Gunai language

Gunai language
Gunai
Gaanay
Spoken in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia
Extinct progressive revival
Language family
Pama–Nyungan
  • Gunai
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ihw – Bidhawal

The Gunai language (also spelt Gunnai', Ganai, Gaanay, Kurnai, Kurnay) refers to a collection of Indigenous Australian languages from Gippsland in south-east Victoria.

Gunai, meaning 'man', is the name used to refer to a number of closely related dialects and is not the name of a language itself. The language had no traditional name, but each of its dialects were referred to separately: Muk-thang, Nulit, Thangquai and Bidhawal.

In a 1996 report to the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation For Languages, Clark refers to five Gunai dialects: Brabralung, Braiakalung, Brataualung, Krauatungalung and Tatungalung.[1]

Brabralung [brub -ra - loong] (Bra = man, lung = belonging to) located in central Gippsland.

Braiakalung [bray - ak -oh - loong] (Bra = Man, ak = west, lung = belonging to) located around Sale through to the mountains.

Brataualung [bra - tow - loong] (men belonging to this place which have fire; Bra = men, Taua or towera = fire, lung = belonging to) located in South Gippsland.

Krauatungalung [krow - ar -toong -ah - loong] (Kraut = east, lung = belonging to) located east wards to the Snowy River.

Tatungalung [tah -toong - ar - loong](tat = sea, lung = belonging to)located in the coast area between Lake King and Lake Wellington.[2]

Since the early 1990s, the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL) organisation, established the Yirruk-Tinnor Gunnai/Kŭrnai language program which focused on reviving and reclaiming the Gunnai language of Gippsland. Doris Paton, Coordinator of the Program and Lynnette Solomon-Dent, Language worker and consultant are involved in the program. They have been responsible for developing a number of resource materials to support and educate further knowledge of the Gunnai language and Culture. Lynnette Solomon-Dent co-wrote with Christina Eira the VACL Linguist, the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) Aboriginal Languages, cultures and reclamation in Victorian schools: standards P-10 and protocols and were involved in the VCE Revival and Reclamation Study. These teaching documents and resources are collectively used to educate school aged children P-10, VCE, higher learning institutions and the Aboriginal community members, to further their knowledge and allow community members to continue to educate future generations.[3]

Since European settlement in (1788,) Butcher states that it is estimated that at least 200 mutually unintellible indigenous languages were spoken on the Australian continent. At the time of writing, 220 years later, well over half of these languages have ceased to be spoken at all.[4]

Therefore in the past 15 years, the Victorian Aboriginal Cooperation for Languages (VACL) have reclaimed other languages within the Victorian Aboriginal communities including Gunditijmara, Wathaurong, Yorta Yorta, Wergaia, Kulin groups and Waywurru/Dhudhuroa. These communities have made expentional efforts towards reconstructing and reviving their languages.[3]

Useful websites; Batalak Cultural Trail [1] Yirrok-Tinnor Gunnai Language program [2] Gunnai Language storybooks [3] VELS Aboriginal Languages [4] VCE Indigenous Language Revival and Reclamation study [5] Protocols [6]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Ian D. Clark, Aboriginal Language Areas In Victoria, A Report to the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation For Languages, 14 July 2006. Accessed November 24, 2008
  2. ^ Dent, Lynnette (1993). Koorie Studies; Koorie and Non-Korrie teaching and learning together. Victoria: The Centre for Language & Learning. pp. 17. 
  3. ^ a b "Welcome to VACL". http://www.vaclang.org.au/. Retrieved 15 May 2011. 
  4. ^ Butcher, Andrew (August 2008). "Linguistic aspects of Australian Aboriginal English". Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 22 (8): 625–642. doi:10.1080/02699200802223535. 



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