1 |
garlugun
|
2 |
bularri
|
3 |
bularri-garlugun
|
4 |
bularri-bularri |
5 |
bularri-bularri-garlugun
|
6 |
bularri-bularri-bularri |
However, to produce a simpler way of dealing with numbers in
the modern world, Gumbaynggirr revitalisers have decided to
change some of the old numbers and create new ones using a
number of different strategies:
3 |
guga |
back-formation
from gugaamgan
(emu – three toes) |
4 |
daan |
back-formation
from daan.gi
(claws – four toes) |
5 |
marla |
back-formation
from maarla
(hand – five fingers) |
6 |
jugu |
extending meaning
from jugu (group) |
7 |
duwa |
back-formation
from duuwa
(boomerang – seven shape) |
8 |
janya |
back-formation
from janyaany
(octopus – eight arms) |
9 |
wagaa |
back-formation
from wagaarr
(axe – nine shape) |
10 |
ngaal |
back-formation
from ngaala
(across – like Roman X for ten) |
100 |
giya |
back-formation
from giiya
(centipede – 100 feet) |
1000 |
windalbang |
adding suffixes and extending meaning
from winda
(star) -lbang
(large number – as many as stars) |
1,000,000 |
minyalbang |
adding suffixes and extending meaning
from minya
(thing) -lbang
(large number) |
yitpiwarra |
seed word |
meaning |
wiltawarra |
hard
word |
term |
wapiwarra |
perform word |
verb |
Morelli, S. (2008). New Words, in Gumbaynggirr dictionary
and learner's grammar: Gumbaynggirr bijaarr jandaygam,
ngaawa gugaarrigam (pp.137-150). Nambucca Heads,
Australia: Muurrbay Aboriginal Language & Culture
Co-operative. Available from https://muurrbay.org.au/publications-and-resources/publications/
Amery, R. (1993). Encoding new concepts in old
languages: A case study of Kaurna, the language of the
Adelaide Plains. Australian
Aboriginal Studies, 1, 37-47. Available from https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/INFORMIT.153761834837542
Giacon, G.
(J.) (2001). Creating new words in Gamilaraay and
Yuwaalaraay. School of Languages, Cultures and
Linguistics, University of New England: BA Honours thesis.
Simpson, J. (1985). How Warumungu people express new
concepts. Language in
Central Australia, 4, 12-25. Available from https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/5794.
These are the main processes for creating new words that are most likely to have potential for use by Australian languages undergoing reclamation:
While any of these processes
can be used in a planned way by revivers to create new words, as
languages return to health it is likely that natural processes
will take over. Living languages cannot be controlled!
Special thanks are due to
Christina Eira of the Victorian
Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, Rob
Amery
of the University of South Australia, and Steve Morelli of
Muurrbay
Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative for the
provision of many of the examples in these section, as well as to
Mari Rhydwen of the Office of the Board of Studies NSW , and Susan
Poetsch of the University of Sydney who were both
helpful critics throughout.
Awabakal
wangkalkay
|
foolish |
from wangkal (fool) |
wanaykay
|
childish |
from wanay (child) |
ngarrakay
|
wise |
from ngarra (know) |
Nyangumarta
tjanytjapinti
|
thermometer |
from tjanytja (heat) |
katjanapinti
|
chair |
from katjana
(sit) |
ngarnkapinti
|
razor |
from ngarnka
(beard) |
Kaurna
kanthi-ana |
trousers |
from kanthi (thigh) |
mukarti-ana |
hat |
from mukarta (head) |
tiki-ana |
waistcoat |
from tiki (ribs) |
turti-ana |
jacket |
from turti (arm) |
nuki-ana |
handkerchief |
from nuki (snot) |
Many Australian languages have suffixes that offer the
following possibilities for creating new words:
This is a common way for English
to form new words and can be seen in recently created verbs
like task and text (I tasked him with texting Sue the meeting
time.) that have been converted from the nouns task and text,
as well as verbs like green (The council is planning to green
the town square.) converted from the adjective green.
This process is also found in many
Australian languages, although they must often also add
suffixes associated with the new word class that makes
the process more explicit. For example, Pitjantjatjara can
convert the adjective ninti
(aware) to a verb (know), but must also add a suffix to
produce a spoken form like nintini
(knows/knowing), or nintinu (knew).
Joining two words together to make a new
word or a fixed expression is found in many languages.
Australian languages have a long history of using this
process.
English speakers are very familiar with compounded words
like intake, upkeep, dragonfly, waterfall, carpark and
timekeeper, although they can sometimes be unsure whether to
write them as one word, hyphenate them or write them as
separate words.
Often such compounds are descriptive of the behaviour,
function or appearance of the thing they refer to, like the
early Gumbaynggirr compound for telephone, muya-bang-giing
(breath is flying) or the new Yuwaalaraay word gayrragumbirri (electric
brain) for computer.
Woiwurrung
galkgawang |
bone
head |
skull
|
yarramirring |
hair
eye |
eyebrow |
yarrangurnduk |
hair
chin |
beard |
budhundjinang |
sore
foot |
chillblain |
Pitjantjatjara
pina
pati |
ear
closed |
deaf |
kuru
pati |
eye
closed |
blind |
tjaa
pati |
mouth
closed |
dumb |
nyinakati |
sit
carry |
sit
down! |
ngarakati |
stand
carry |
stand
up! |
kunytjulpunganyi |
phlegm
hitting |
coughing |
nyuulpunganyi |
snot
hitting |
blowing
nose |
ulkapatjunanyi |
vomit
putting |
throwing
up |
Compounding is a method that could easily be used to create
many new words in a reviving language.
All languages borrow
from other languages. Australian languages have always
borrowed from their neighbours and are well known for the high
level of sharing they display as a family. English is also a
great borrower from other languages which is one reason it
stays so strong. Some estimates suggest that around 70% of the
words currently being used by English speakers are borrowed.
From very
early on Australian languages began to borrow from foreign languages. Even before English was spoken in
Australia, several languages from the Top End had borrowed
around 500 words from Indonesia like rrupiya (rupee, from
India) for money and balanda
(Hollander) for Europeans.
As soon as people began encountering whitefellas
here they quickly began borrowing words for the new animals
they brought with them and the goods and technology they
possessed, adapting the sounds of English into their own
language:
Bandjalang
bujigehn |
(pussy) cat |
bulahwa |
flour |
dindihj |
(tin) dish |
gabugahn |
(cob of) corn |
ganjibal |
police (constable) |
garenggi |
cranky |
Pitjantjatjara
puluki |
bullock |
tjuka |
sugar |
rayipula |
rifle |
makiti |
gun (musket) |
waya |
wire |
mutukayi |
(motor) car |
tjampita |
cup |
panikin |
pan (pannikin) |
pulangkita |
blanket |
However, some revivers are concerned by the high level of
borrowing from English that has already taken place. They
argue that other strategies like adding
suffixes and extending
meanings of traditional words are better options to
prevent the influence of English getting any stronger. It’s up
to the community to decide.
Loan translation is similar to borrowing words,
except that it involves extended expressions that are
translated word-by-word. English frequently uses loan
translations including, from Chinese; lose face, brainwashing,
long time-no see and paper tiger, and from German;
stormtrooper, rainforest, beergarden, superman and
concertmaster.
There are not many examples of this process being applied
historically in Australian languages. However, some modern
revivers are making use of it, such as for the names of the
days of the week developed for Gumbaynggirr:
Sunday |
Sun’s day |
Ngayan.ga |
sun one |
Monday |
Moon’s day |
Giidanyga |
moon one |
Tuesday |
Tiw’s (Germanic goddess) day |
Birrugan.ga |
Birrugan
(first man) one |
Wednesday |
Wodan’s (Germanic god) day |
Bimiirrga |
middle one |
Thursday |
Thor’s (Germanic god) day |
Burruumgayga |
thunder one |
Friday |
Frige’s (Germanic goddess) day |
Gawnggan.ga |
Gawnggan
(first woman) one |
Saturday |
Saturn’s (Roman god) day |
Birraarlga |
birraarl
(planet) one |
Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were
closely in touch with the cycles of the sun and moon, as far
as we know, they didn’t count the days of the week or
recognise weeks as a unit of time, so the concept of having
named days in a seven-day week is itself culturally foreign.
Some
revivers outside Australia, such as the Maori, express concern
that loan translations like these, where the concepts of a
foreign culture are translated into a local language on top of
the idea of counting days, are a greater cause for concern
that simply borrowing words. They argue that just borrowing
the word Thursday and changing the sound (say, to Tjaatjayi), without also attempting to
translate the idea of naming it after the Germanic god of
thunder, carries less foreign culture with it. They
suggest that other
strategies like adding
suffixes and
extending
meanings
of traditional words are better options to prevent the
influence of English getting any stronger, like the
Gumbaynggirr have done by calling Wednesday the middle one.
Other people do not see this as a problem.
This is a discussion that hasn’t really occurred
widely in Australian revival so far. It’s up to the community
to decide.
Semantic extension is the very
common process of stretching the meaning of existing words
to take in new ideas. Many Australian languages have
traditionally used the same word to describe an item and
either its parts or its source. So, hand and fingers are
often the same word, as are breast and milk; foot, footprint
and tracks; fire and firewood; sun, day and time. Similarly
hearing, understanding and thinking are expressed by the
same word in many Australian languages.
Kayardild
munirra |
breast,
milk |
mirnda |
waist,
tree trunk, spear shaft |
kurndaji |
dorsal
fin, sand hill |
Eastern Kulin
wilam
|
bark,
hut |
mirring |
eye,
hole in the ground |
galk |
stick,
bone |
Bangerang
bōrinya |
arm,
wing, branch of a river |
waichēra |
back
shell of tortoise, bark plate, horny plate on emu's
breast |
Many languages have also made use of the same process in
more recent times, extending the meaning of traditional
words to cover new concepts:
Kaurna
pardi |
maggot |
extended to rice |
kaaru |
blood |
extended to grape juice |
maki |
ice |
extended to glass |
pirri |
claw |
extended to hook |
Eastern Kulin
wilam |
hut, camp |
extended to tent, house,
shed |
bilim-bilim |
bitter, seawater |
extended to alcohol |
Mutti Mutti
ngundu |
ceremonial song |
extended to hymn |
binggadha |
paint up |
extended to writing |
Pitjantjatjara
waru |
fire, firewood |
extended to matches, lighter |
tili |
flame |
extended to lights |
Repetition is much more common in Australian
languages than it is in English. It usually creates a new word
that is either more or less intense than the original, or
entails some suggestion of repetitive action or multiples,
such as in the traditional Gumbaynggirr number six bularri-bularri-bularri (two-two-two). Where a change of
word class takes place, such as from verb to noun, adding
suffixes may also be necessary.
Kaurna
murdumurdu |
flour, bread |
from murdu (dust,
ashes) |
tadlithadli |
frypan |
from tadli (spit) |
pirrkipirrki |
peas |
from pirrki
(bits, pieces) |
tikathikati |
chair |
from tika-
(sit) |
pakipakiti |
knife |
from paki-
(cut) |
karnkarnkati |
lifting device |
from karnka-
(raise) |
Gamilaraay
gidjiirrgidjiirr |
yellow |
from gidjiirr
(gidgee tree) |
birraybirray |
boys |
from birray (boy) |
gaabigaabi |
nauseous |
from gaabi (vomit) |
buyabuya |
boney |
from buya (bone) |
balabalaa |
butterfly |
from balaa (white) |
ngarrangarrali |
watch over |
from ngarrali (see) |
Gumbaynggirr
ngurra-ngurra |
feed, supply |
from ngurraa (give) |
wulgam-wulgam |
crooked, winding |
from wuulga (bent,
leaning) |
wurra-wurra |
fishing net, haul out |
from wurraa (pull
off, take out) |
Some animal names borrowed from English also make use of
repetition, possibly as a result of how they were first heard,
how English speakers call out
to them, or
in an attempt by English speakers to make them sound simpler.
Warumungu
jipi-jipi |
sheep |
juku-juku |
chicken (chook) |
kapi-kapi |
calf |
kiti-kiti |
kid |
nani-nani |
nannygoat |
piki-piki |
pig |
pili-pili |
billygoat |
purrak-purrak |
frog |
Repetition is also commonly seen in the names of birds that
are derived from copying sound.
Australian languages are well known for their use
of sound mimicry in forming words, especially bird names:
Yankunytjatjara
aralapalpal |
crested pigeon |
kakalyalya |
Major
Mitchell cockatoo |
kiilykiilykarri |
budgerigar |
kuurrkuurr |
bobook owl |
mininymininy |
thornbill |
nyiinyii |
zebra
finch |
panpanpalala |
bellbird |
piilpiil |
miner |
pinpinpal |
honeyeater |
tiiltiil |
magpie lark |
tjintirrtjintirr |
willy
wagtail |
wilyurukuruku |
cockatiel |
Other languages have also made use of this process to create
words for new items:
Yolngu Matha
ŋurrŋ’ŋurrŋ |
pig |
bumbum |
car |
dayn’dayn |
motorbike |
Note that in all these cases repetition is also being used.
Abbreviation is a common feature
of rapid speech in strong Australian languages as it is in
English and other languages. Some contractions are so frequent
that they become normalised. So English speakers are now far
more likely to say and write the contracted forms, can’t and
don’t and wouldn’t, rather than saying cannot, do not and
would not. Most Pitjantjatjara speakers drop one syllable and
say tji’tjuta,
rather than the full tjitji
tjuta (child many) for kids, but prefer not to
write it like that. Similarly when people say the name of the
language itself they often drop one tja syllable so that
it is pronounced Pitjantjara,
and many people have written it down that way. Contraction can
sometimes also be seen in words formed by repetition
in Australian languages.
Abbreviation by clipping words is also common in English, such
as in creating ad from advertisement, uni from university, bra from
brassiere and fax from facsimile. Some spoken varieties of English
also combine clipping with adding
a suffix such as
commie or commo for communist, mozzie for mosquito, and cammo
for camouflage. This is also a very common process for
producing shortened ‘pet’ versions of people’s names; Bess or
Betty from Elizabeth, Bill or Billy from William, etc.
As a language with a long history of writing, English has also
made use of initials to produce acronyms; words like laser from Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation, scuba from
Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, and wasp from
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.
Some of these processes for forming new English
words have not been observed in Australian languages so far,
but they could be used. It’s up to the community to decide.
Back-formation
is a special process of abbreviation, which creates a new
word that has a different meaning or is a different part of
speech to the original, often by removing part of a word
that is mistaken to be a suffix. The English verb babysit
has been back-formed from the original noun babysitter,
burgle from burglar, emote from emotion, and typewrite from
typewriter. Burger is a back-formation from hamburger (a
bread roll from Hamburg in Germany) now used in compounds
like chickenburger, cheeseburger and fishburger. Similarly
the apparent suffix –holic, back-formed from alcohol-ic, has
been used to create new words like chocaholic, workaholic
and shopaholic.
Back-formation can also be seen in Kaurna:
kapi |
tobacco |
from kapinthi
(vomit) |
maana |
cross-cut saw |
from maanthi (draw, pull) |
warnka |
sexual disease |
from warnkawarnka
(fungus species) |
ngutu |
knowledge |
from ngutu-atpanthi
(teach) |
Yuwaalaraay revivers
have also used back-formation to create new words in recent
times:
gayrra |
electricity |
from dhan.gayrra
(lightning) |
man.ga |
table |
from man.ga-man.ga
(flat) |
just as the old people did when they first saw a whitefella
– back-forming wanda
from wandabaa
(ghost).
And many of the Gumbaynggirr new numbers make use of the
process:
3 |
guga |
from gugaamgan
(emu) |
4 |
daan |
from daan.gi
(claws) |
5 |
marla
|
from maarla
(hand) |
7 |
duwa
|
from duuwa
(boomerang) |
8 |
janya
|
from janyaany
(octopus) |
9 |
wagaa
|
from wagaarr
(axe) |
10 |
ngaal
|
from ngaala
(across) |
Blending is the
process of combining sound and meaning from two or more
distinct words to create a new abbreviated word, and has
become very common in English and other European languages:
brunch |
breakfast
lunch |
motel |
motor
hotel |
breathalyser |
breath
analyser |
advertorial |
advertisement
editorial |
infomercial |
information
commercial |
intercom |
internal
communication |
internet |
international
network |
netiquette |
internet
etiquette |
Although there is little evidence of blending in Australian
languages, it can be seen in items such as Pitjantjatjara nganantarrka
(our side) blended from nganana (we)
and tarrka
(bone).
The creation of completely new word from no other
source is not widely documented in Australian languages.
However, the Gumbaynggirr recognise their word for horse, gaarr as one they
created themselves. Although it has also been suggested that this may be
copying the sound of a horse.
Given the way that stories and songs have traditionally been
received in dreams in Indigenous Australian cultures, there
might also be potential to consider dreaming new words as a
strategy with some cultural appeal.
As well as missing records of whole words, many
reviving
languages may be missing knowledge of suffixes or endings. It
may be that there is a record of how to change endings to say
an activity happened earlier (past tense) or is happening now
(present tense), but no indication of how to say it will be
happening later (future tense), or that it goes on for some
time (continuous aspect). Or, when suffixes for certain
classes of words are arranged in a table, it might become
apparent that some are missing.
Without the knowledge of what features should be present in
an Australian language it is difficult to know what might be
missing. A linguist
can
assist with both identifying where the gaps are and with
strategies to replace them. The obvious option is to borrow
from another local language. Australian languages show
remarkable similarity between neighbouring languages in their
grammar. So there is usually a high likelihood that a
neighbouring language had the same endings or very similar
ones. This has been done for the revitalisation of Gamilaraay
where several essential endings have been borrowed from its
close neighbour Yuwaalaraay, making any necessary sound
changes to fit the different patterns of Gamilaraay.
Where there is no evidence from a neighbouring language it
would be possible to borrow from a foreign language, making
any necessary sound changes to fit. Alternatively a decision
could be taken to extend the meaning of a known ending in the
language to cover the different use. Or it could be decided to
just go without and see what strategies speakers come up with
by themselves. It’s up to the community to decide.
For most reviving Australian languages the
best records are usually of single words or short expressions.
There is sometimes very little language recorded that includes
extended sentences or strings of sentences connected into
longer texts, other than in non-traditional texts like Bible
translations. It may be that there is no record of how to ask
a question or how to talk about a series of actions and so on.
In cases like this the best option is probably to look at
neighbouring languages to see what structures they used and
either borrow from them or create something modelled on it. A
linguist can
assist in this task.
Where there is no record available from other local languages
it may be necessary to consider borrowing from foreign languages
including English. It’s up to the community to decide.
Yes, most Australian languages have already
borrowed from foreign languages, especially English, and
strong languages are still doing it. Even before English was
spoken in Australia, languages from the Top End had borrowed
around 500 words from Indonesia like rrupiya (rupee, from
India) for money and balanda
(Hollander) for Europeans.
As soon as people began encountering whitefellas here they
quickly began borrowing words for the new animals they brought
with them and the goods and technology they possessed.
Borrowing is very strong tradition for Australian languages as
the earliest records of the Sydney language show:
wadyiman |
white
man |
buk |
book |
badal |
bottle |
gandal |
candle |
gan |
gun |
angadya |
handkerchief |
djagat |
jacket |
winda |
window |
bidjigat |
biscuit |
badadu |
potato |
djuga |
sugar |
djalba |
sulphur |
While Australian languages can, and still are, borrowing from
English there is no reason why they cannot also borrow from
other languages. However, there are some important issues to
consider.
When words are borrowed from a foreign language it’s like
borrowing a little bit of that people’s culture at the same
time. The ways of looking at and talking about the world
peculiar to that culture are carried in the words.
Gumbaynggirr, for example, has borrowed the names of days of
the week from English, translating Sunday as the day of
the sun, Monday as the day of the moon, Thursday (after Thor
the Germanic god of lightning) as the day of thunder and so
on. However, even though people were clearly aware of the
cycles of the sun and moon, the ideas of having a seven day
week and calling days after objects in the sky or European
gods are traditionally foreign to Indigenous Australian
cultures and even much older than English itself. Many Asian
languages don’t do this; they simply number the days and
months.
If all the borrowing is from the same language a lot of the
culture associated with that language will also be borrowed. A
lot of European, especially British, culture has already been
borrowed into Australian languages through borrowing from
English. This means it might be better to mix things up and
borrow from a variety of languages to ensure no particular
outside influence dominates your language.
However, most people currently learning Australian languages
are already speakers of English and usually only speak
English. So they already know English words, endings and
sentence structures for most things they want to say and have
learned to see and think about the world as English speakers.
This makes English the easiest language for them to borrow
from. Even if revivers
choose to borrow from other languages, the very strong
presence of English in the community may mean that as people
start to re-learn their language they will tend to follow
English forms without even realising it. So not only is
borrowing from other languages possible, it might be
unavoidable, as might the strong influence of English.