- Woiwurrung language
language
name=Woiwurrung
familycolor=Australian
region=Victoria
fam1=Pama-Nyungan
fam2=South-East
fam3=Kulin?
extinct=?
iso2=aus
iso3=Woiwurrung (sometimes spelt "Woiwurrong", "Woiworung", "Wuywurung") is an
Indigenous Australian language spoken by some of theKulin Nation clans of Victoria, fromMount Baw Baw in the east toMount Macedon , Sunbury and Gisborne in the west.The Woiwurrung clans inhabited the
Yarra River (called Birrarung in Woiwurrung) before European displacement. The clans include:*The Wurrundjeri-willam, who occupied the Yarra River and its tributaries and inhabited the area now covered by the city of
Melbourne . Referred to initially by Europeans as the Yarra tribe.
*The Marin-Bulluk
*The Kurung-Jang-Bulluk
*The Wurundjeri-Balluk
*The Balluk-willamWurundjeri is now the common term for descendants of all the Woiwurrung clans. Their totems areBunjil the eagle and Waa the crow.The
Jindyworobak Movement claimed to have taken their name from a Woiwurrung phrase "jindi worobak" meaning to annex or join.Consonants
Pronoun sIn the case of the woiwurrung pronouns, the stem seems to be the standard ngali (you and I), but the front was
suffix ed to wa-, so wa+ngal combines to form wangal below."Translation of the words"
*Wangal = you and I.
*Wangan = we two.
*Munyi gurrabil = they two.
*Munyi gurrabila = they.ee also
*
Kulin
*Wurundjeri References
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.
External links
* [http://www.yarrahealing.melb.catholic.edu.au/kulin/woiworung.html About the Wurundjeri People]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/elders-pass-on-songs-in-race-to-save-languages/2005/12/06/1133829596116.html Elders pass on songs in race to save languages]
* [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~herring/seasons.htm Woiwurrung calendar]
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