| Gunditjmara | |
|---|---|
| Dhauwurd Wurrung, Warrnambool | |
| Gurnditjmara | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Victoria |
| Ethnicity | Gunditjmara (Dhauwurd wurrung),Djargurd Wurrung,Girai wurrung, ?Gadubanud |
| Extinct | before 1975 |
| Revival | efforts exist |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:gjm – Gunditjmarawkr – Keerray-Woorroong |
| Glottolog | warr1257 |
| AIATSIS[1] | S20 Dhauwurd Wurrung,S25 Keerray-Woorroong |
| ELP | Warrnambool |
Dhauwurd Wurrung is a term used for a group of languages spoken by various groups of theGunditjmara people of theWestern District of Victoria, Australia.Keerray Woorroong (also speltGirai Wurrung and variants) is regarded by some as a separate language, by others as a dialect. Thedialect continuum consisted of variouslects such asKuurn Kopan Noot,Big Wurrung,Gai Wurrung, and others (each with variant spellings). There was no traditional name for the entire dialect continuum and it has been classified and labelled differently by differentlinguists and researchers. The group of languages is also referred to asGunditjmara language andthe Warrnambool language.
Efforts to revive the language(s) are ongoing.
The language in its several varieties, was spoken fromGlenelg to theGellibrand and through to roughly 100 kilometres (60 mi) inland.[2]
The effects of thecolonisation of Victoria, which included theEumeralla Wars, along with later government policies leading to thestolen generation, had a drastic and ongoing negative effect on the languages. Today the descendants of the speakers of these lects commonly refer to themselves as Gunditjmara, a term derived from anaffix used to denote membership with a specific group of locality.[citation needed]
AIATSIS (AUSTLANG) uses the name and spelling "Dhauwurd Wurrung" for the main grouping, following theVictorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages andIan Clark, and gives also detail on alternative groupings and names suggested by various other linguists. Alternative spellings include Djargurd Wurrung, Thaguwurung, Tyaupurt wurung, Dauwert woorong, Dhauhwurru, Dhau-urt-wuru, Tourahonong, and many others, and the language group is also referred to as the Warrnambool language or the Gunditjmara language.[1] Gunditj Wurrung, meaning "Gunditj language" is used by a contemporary teacher of the language, Gunditjmara musicianCorey Theatre.[3][4]
Keerray Woorroong (Girai Wurrung, Kirrae wuurong, Kiriwurrung, etc.) is regarded by the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (following Clark) as a separate language;[5] it is of theGirai wurrung people
Gadubanud (Tindale Katubanut), also Yarro waetch, "Cape Otway tribe", was spoken by a group known as theGadubanud, of theCape Otway area.Barry Blake regards this as a dialect of the Warrnambool language, but Krishna-Pillay does not.[6]
Djargurd Wurrong (Warn tallin, Warn thalayn,[7] Tjarcote, Dhautgart/Keerray (wurru))[8] was the language of theDjargurd Wurrong people.
Other dialects or alternative names include:[a]
Speakers of these languages had a form ofavoidance speech calledgnee wee banott (turn tongue) which required special terms and grammar in conversations when a man and mother-in-law were speaking in each other's company.[16]Thus, if one asked: "Where are you going just now?", this would be phrased in normal speech as:[17]
In Gunditjmara avoidance speech the same sentiment would be articulated quite differently:[17]
The termngamadjidj was used to denotewhite people by the Gunditjmara,[18][19] with the same word used in theWergaia dialect of theWemba Wemba language. The word is also used to refer toghosts, as people with pale skins were thought to be the spirits of ancestors. The first known use is to refer toWilliam Buckley, an escaped convict who lived with theWathaurong people nearGeelong from 1803 until 1856.[20]
The term was also applied to John Green, manager atCoranderrk, anAboriginal reserve north-east of Melbourne between 1863 and 1924. It was also recorded as being used to describe other missionaries such as William Watson inWellington, New South Wales, by the localWiradjuri people. The term was a compliment, as it meant that the local people thought that they had been an Aboriginal person once - based largely on the fact that they could speak the local language.[21]
Ngamadjidj is also the name given to arock art site in a shelter in theGrampians National Park, sometimes translated as the "Cave of Ghosts".[22]
Only three speakers were known to speak the language still by 1880, with another four still fluent in the Bi:gwurrung (Peek-Whurrung) dialect.[23] No fluent speakers have been recorded between 1975 and the2016 Australian census.[1]
There are several ongoing efforts to revive the Gunditjmara language. These include the Gunditj Wurrung online lesson series onYouTube[3] and the Laka Gunditj Language Program.[24] Proponents of the revival of the language include Vicki Couzens and Corey Theatre, who uses music as a medium for language revival.[4]
Gunditjmara composer, singer and guitarist, Corey Theatre in collaboration with Australian composer and music directorIain Grandage created the Gunditjmara Six Seasons. The piece is sung entirely in the Gunditjmara language and was performed in collaboration with Aboriginal (Gunditjmara and Bundjalung) Australian musicianArchie Roach at the 2016Port Fairy Spring Music Festival.[25]
Australian composer and soprano,Deborah Cheetham, wrote Australia's firstrequiem based on thefrontier wars betweenAboriginal Australian people in South WesternVictoria and settlers which is sung entirely in the Gunditjmara language.[26] The first performance of the requiem, "Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace"[26] on 15 June 2019 in Melbourne featured Cheetham with theMelbourne Symphony Orchestra, the MSO Chorus and the Dhungala Children's Choir.[26]
A likely phonemic inventory for the Warrnambool language is shown below.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t̪ | t | ʈ | c | k |
| Nasal | m | n̪ | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ |
| Lateral | l̪ | l | ɭ | ʎ | ||
| Rhotic | ɾ~r | ɽ | ||||
| Approximant | j | w |
Rhotic consonants were not distinguished in older sources. It is unclear to determine whether the retroflex consonant was a glide [ɻ] or a flap [ɽ]. Both were written asr.
Although most Australian Aboriginal languages use three vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/, the amount of vowels are not clearly distinguished within the other sources for the Warrnambool language, although it may be likely that it had a five-vowel system as /a, e, i, o, u/. There is some fluctuation between /i/ and /e/, and /u/ and /o/. In the orthography adopted by Blake, 'where there was a back vowel occurring before a syllable-final palatal, /o/ was used instead of /u/, to give a better idea of the more likely pronunciation (i.e.puroyn "night")'.[27][28]