Language name and location: Garrawa, Australia [Refer to Ethnologue]

言名称和分布地区拉瓦语, 澳大利亚北部

 

1. yiŋɡimali 

2. ɡujarra

3. ɡujarra-yiŋɡimali ( 2 + 1) 

4. murrɡu ( lit: 'small mob'), 5. murrɡu ( lit: 'small mob'), 6. murrɡu ( lit: 'small mob'),

7. ɡaja ( lit: 'big mob'), 8. ɡaja ( lit: 'big mob'), 9. ɡaja ( lit: 'big mob'),

10. ɡaja ( lit: 'big mob'), 11. ɡaja ( lit: 'big mob'), 12. ɡaja ( lit: 'big mob'), etc.

 

Linguist providing data and dateː Mr. Alan Roger, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Australian Aboriginal and Islander Branch, Australia, April 6, 2012.
供资料的语言 学家: Mr. Alan Roger. 2012 年 4 月 6 日.

 

Other comments: Garrawa has only two words for numbers 1 to 2. Except for the Garrwa words for one, two and three, all the others are flexible. Eg. 'murrgu' (small mob, or a few) covers most situations where a number exceeds three, but rarely more than five or six. 'Gaja' (big mob) covers situations beyond that but is used in a relative way depending on how many were expected. Except for the Garrwa words for one, two and three, all the others are flexible. Eg. 'murrgu' (small mob, or a few) covers most situations where a number exceeds three, but rarely more than five or six. 'Gaja' (big mob) covers situations beyond that but is used in a relative way depending on how many were expected. Here's an example: If you're talking about the fruit collected off bushes by two women, then half a coolamon (a shallow wooden dish with high sides) might be considered murrgu because the hungry people back at the camp expected more. If they brought back enough to feed everybody (two half-coolamons) then it would be gaja. If they brought back two full coolamons, it would be ga-a-a-ja (where the first vowel is stretched to indicate wonder and surprise, meaning biggest mob). But if you're talking about boomerangs, then the scale would be different. Hunting boomerangs are made from tree branches which might take forty years to grow. Careful selection and mistakes in manufacture means not many boomerangs are made every year. So a man who carries five boomerangs into camp might hear people say 'ga-a-a-ja ngubungu' (the biggest mob of boomerangs).

 I've filled out the third form, but it may help you to know that, except for the Garrwa words for one, two and three, all the others are flexible. Eg. 'murrgu' (small mob, or a few) covers most situations where a number exceeds three, but rarely more than five or six. The Garrwa alphabet is as follows: Three Vowels: a is always as in father i is mostly as in bin (only pronounced as in bet when it's shouted over a long distance)

u is mostly as in foot, only sometimes as in fort Thirteen Consonants: (all sound like their English counterparts, except where noted) b, d,  g as in girl, never 'j'. j as in Rudyard Kipling. It's not a hard 'j' alveolar sound, more a fronted alveolar, almost dental sound. l, m, n, ng as in singing. It's often used at the start of a word (very hard for English speakers to master). If the 'n' and 'g' sounds are said distinctly, they are separated by an apostrophe (eg. barn'ga for cousin). ny as in onion. r, rr as in a Scottish rolled 'r'. w, y.


 

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