The five Kulin nations. Woiwurrung proper is in yellow, Taungurung is in the northeast in green.
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Woiwurrung (sometimes spelt Woiwurrong, Woiworung, Wuywurung) and Taungurung (Taungurong, DaungwurrungDhagung-wurrung, Thagungwurrung) are Aboriginal languages of the Kulin nation of Central Victoria. Woiwurrung was spoken by the Woiwurrung and related peoples in the Yarra River basin, and Taungurung by the Taungurung people north of the Great Dividing Range in the Goulburn River Valley around Mansfield, Benalla and Heathcote. They are often portrayed as distinct languages, but they were mutually intelligible.[2] Ngurai-illamwurrung (Ngurraiillam) may have been a clan name, a dialect, or a closely related language.[3]
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/.[4]
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.[5] In Kulin languages there is no grammatical gender.[6]
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)[7]
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.[8]
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, from budagra meaning to 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.
^Barry J. Blake. 1991 Woiwurrung In: The Aboriginal Language of Melbourne and Other Sketches, ed. R. M. W. Dixon and Barry J. Blake, pp. 31–124, OUP, Handbook of Australian Languages 4
^Blake, Barry. "Dialects of Western Kulin, Western Victoria Yartwatjali, Tjapwurrung, Djadjawurrung" (PDF). VCAA. Retrieved 2 March 2022.