork |
| 8 | jeraubil | the swelling of the radial muscles | |
| 9 | thambur | the inside of the elbow-joint | a round place |
| 10 | berbert | biceps | the ringtail possum and also the name of the armlet made from the pelt of that animal, worn on the bicep during festive occasions |
| 11 | wulung | shoulder-joint | |
| 12 | krakerap | the collar-bone | the place where the bag hangs by its band |
| 13 | gurnbert | the neck | reed necklace, or place where the reed necklace is worn |
| 14 | kurnagor | the lobe of the ear | the point or end of a hill, or of a spur or ridge |
| 15 | ngarabul | the side of the skull | a range or the ridge of a hill |
| 16 | bundial | top of the head | the cutting-place, the place where the mourner cuts himself with some sharp instrument, from budagra meaning to cut |
| 17+ | From the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body. 17 is the other side of the skull. | ||
