Miriwoong language

Miriwoong, also written Miriuwung and Miriwung, is an Aboriginal Australian language which today has fewer than 20 fluent speakers, most of whom live in or near Kununurra in Western Australia. All of the fluent speakers are elderly and the Miriwoong language is considered to be critically endangered. However, younger generations tend to be familiar with a lot of Miriwoong vocabulary which they use when speaking Kimberley Kriol or Aboriginal English, and there is active language revitalization.

Country

Ancestral Miriwoong territory covered an estimated 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2) and extended from the valley of the Ord River north to Carlton Hill Station, upstream to Ivanhoe Station, and east to Newry Station, and along the Keep River to near the coastal swamps.

Linguo-genetic categorisation

Miriwoong is categorised by linguists as a Non-Pama-Nyungan language and part of the Jarrakan subgroup.

Sign

As is common in many Australian language communities, the Miriwoong people have a signed language that is used in addition to the spoken languages of the community.

Multilingualism

Despite the endangered status of the Miriwoong language, the Miriwoong community is vibrantly multilingual. Languages spoken include Miriwoong (for a small number of speakers), the Miriwoong signed language, Kimberley Kriol, and English. Two varieties of English are present in the community, Aboriginal English, and Standard Australian English. Many speakers are bi-dialectical in both varieties while many others have a strong preference for Aboriginal English.

Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring

The Language and Culture Centre has been tasked with the preservation and revitalisation of the Miriwoong language since the 1970s.

engages in a wide range of language revitalisation and documentation activities including a language nest, public language classes and on-country training camps. The language nest reaches around 300 children every week, both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous.

A significant part of MDWg's revitalisation efforts is the publication of books in Miriwoong.

Some linguistic features

Phonology

Vowels

The vowel system of Miriwoong comprises the following four vowel phonemes. Length is not phonemic.

Consonants

Miriwoong distinguishes 19 consonant phonemes. The consonant inventory of Miriwoong is fairly typical for Indigenous Australian languages, having multiple lateral and nasal consonants, no voicing contrast, and no fricatives.

/ɻ/ may be heard as either [ɻ] or [ɹ].

Orthography

The largely phonemic orthography of Miriwoong was developed at the Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. Some sounds that do not have a standard character in the Latin script are represented by digraphs. The vowel /u/ is spelled oo in Miriwoong.

is working with local organisations to conform to the standardised orthography when Miriwoong is written in documents or signage.

See also: Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages

Grammar

Some notable features of Miriwoong grammar are as follows:

Nouns

Gender

Miriwoong nouns have grammatical gender and adjectives and demonstratives agree with the noun. There are two genders, designated masculine and feminine.

Case

Nouns are not marked for case in Miriwoong, although arguments are cross-referenced on the verb, in most cases using a nominative-accusative pattern.

Verbs

Verbs in Miriwoong have a compound system of coverbs, which are generally uninflected and carry the main semantic content, and inflecting verbs, which carry the grammatical information. Both coverbs and verbs can stand alone but most verbal expressions comprise both a coverb and an inflecting verb (Newry 2015: 20-21). The inflecting verbs are a closed class and number around 20 while the coverbs are an open class. This type of verb system has been observed in other Australian languages, particularly in languages spoken in the north of Australia.

Other sources

• Galbat-Newry, G., (September 4, 2016) . The Guardian: Australian Edition
• Kofod, F. M. (1978). The Miriwung language (East Kimberley): a phonological and morphological study.
• Kofod, FM, 1976. Simple and Compound Verbs: Conjugation by Auxiliaries in Australian Verbal System: Miriwung. Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies.
• Olawsky, Knut, J. (2010) Revitalisation Strategies for Miriwoong In Re-awakening languages: theory and practice in the revitalisation of Australia's indigenous languages. In Hobson, J., Lowe, K., Poetics, S. & Walsh, M. (Eds.) Sydney University Press: Sydney
• Olawsky, Knut J., 2010. Going public with language: involving the wider community in language revitalisation. In J. Hobson, K. Lowe, S. Poetsch and M. Walsh (eds.), Re-Awakening Languages: Theory and Practice in the Revitalisation of Australia’s Indigenous Languages. Sydney, Australia: Sydney University Press, pp. 75.
• Olawsky, Knut, 2013. The Master-Apprentice language learning program down under: experience and adaptation in an Australian context. Language documentation and conservation, 7
• McGregor, William (1988). Handbook of Kimberley languages. Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.
• McGregor, William (2004). . London, New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-30808-9.
• Galbat-Newry, G., (2002) Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring Language and Culture Centre. Ngoonjook: A Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues. 21 26-49.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.

Miriwoong language books

• Boombi, Rita; Boombi, Rosemary; Woerde, Stephanie (2014). Yangge Yindajgoo! - Ask me. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. ISBN 978-0-9922849-3-0.
• Galbat-Newry, Glennis (2012). Woorlab yarrenkoo Miriwoong! - Miriwoong Animals. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring.
• Galbat-Newry, Glennis (2013). Woorlab barrenkoonan Miriwoong! Keep talking Miriwoong! : Miriwoong animals 2. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. ISBN 978-0-9922849-0-9.
• Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring (2013). Miriwoong Seasonal Calendar. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring.
• Newry, Dawayne (2012). Warlayi - Cooking meat in the earth oven. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. ISBN 978-0-9922849-5-4.
• Newry, Dawayne (2015). Ninggoowoong boorriyang merndang - Family book. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring.
• Ningarmara, Ingrid; Dilyai, Nancy (2015). Woorre-Woorrem - My community Flying-Fox. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. ISBN 978-0-9922849-4-7.
• Simon, Pamela; Galbat, Paulina (2011). Woorrjilwarim - Molly Springs. Kununurra, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring.