| Woiwurrung–Taungurung | |
|---|---|
| Melbourne, Woiwurrung[1] | |
 Wominjeka, meaning welcome, at the entrance of Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, withinMelbourne Museum | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Victoria |
| Ethnicity | Woiwurrung,Wurundjeri,Taungurung,Boonwurrung, ?Ngurelban, etc. |
| Extinct | by 2004[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:wyi – Woiwurrungdgw – Daungwurrung |
| Glottolog | woiw1237 |
| AIATSIS[1] | S35,S36,S37 |
| ELP | |
 The five Kulin nations. Woiwurrung proper is in yellow, Taungurung is in the northeast in green, Boonwurrung is in the southeast in cyan. | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Woiwurrung,Taungurung andBoonwurrung[3] areAboriginal languages of theKulin nation of CentralVictoria. Woiwurrung was spoken by theWoiwurrung and related peoples in theYarra River basin, Taungurung by theTaungurung people north of the Great Dividing Range in theGoulburn River Valley around Mansfield, Benalla andHeathcote, and Boonwurrung by the six clans which comprised theBoonwurrung people along the coast from theWerribee River, across theMornington Peninsula,Western Port Bay toWilsons Promontory. They are often portrayed as distinct languages, but they were mutually intelligible.[4] Ngurai-illamwurrung (Ngurraiillam) may have been a clan name, a dialect, or a closely related language.[1]
Boonwurrung is closely related to Woiwurrung, with which it shares 93% of its vocabulary, and to a lesser degree with Taungurung spoken north of theGreat Dividing Range in the area of theGoulburn River, with which it shares 80%.[5] Woiwurrung, Taungurong and Boonwurrung have been considered by linguists to be dialects of a single Central Victorian language, whose range stretched from almostEchuca in the north, toWilsons Promontory in the south.[6]
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".[7]
The following is the Woiwurrung dialect:
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Plosive | b/p | ɡ/k | ɟ/c | d̪/t̪ | d/t | ɖ/ʈ |
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n̪ | n | ɳ |
| Lateral | l | ɭ | ||||
| Rhotic | r | ɽ | ||||
| Glide | w | j | ||||
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/.[8]
In the case of the Woiwurrung pronouns, the stem seems to be the standardngali'you and I', but the front wassuffixed towa-, sowa+ngal combines to formwangal below.[9] In Kulin languages there is no grammatical gender.[10]
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woi. | IPA | Eng. | Woi. | IPA | Eng. | Woi. | IPA | Eng. | |
| 1st Inc. | Wangal | [wa.ŋal] | We two (you) | Wanganyin | [wa.ŋa.ɲin] | We (& you) | |||
| 1st Exc. | Wan | [wan] | I | Wangan | [wa.ŋan] | We two (not you) | Wanganyinyu | [wa.ŋa.ɲi.ɲu] | We (not you) |
| 2nd | Warr | [war] | You | Wabul | [wa.bul] | You two | Wat gurrabil Wat gurrabilla Wat balak Wat wurdundhu | [watɡu.ra.bil] [watɡu.ra.bil.la] [watba.lak] [watwu.ɖun.d̪u] | You |
| 3rd | Munyi | [mu.ɲi] | He/She/It | Munyi gurrabil | [mu.ɲiɡu.ra.bil] | Those two | Malu gurrabila | [ma.luɡu.ra.bi.la] | They |
A numbering system was used whenWurundjeri clans sent out messengers to advise neighbouring clans of upcoming events, such as a ceremony,corroboree, a challenge to fight orMarn 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.[12]
| Numeral | Spoken number | Sign of the number | Literal meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bubupi-muningya | little finger | child of the hand |
| 2 | bulato-ravel | third finger | little larger |
| 3 | bulato | middle finger | larger |
| 4 | urnung-meluk | forefinger | urnung means a direction,meluk means a large grub found in some eucalypti |
| 5 | babungyi-muningya | thumb | the mother of the hand |
| 6 | krauel | wrist-joint | |
| 7 | ngurumbul | the divergence of the radial tendons | a fork |
| 8 | jeraubil | the swelling of the radial muscles | |
| 9 | thambur | the inside of the elbow-joint | a round place |
| 10 | berbert | biceps | the ringtail possum and also the name of the armlet made from the pelt of that animal, worn on the bicep during festive occasions |
| 11 | wulung | shoulder-joint | |
| 12 | krakerap | the collar-bone | the place where the bag hangs by its band |
| 13 | gurnbert | the neck | reed necklace, or place where the reed necklace is worn |
| 14 | kurnagor | the lobe of the ear | the point or end of a hill, or of a spur or ridge |
| 15 | ngarabul | the side of the skull | a range or the ridge of a hill |
| 16 | bundial | top of the head | the cutting-place, the place where the mourner cuts himself with some sharp instrument, frombudagra meaningto cut |
| 17+ | From the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body. 17 is the other side of the skull. | ||
| Boonwurrung | |
|---|---|
| Bunurong, Bun wurrung | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Victoria |
| Ethnicity | Boonwurrung (includingYalukit) |
| Extinct | early 20th century |
| Revival | [13] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | boon1243 |
| AIATSIS | ,S39 |
| ELP | |
| Placename | Origin |
|---|---|
| Allambee | Reported to mean "to sit and wait for a while",[14] possibly from the verbngalamba. |
| Barerarerungar | Country. |
| Beenak | Basket. |
| Buln Buln | "Lyrebird",[15] same origin as the name of the Melbourne suburbBulleen and the Bolin Bolin Billabong.[16] |
| Bunyip | From the mythical water-dwelling beast, thebunyip. |
| Corinella | Unclear, some sources state "Running Water"[17] whereas others claim "Home of the kangaroo"[18] |
| Dandenong | Possibly derived fromTanjenong, the indigenous name ofDandenong Creek.[19] |
| Darnum | Debated, some sources claim "Parrot", referring specifically to thecrimson rosella. However, other sources claim this to be folk etymology.[20] The nameDatnum is recorded as the name of the parrot spirit who assistedBunjil, one of sixwirmums or shamans in Kulin mythology. |
| Dumbalk | "Ice" or "Winter" |
| Eumemmerring | Claimed to be a word meaning "agreement",[19] early settler reports recorded "um um" as a word for "yes". |
| Korumburra | Thought to mean "Blowfly",[21] recorded askarrakarrak in related languages. |
| Koo Wee Rup | Blackfish |
| Koonwarra | Black swan |
| Lang Lang | Unclear, may be connected toLaang meaning stony, although other sources claim the name derives from a different word meaning a group of trees, or from an early European settler named Lang. |
| Leongatha | Fromliang, meaning "teeth". |
| Meeniyan | Moon |
| Moorabbin | Unclear, possibly "woman's milk". Other sources state "resting place",[22] or "people of the flat country."[23] |
| Moorooduc | Unclear, some sources claim "flat swamp", others claim "dark" or "night". |
| Mordialloc | FromMoordy Yallock. Yallock means creek or river, in reference to the Mordialloc Creek estuary. Some sources give "moordy" as meaning "small", whereas other sources have given it to mean "swamp".[23] |
| Murrumbeena | Unclear, according to some sources named after a member of the native police. Identical with the wordMurrumbeena recorded by Daniel Bunce in 1851 as meaning "you".[24] |
| Nar Nar Goon | Unclear, said to be from a word for koala. |
| Narre Warren | Unclear, some sources allege connection tonier warreen meaning "no good water", although warreen usually refers to the sea. Other sources cite connection tonarrworing, meaning "hot". Wathaurong sources refer to "warren" meaning 'towards the rising sun' or 'to the east' and "narre" meaning 'a long way' or 'far away'. Wathaurong from Ballarat and Geelong are known to have travelled to Narre Narre Warren for meetings of the Kulin Nation. |
| Nayook | From the word "ngayuk" meaning cockatoo. |
| Neerim | High or long. |
| Noojee | Often described as "place of rest", apparently literally means "done", "finished" or "complete". |
| Nunawading | Thought to be derived fromnumphawading, meaning a "ceremonial ground" or "battlefield".[25] |
| Nyora | Native Cherry |
| Tarwin | Fromdharwin meaning "thirsty" |
| Tonimbuk | From the verb meaning "to burn". |
| Tooradin | Named from a Bunyip-like monster of local legend, which lived in the waters of Sawtell Inlet and Koo Wee Rup Swamp.[26] |
| Warneet | One of the words for "river". |
| Warragul | A loanword originating fromDharug language around Sydney. Usually given as meaning "wild dog", althoughwarragul was recorded as meaning "wild" for anything, including humans. Gippsland settlers used the word in derogatory way to describe Indigenous people.[27] |
| Wonthaggi | Thought to be from the verbwanthatji meaning "get", "bring" or "pull". Other sources claim it means "home". |
| Yannathan | A form of the verbyana meaning "to go" or "to walk".[citation needed] |
| Yarragon | Thought to be short forYarragondock, meaning moustaches.[28] |
Some Boonwurrung words for animals and plants include:[29]
