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 may have been a clan name, a dialect, or a closely related language.

Classification and dialects

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 and the Boonoorong tribe 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

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, 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
  • nyilum biik = poor soil / hard land
  • wominjeka = hello / welcome
  • yabber = to talk
  • yarra = flowing,. It is thought to have been mistakenly given to the Yarra River 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.

Boonwurrung

Placenames derived from Boonwurrung language terms

PlacenameOrigin
AllambeeReported to mean "to sit and wait for a while", possibly from the verb ngalamba.
BarerarerungarCountry.
BeenakBasket.
Buln Buln"Lyrebird", same origin as the name of the Melbourne suburb Bulleen and the Bolin Bolin Billabong.
BunyipFrom the mythical water-dwelling beast, the bunyip.
CorinellaUnclear, some sources state "Running Water" whereas others claim "Home of the kangaroo"
DandenongPossibly derived from Tanjenong, the indigenous name of Dandenong Creek.
DarnumDebated, some sources claim "Parrot", referring specifically to the crimson rosella. However, other sources claim this to be folk etymology. The name Datnum is recorded as the name of the parrot spirit who assisted Bunjil, one of six wirmums or shamans in Kulin mythology.
Dumbalk"Ice" or "Winter"
EumemmerringClaimed to be a word meaning "agreement", early settler reports recorded "um um" as a word for "yes".
KorumburraThought to mean "Blowfly", recorded as karrakarrak in related languages.
Koo Wee RupBlackfish
KoonwarraBlack swan
Lang LangUnclear, may be connected to Laang 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.
LeongathaFrom liang, meaning "teeth".
MeeniyanMoon
MoorabbinUnclear, possibly "woman's milk". Other sources state "resting place", or "people of the flat country."
MoorooducUnclear, some sources claim "flat swamp", others claim "dark" or "night".
MordiallocFrom Moordy 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".
MurrumbeenaUnclear, according to some sources named after a member of the native police. Identical with the word Murrumbeena recorded by Daniel Bunce in 1851 as meaning "you".
Nar Nar GoonUnclear, said to be from a word for koala.
Narre WarrenUnclear, some sources allege connection to nier warreen meaning "no good water", although warreen usually refers to the sea. Other sources cite connection to narrworing, 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.
NayookFrom the word "ngayuk" meaning cockatoo.
NeerimHigh or long.
NoojeeOften described as "place of rest", apparently literally means "done", "finished" or "complete".
NunawadingThought to be derived from numphawading, meaning a "ceremonial ground" or "battlefield".
NyoraNative Cherry
TarwinFrom dharwin meaning "thirsty"
TonimbukFrom the verb meaning "to burn".
TooradinNamed from a Bunyip-like monster of local legend, which lived in the waters of Sawtell Inlet and Koo Wee Rup Swamp.
WarneetOne of the words for "river".
WarragulA loanword originating from Dharug language around Sydney. Usually given as meaning "wild dog", although warragul was recorded as meaning "wild" for anything, including humans. Gippsland settlers used the word in derogatory way to describe Indigenous people.
WonthaggiThought to be from the verb wanthatji meaning "get", "bring" or "pull". Other sources claim it means "home".
YannathanA form of the verb yana meaning "to go" or "to walk".
YarragonThought to be short for Yarragondock, meaning moustaches.

Animals and plants

Some Boonwurrung words for animals and plants include:

Plants

Birds

Aquatic animals

Insects