Skip to main content

a bit of waagilak

This one's for you mami.

My waawa BW and muluri AP were hanging around a bit today and BW asked about SN. AP translated my reply into Waagilak:

(note: i haven't checked my spelling and don't know how to put in Yolngu matha characters either. forgive!)

Banggul'yurru ngay ngulbitj dhang, ngarndimuya
(She's coming back cold season time, your mother).

Then BW and AP told me what to say next:

Barri ngay banggul'yurru babang' mirri nu
(Might be she's coming back with your father) (That is, she might be bringing back a husband)

And we all chuckled.

Then the next bit was for my privelege:

Ngarra ya yang'ngaraya nhina na baman'nu, birr
(I've stayed here for a long time now, shit.)

Ngarraya barri matha mirri nu banggul'yurru.
(I might go back speaking language.)

Too deadly eh? Thanks guys. :-)

Comments

Greg Dickson said…
yapa,

help! please explain. :-(
12:11 am
bulbul said…
So birr can be used as an expletive?
2:07 am
Greg Dickson said…
bulbul,

I'm not sure. The dictionary says birr is a time and locational intensifier. It might be like saying "I've stayed here for a bloody long time now". But BW translated it as 'shit' - not really as a swear word, but just as added emphasis to what's being said.

Oh and I checked my spelling, and was pleasantly surprised at my accuracy. Here's my booboos:

babang' should be baapang'
dhang should be thang and
nhina should be nhena.

The only thing I majorly stuffed up was putting in too many spaces. Here's my edited version:

Banggul'yurru ngay ngulbitjthang, ngarndimuya.
Barri ngay banggul'yurru baapang'mirrinu.
Ngarraya yang'ngaraya nhenana baman'nu, birr.
Ngarraya barri mathamirrinu banggul'yurru.

(Does this look right now anyone?)

But I still don't know how to use the proper Yolngu characters. :-(
1:22 pm
bulbul said…
Thnx for the explanation, both of you.
So apparently in Yan-nhangu

Ŋarra = I
Nhunu = you (Nominative, or perhaps Ergative?)
nhuŋku = you (Dative)
-urru = the case suffix indicating a language ("in X", like Finnish Translative case suffix -ksi in "suomeksi" - in Finnish, "englanniksi" - in English)
-pu/-bu = Genitive?
-gu = obviously meaning "about" here, but probably a case suffix (again, I have to think of Finnish Elative "-sta" also meaning "about", as in "tietoja euroopan uniosta" = information about EU)
yän = word, language

So how far off am I? :o)
9:07 am
Anonymous said…
evil eating blogger comments, twice in this post!

bulbul, you did well!

yän, nhunu and nhuŋku are right (it's nominative).

It's -murru, and it's technically the perlative case. It's used for talking about "in a language", and also "through X", "along X".

-pu/-bu is the 'associative', it's used for things like "marine fish" (water-pu fish) and stories "about" something (ŋumun'pu dhawal (something-pu story)) It's also used for denizen marking (e.g. I'm Canberra-bu, a Canberran).

-gu/-ku is the dative; marŋgi 'know' takes dative objects.

Claire
1:52 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Oscar-winning Coda and its (mis)representation of interpreting (or, why I almost walked out of the cinema)

Ok so I'm a linguist not a movie critic but I am an avid movie-goer - part of the generation of Australians raised by Margaret and David to appreciate cinema and think critically about it. (I've even reviewed a few things on this blog: Short-doco Queen of the Desert , short film Lärr and some discussion of the brilliant Croker Island Exodus here ).  At this years Oscars, the film Coda surprised many by taking out Best Picture. It seems like few people have even had a chance to see it. Here in little ol' Katherine, we have a brilliant film society at our local Katherine 3 cinema, where each fortnight we get to watch something a bit different. In late 2021, I had the chance to see Coda there, long before it was thought of as an Oscar contender. Now that Coda is being talked about more than ever before, I wanted to share my experience of watching the film - especially because in one scene in particular, I was so angry that I genuinely considered walking out of the cinema -...
3 comments
Luk mowa >>

Subtle features of Aboriginal English that I love: agreeing or confirming by copying

Linguists aren't supposed to play favourites, but I love Aboriginal English. Maybe because it's what the love of my life speaks and separating language from people and society isn't a realistic prospect. I'm lucky to regularly be around Aboriginal people speaking English in all sorts of ways and privileged to have insights into some of the more subtle ways in which Aboriginal ways of using English differ from the suburban white English I grew up speaking.  I want to share some of these more subtle features. Not just because I am fond of them but also because they seem to be features that escape the attention of most academic discussions of Aboriginal English / Aboriginal ways of using English. I'm going to skip over the complexities of what Aboriginal English is (and isn't) and also if/why that label is worth using at all (a chapter I wrote on Aboriginal English(es) dips into some of that discussion - email me if you want a copy). For brevity's sake, let...
18 comments
Luk mowa >>

The time Kriol went viral

Early in 2022, while doing my daily doomscroll on Twitter, I noticed Kriol becoming a topic of conversation. Excuse me, what? When part of my day job is trying to get non-Kriol speakers to pay attention to the fact that Kriol exists, I never expected Kriol to organically go viral! But it happened. And it wasn't cute. Kriol goes viral The story starts with Covid. In late 2021, the Aboriginal Health Council of WA  (AHCWA) created a few short Covid vaccination videos in some of WA's main Indigenous languages, nobly wanting to make sure remote Aboriginal residents were as safe from Covid as urban Westralians.  Made in collaboration with AIWA (Aboriginal Interpreting WA), five short videos appear on AHCWA's website - one with Mark McGowan on his own where he says: Hello, my name is Mark McGowan. I am the Premier of Western Australia. This is an important message to keep Aboriginal people safe. You can die from the Corona, or get really sick. It's time to get the Corona nee...
20 comments
Luk mowa >>