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Australian
Languages
See also: Writing,
reading and pronouncing Yolngu languages
Surprisingly some
110 languages/dialects are still spoken fluently in Australia,
which is about one third of the original number spoken. Aboriginal
languages were not written and there is still some difficulties
with spelling conventions. Several Aboriginal sounds don’t
have English equivalents, and so a combination of these factors
has led to misnaming, misidentification and much confusion
about the particular plant or animal concerned. This has implications
for potential bushfood and medicinal plants where misidentification
may be dangerous.
[Please note;
the following hypertext links are to sound files that are
a little quiet - my apologies, you may have to turn up the
volume a little]
Australians are
particularly ignorant of their indigenous languages and there
are relatively very few non-Aboriginal speakers of Aboriginal
languages. The media make a concerted effort to pronouce non-English
names for various multicultural events and significant individuals,
but they still fail to correctly pronounce Aboriginal words.
Yothu Yindi have been in the
public’s eye for a decade now, yet most of us can’t pronounce
the band’s name, let alone names such as Manduwuy
Yunupingu or his brother Galarrwuy
or Gatjil Djerrkura, all of whom hold prominent cultural and
professional positions, including the title 'Australian of
the Year'. Knowing a language can be particularly useful,
in fact, probably essential, when working in the fields of
ethnobotany and ethnoecology. It allows for greater clarity
of interpretation, less ambiguity with nomenclature and greater
raport with indigenous consultants.
Some simple, basic
rules of pronunciation for Aboriginal languages are as follows;
1. Stress
(accent) for most Australian languages is usually on the first
syllable. (Examples: Gundungurra
[which probably should be spelt Gandangarra]- the local Blue
Mountains people, Gunwinggu
- a western Arnhem Land language group.)
2. The letters
t, p, & k, sound more like d,
b & g respectively - Aboriginal languages
generally are not as highly aspirated as English. (Example:
Tjapukai - a Nth Queensland
coastal language)
3.
‘Ng’ at the beginning
of Aboriginal words is very common eg; ngayulu
(I), ngalkun (eat),
ngura (home) are Pitjantjatjara
examples; ngali (we
two), ngarali (tobacco)
and ngatha (plant food)
are Yolngu matha examples.
- tj has
more of a dy sound (Example: tjitji)
- ny is
as ni in onion (Example: nyinanyi,
nyuntu)
- ly as
lli in million (Example: palya)
- dh is
like a d, but the tip of the tongue is placed between
the teeth (common in Top End languages). (Example: Dharug
and Dharawal - Sydney
language groups)
4. There are
two kinds of r. Retroflex r is like the American r and
often occurs before an n, l or t and is often written without
the preceeding r and underlined viz; n, l
& t. (Examples: punu, punu;
tjuntala, tjuntala;
tjuta, tjuta.- I've
had to write these twice because hypertext covers the position
of the underline.)
There is also a
sharp or rolled r as in the Scottish r, and often written
as rr. (Example: Galarrwuy,
Yirrkala)
Care must be taken
to pronounce correctly (and obviously to record carefully),
the subtle differences in sound to avoid ambiguity. For example,
in Pitjantjatjara, the word piti
refers to a large wooden dish, whereas, piti
(with a retroflex r before the t - indicated by the underlining)
is a hole in the ground.
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