Woiwurrung language

Woiwurrung
Region Victoria
Ethnicity Wurundjeri
Extinct (date missing)
Pama–Nyungan
Language codes
ISO 639-3 wyi
Glottolog woiw1237[2]
AIATSIS[3] S36

The five Kulin nations. Woiwurrung is in yellow.
Marn grook football, played by speakers of Woiwurrung from the Wurundjeri clan, c. 1857.

Woiwurrung (sometimes spelt Woiwurrong, Woiworung, Wuywurung) is an Indigenous Australian language spoken by the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation of Central Victoria, from Mount Baw Baw in the east to Mount Macedon, Sunbury and Gisborne in the west. The language remains, but is not widely known or spoken due to the impact of colonisation.

The Woiwurrung clans inhabited the Yarra River, called Birrarung in Woiwurrung, before European displacement. The clans include:

Wurundjeri is a common term for descendants of all the Woiwurrung tribes who were forced together for the survival of their race. Their totems are Bunjil the eagle and Waa the crow.

LISTED BELOW ARE ALL THE TRIBAL TERRITORIES OF THE WOI-WURRUNG LANGUAGE NATION. Each tribe has is own distinct territory and boundary usually determined by waterways.

Wurundjeri Willam

Gunung Willam Balluk

Talling Willam

Kurung Jang Balluk

Marin Balluk

Wurundjeri Balluk

Balluk Willam


The Jindyworobak Movement claimed to have taken their name from a Woiwurrung phrase jindi worobak meaning to annex or join.

Consonants

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 n ɳ
Lateral l m
Rhotic ɲ ɽ
Glide w j

It is not clear if the two rhotics are trill and flap, or tap and approximant.

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.

Singular dual plural
1st person inclusive wa.ŋal wa.ŋa.ɲin
1st person exclusive wan wa.ŋan wa.ŋa.ɲi.ɲu
2nd person war wa.bul wat ɡu.ra.bil(.la), wat ba.lak, wat wu.ɾun.ðu
3rd person mu.ɲi mu.ɲi ɡa.ra.bil ma.lu ɡu.ra.bi.la

Translation of the words

Other vocabulary

See also

References

  1. R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development: v. 1 (Cambridge Language Surveys). Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Woiwurrung". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Woiwurrung at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Look up Woiwurrung in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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