I learned a cool new Rembarrnga word yesterday.
Me n my wawa were listening to an old recording of him telling a story and halfway, I lost what he was talking about.
"We saw two policeman", he translated for me. But I couldn't hear where he was talking about any blijiman (Kriol for policeman).
And so my wawa taught me that Rembarrnga has its own word for policeman (which is what he said on the recording):
Nguwahjœrrœ.
It's my favourite new word which I'm going to use now, and say, "Nguwahjœrrœ baganh!". (There's a policeman there!).
Note: Question for further thought - What's the cultural significance of the fact that the Rembarrnga word for policeman incorporates the Rembarrnga word for 'cheeky' or 'a thing to be wary of'...
Me n my wawa were listening to an old recording of him telling a story and halfway, I lost what he was talking about.
"We saw two policeman", he translated for me. But I couldn't hear where he was talking about any blijiman (Kriol for policeman).
And so my wawa taught me that Rembarrnga has its own word for policeman (which is what he said on the recording):
Nguwahjœrrœ.
It's my favourite new word which I'm going to use now, and say, "Nguwahjœrrœ baganh!". (There's a policeman there!).
Note: Question for further thought - What's the cultural significance of the fact that the Rembarrnga word for policeman incorporates the Rembarrnga word for 'cheeky' or 'a thing to be wary of'...
Comments
Lots of love to Ngukurr from Frankfurt!
M.
McGregor, William B., 2000, Cockatoos, chaining-horsemen, and mud-eaters. Anthropos 953-22.
Greg Anderson
G.