Wemba Wemba is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language once spoken along the Murray River and its tributaries in North Western Victoria and South Central New South Wales.
Phonology Consonants LabialDentalAlveolarPalatalRetroflexVelarStopNasalLateralRhoticApproximant
Vowels FrontCentral BackClose, , Mid, , Open Voiced consonant sounds only occur within prenasalized stops. Prenasal consonants include: /mb/ /nd/ /ndy/ /ng/ and /rnd/. In phonetic form they are pronounced as [mb] [nd] [ɲɟ] [ŋɡ] and [ɳɖ].
Vocabulary Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981).
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! English !! Wemba-Wemba |- | man || beng |- | woman || lerg |- | mother || guinggurin |- | father || mam |- | head || murreng |- | eye || mir |- | nose || ganyug |- | ear || wirimbula |- | mouth || dyarb |- | tongue || dyaling |- | tooth || lia |- | hand || manye |- | breast || gurm |- | stomach || bili |- | urine || gir |- | faeces || guni |- | thigh || gareburdug |- | foot || dyine |- | bone || merderug |- | blood || gurg |- | dog || wilgar |- | snake || gurnwil |- | kangaroo || gure (grey), bara (red) |- | possum || wile |- | fish || yauwirr |- | spider || wirimbeliny |- | mosquito || liri |- | emu || dyurung-wil |- | eaglehawk || banggel |- | crow || wa |- | sun || nyaui |- | star || durd |- | stone || la |- | water || gaden |- | camp || lar |- | fire || wanab |- | smoke || burd |- | meat || benggug |- | stand || dyerriga |- | sit || nyengga |- | see || nyaga |- | go || yangga |- | get || garga |- | hit || daga (barrangguna 'kill') |- | I || yandang |- | you || ngin |- | one || gebin |- | two || buledya
Influence on English At least four botanical terms in Australian English are thought to have been introduced into local speech from Wemba-Wemba: = nitre bush/dillon = lerp/honeydew or lerp manna = bulrush/cumbungi = mallee The word yabby, a type of crayfish, comes from Wemba-Wemba.Oxford Dictionary of English, p 2,054.
References
External links Wemba Wemba language