Woiwurrung language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Woiwurrung | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Victoria | |
| Language extinction: | ? | |
| Language family: | Pama-Nyungan South-East Kulin? Woiwurrung |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | aus | |
| ISO/FDIS 639-3: | ? wou ? | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Woiwurrung (sometimes spelt Woiwurrong, Woiworung, Wuywurung) is an Indigenous Australian language spoken by some of the Kulin Nation clans of Victoria, from Mount Baw Baw in the east to Mount Macedon, Sunbury and Gisborne in the west.
The Woiwurrung clans inhabited the Yarra River (called Birrarung in Woiwurrung) before European displacement. The clans include:
- The Wurrundjeri-willam, who occupied the Yarra River and its tributaries and inhabited the area now covered by the city of Melbourne. Referred to initially by Europeans as the Yarra tribe.
- The Marin-Bulluk
- The Kurung-Jang-Bulluk
- The Wurundjeri-Balluk
- The Balluk-willam
Wurundjeri is now the common term for descendants of all the Woiwurrung clans. Their totems are Bunjil the eagle and Kaa the crow.
The Jindyworobak Movement claimed to have taken their name from a Woiwurrung phrase jindi worobak meaning to annex or join.
Contents |
[edit] Consonants
| Labial | Apical | Laminal | Dorsal | Velar | Alveolar | Retrofex | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental | Palatal | ||||||||
| Stop | b/p | d/t | rd/rt | dh/th | dj/tj | g/k | |||
| Nasal | m | n | nh | ny/- | ng | rn | |||
| Lateral | l | rl | |||||||
| Rhotic | rr | r | |||||||
| Glide | y | w | |||||||
[edit] 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.
| Singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person inclusive | wangal | wanganyin | |
| 1st person exclusive | wan | wangan | wanganyinyu |
| 2nd person | warr, | wabul | wat gurrabil(la), wat balak, wat wurundhu |
| 3rd person | munyi | munyi garrabil | malu gurrabila |
Translation of the words
- Wangal = you and I.
- Wangan = we two.
- Munyi gurrabil = they two.
- Munyi gurrabila = they.
[edit] See also
[edit] Reference
Barry J. Blake. 1991 Woiwurrung In: The Aboriginal Language of Melbourne and Other Sketches, ed. R. M. W. Dixon and Barry J. Blake, pp. 31-124, OUP, Handbook of Australian Languages 4.
