Woiwurrung–Taungurung language



Woiwurrung, Taungurung and Boonwurrung are Aboriginal languages of the Kulin nation of Central Victoria. Woiwurrung was spoken by the Woiwurrung and related peoples in the Yarra River basin, Taungurung by the Taungurung people north of the Great Dividing Range in the Goulburn River Valley around Mansfield, Benalla and Heathcote, and Boonwurrung by the six clans which comprised the Boonwurrung people along the coast from the Werribee River, across the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory. They are often portrayed as distinct languages, but they were mutually intelligible. Ngurai-illamwurrung (Ngurraiillam) may have been a clan name, a dialect, or a closely related language.

Related languages
Boonwurrung is closely related to Woiwurrung, with which it shares 93% of its vocabulary, and to a lesser degree with Taungurung spoken north of the Great Dividing Range in the area of the Goulburn River, with which it shares 80%. Woiwurrung, Taungurong and Boonwurrung have been considered by linguists to be dialects of a single Central Victorian language, whose range stretched from almost Echuca in the north, to Wilsons Promontory in the south.

R. Brough Smyth wrote in 1878 that "The dialects of the Wooeewoorong or Wawoorong tribe (River Yarra) and the Boonoorong tribe (Coast) are the same. Twenty-three words out of thirty are, making allowances for differences of spelling and pronunciation, identical; five have evidently the same roots, and only two are widely different".

Woiwurrung dialect phonology
The following is the Woiwurrung dialect: It is not clear if the two rhotics are trill and flap, or tap and approximant. Vowels in Woiwurrung are /a e i o u/.

Pronouns
In the case of the Woiwurrung pronouns, the stem seems to be the standard ngali you and I, but the front was suffixed to wa-, so wa+ngal combines to form wangal below. In Kulin languages there is no grammatical gender.

Other Woiwurrung vocabulary

 * biik = land, country
 * boorondara = shade, darkness, night (origin of the name of the City of Boroondara)
 * nyilum biik = poor soil / hard land (origin of the name of Nillumbik Shire)
 * wominjeka = hello / welcome (womin = come, je [dji] = asking to come, ka = purpose)
 * yabber = to talk (this word, with the same meaning, has made its way into informal English)
 * yarra = flowing, (also means "hair"). It is thought to have been mistakenly given to the Yarra River (referred to as Birrarrung in the Woiwurrung language) by an early settler who asked a boy what it was called, who was confused and answered "it is flowing".

Number and sign system
A numbering system was used when Wurundjeri clans sent out messengers to advise neighbouring clans of upcoming events, such as a ceremony, corroboree, a challenge to fight or Marn grook ball game. Messengers carried a message stick with markings to indicate the number and type of people involved and a prop to indicate the type of event, such as a ball for a Marn grook event. The location of meeting was spoken, but neighbouring clans might not use the same language, so a sign language was used to indicate the number of days in the future when the people should assemble. The number was indicated by pointing to a location on the body from 1 to 16. After 16, at the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body.

Animals and plants
Some Boonwurrung words for animals and plants include:

Plants

 * Banksia (Honeysuckle): Warrak
 * Buttercup: Gurm-burrut
 * Clematis aristata: Minamberang
 * Peppermint Tree: Wiyal
 * Sarsaparilla: Wadimalin
 * She-oak: Tur-run
 * Wattle: Garron
 * Woolly Tea-tree: Wulep
 * Yellow Box: Dhagurn
 * Yam Daisy: Murnong

Birds

 * Black Cockatoo: Yanggai
 * Black Duck: Toolum
 * Black Swan: Gunuwarra
 * Emu: Barraimal
 * Ibis: Baibadjerruk
 * Magpie lark: Dit-dit
 * Nankeen Kestrel: Gawarn
 * Pelican: Wadjil
 * Quail: Tre-bin
 * Water Fowl: Kor-rung-un-un

Aquatic animals

 * Blackfish: Duat
 * Cockle: Mur-yoke
 * Eel: Yuk / Ilk
 * Flathead: Dalum
 * Frog: Ngarrert
 * Mussel: Mur-bone
 * Oyster: U.yoke
 * Periwinkle: Pid-de-ron
 * Shark: Darrak

Insects

 * Ant: Booran
 * Bee: Murnalong
 * Butterfly: Balam-balam
 * Fly: Garragarrak