Words 1
Activity example: binang Bundjalung word for ‘ear’
· In most NSW languages ‘p’ and ‘b’ are interchangeable, as are ‘g’ and ‘k’, and ‘t’ and ‘d’. Bundjalung uses the ‘b’, ‘g’ and ‘d’ forms. You could use either ‘p’ or ‘b’, as the sound is somewhere in between and does not make a difference in meaning unlike in English ‘pop’ and ‘bop’.
· There are usually only 3 vowels in NSW languages; ‘a’, ‘i’ and ‘u’. (In some languages there are long versions of these). When ‘e’ occurs in early manuscripts it often represents a variety of the ‘i’ sound. Similarly, when some recorders wrote ‘a’ and others ‘o’ it is probably ‘a’. Additionally, ‘u’ before –‘ng’ (or indeed any consonant at the end of a word) often meant the sound was like the central vowel in the English words ‘sung’ and ‘hung’. In Aboriginal languages this sound is represented by ‘a’.
1. baygal Bundjalung word for ‘man’
· ‘ay’ in Bundjalung can be said as in ‘aye’ (aye, aye captain!) or ‘ray’. The early recorders probably heard both and used several ways to represent the sound.
· The middle sound was written by one recorder as ‘c’, to represent a ‘k’ sound, as in English ‘because’, while the others wrote ‘g’. Again this shows how ‘g’ and ‘k’ are interchangeable like ‘b/p’ and ‘d/t’.
· For the final sound, the letters ‘ul’, ‘le’ and ‘al’ were meant to show an ‘al’ sound, probably unstressed and difficult to hear clearly (as in the English ‘total, awful or little’).
2. ngarrawan Dharug word for ‘distant’
· The ‘ng’ sound is a common sound in the first position in Aboriginal languages. It is not, however, a familiar sound in this position for English speakers and therefore was often not heard and not recorded even though it had been said.
· The ‘rr’ is used because the people recording the language in writing indicate that they heard the ‘r’ sound yet it was distinct from an English ‘r’.
3. wali Gundungurra word for ‘possum’
· Most Aboriginal words begin with a consonant, not a vowel (a, i, u), so this word would have begun with ‘w’. Often early recorders used a double letter – here ‘ll’ – to show that the sound before the double letter was short. This shows how English spelling conventions impacted on early written records.
· Often some sounds are affected by the sounds around them. It is possible that the ‘a’ after ‘w’ was pronounced as in ‘call’. This is supported by the symbols ‘â’ and ‘ooà’. Comparisons with other languages can also help, where you might find that indeed ‘a’ after ‘w’ is pronounced as in the English ‘call’.
4. thuruyaal Gamilaraay word for ‘right hand’
· ‘th’ or ‘dh’ is a common sound in Aboriginal languages and is said with the tongue tip up against the front top teeth. It is not a familiar sound to English speakers, so often people thought it was simply ‘t’ or ‘d’.
· The ‘u’ sound is one of the three main vowel sounds in Aboriginal languages and was often represented using ‘oo’.
· Most Aboriginal words have a pattern of consonant, vowel, consonant etc. So when early recorders wrote ‘ia’ etc. it was most likely ‘iyal’ or ‘uyal’ or as here ‘uyaal’.
5. yalayn Bundjalung word for ‘tongue’
· The ‘u’/‘a’ variation (plus the double ‘ll’) suggests that this was a short ‘a’ sound (this sound is represented in English by ‘u’ - ‘cull’).
· The final sound in this word is ‘ny’. (This sound is sometimes written as ‘yn’ at the end of words). It is a common Aboriginal sound but is unfamiliar to English speakers, particularly at the end of words. The closest in English is as in ‘news’ or ‘banyan’. The early recorders tried many ways to record this sound. Additionally, the final ‘ny’ often affects the way the middle vowel is pronounced. So the fact that the early recorders wrote ‘ing’ and ‘an’ indicates that we have an unfamiliar vowel sound in the second syllable and it is due to the final ‘ny’ sound.
6. darigan Bundjalung word for ‘bone’
· Once again the ‘t’/‘d’ contrast does not matter. Bundjalung uses ‘d’.
· Vowels:
o In the first section, the ‘a, e and u’ contrast points to ‘a’.
o In the second syllable ‘i/e’ = ‘i’
o The variation between ‘u, o and a’ in the final part of the word indicates ‘a’ (e.g. ‘bun’ in English)
· The second consonant has been written here as ‘rr’, ‘r’ and ‘d’. This shows that the sound is not like an English ‘r’ sound. It is more like a quick tap of the tip of the tongue against the bony ridge behind the top front teeth. It is often represented by ‘rr’ in NSW languages which have two ‘r’ sounds. Bundjalung has only the one ‘r’ sound so only needs to use the one letter ‘r’.
7. waybarr Bundjalung word for ‘fire’
· The first sound is said like the English ‘why’ or the letter ‘y’. If we had only the written record ‘wibbera’, we might think it is a short ‘i’ sound like in English ‘window’, however, the other recordings indicate the correct sound.
· The final sound is a rolled or tapped ‘r’. This is not found in English, so the early recorders struggled to write it. They interpreted the ‘rr’ sound as an ‘r’ plus a vowel - ‘era’, ‘urra’, ‘orough’.
8. yaburr Bundjalung word for ‘one’
· The variation in how the final part of this word has been written suggests that it is actually a rolled/tapped ‘rr’.
o mishearing ‘l’ instead of ‘rr’
o mishearing ‘uru’ instead of ‘urr’
o ‘yabbroo’ supports the idea that it is a two, not three, syllable word.
9. burruluu Gamilaraay word for ‘fly’
· ‘b’ and ‘p’ are variants of the same sound.
· ‘oo’ indicates the ‘u’ sound.
· The ‘r’/’d’ variation in the middle of the word indicates a rolled or tapped ‘r’.
Probably because of a lack of evidence, linguists disagree over the final sound in this word. (i.e. short or long ‘u’) OR – Due to a lack of evidence, it is difficult to know if the final sound is a long or short ‘u’.
References
Besold, J 2003, A Sketch Grammar of Gundungurra (Gandangara) – A ‘sleeping’ language from south-eastern New South Wales. Melbourne: BA Honours Thesis, University of Melbourne
Thieberger, N (ed.) 1995, Paper and Talk – A manual for reconstituting materials in Australian indigenous languages from historical sources. Canberra: AIATSIS
Troy, J 1994, The Sydney Language Canberra: J Troy