# Woiwurrung–Taungurung language

Woiwurrung, Taungurung and Boonwurrung are Aboriginal languages of the Kulin nation of Central Victoria. Woiwurrung was spoken by the Woiwurrung and related peoples in the Yarra River basin, Taungurung by the Taungurung people north of the Great Dividing Range in the Goulburn River Valley around Mansfield, Benalla and Heathcote, and Boonwurrung by the six clans which comprised the Boonwurrung people along the coast from the Werribee River, across the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory. They are often portrayed as distinct languages, but they were mutually intelligible. Ngurai-illamwurrung (Ngurraiillam) may have been a clan name, a dialect, or a closely related language.

## Classification and dialects

Boonwurrung is closely related to Woiwurrung, with which it shares 93% of its vocabulary, and to a lesser degree with Taungurung spoken north of the Great Dividing Range in the area of the Goulburn River, with which it shares 80%. Woiwurrung, Taungurong and Boonwurrung have been considered by linguists to be dialects of a single Central Victorian language, whose range stretched from almost Echuca in the north, to Wilsons Promontory in the south.
R. Brough Smyth wrote in 1878 that "The dialects of the Wooeewoorong or Wawoorong tribe (River Yarra) and the Boonoorong tribe (Coast) are the same. Twenty-three words out of thirty are, making allowances for differences of spelling and pronunciation, identical; five have evidently the same roots, and only two are widely different".

## Woiwurrung
### Woiwurrung dialect phonology

The following is the Woiwurrung dialect:
| | Peripheral | Peripheral | Laminal | Laminal | Apical | Apical |
| | Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex |
| Plosive | b/p | ɡ/k | ɟ/c | d̪/t̪ | d/t | ɖ/ʈ |
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n̪ | n | ɳ |
| Lateral | | | | | l | ɭ |
| Rhotic | | | | | r | ɽ |
| Glide | w | w | j | | | |
It is not clear if the two rhotics are trill and flap, or tap and approximant. Vowels in Woiwurrung are /a e i o u/.

### Pronouns

In the case of the Woiwurrung pronouns, the stem seems to be the standard ngali 'you and I', but the front was suffixed to wa-, so wa+ngal combines to form wangal below. In Kulin languages there is no grammatical gender.
| Person | Singular | Singular | Singular | Dual | Dual | Dual | Plural | Plural | Plural |
| Person | Woi. | IPA | Eng. | Woi. | IPA | Eng. | Woi. | IPA | Eng. |
| 1st Inc. | | | | Wangal | [wa.ŋal] | We two (you) | Wanganyin | [wa.ŋa.ɲin] | We (& you) |
| 1st Exc. | Wan | [wan] | I | Wangan | [wa.ŋan] | We two (not you) | Wanganyinyu | [wa.ŋa.ɲi.ɲu] | We (not you) |
| 2nd | Warr | [war] | You | Wabul | [wa.bul] | You two | Wat gurrabil Wat gurrabilla Wat balak Wat wurdundhu | [wat ɡu.ra.bil] [wat ɡu.ra.bil.la] [wat ba.lak] [wat wu.ɖun.d̪u] | You |
| 3rd | Munyi | [mu.ɲi] | He/She/It | Munyi gurrabil | [mu.ɲi ɡu.ra.bil] | Those two | Malu gurrabila | [ma.lu ɡu.ra.bi.la] | They |

### Other Woiwurrung vocabulary

* biik = land, country
* boorondara = shade, darkness, night (origin of the name of the City of Boroondara)
* nyilum biik = poor soil / hard land (origin of the name of Nillumbik Shire)
* wominjeka = hello / welcome (womin = come, je [dji] = asking to come, ka = purpose)
* yabber = to talk (this word, with the same meaning, has made its way into informal English)
* yarra = flowing, (also means "hair"). It is thought to have been mistakenly given to the Yarra River (referred to as Birrarrung in the Woiwurrung language) by an early settler who asked a boy what it was called, who was confused and answered "it is flowing".

### Number and sign system

A numbering system was used when Wurundjeri clans sent out messengers to advise neighbouring clans of upcoming events, such as a ceremony, corroboree, a challenge to fight or Marn grook ball game. Messengers carried a message stick with markings to indicate the number and type of people involved and a prop to indicate the type of event, such as a ball for a Marn grook event. The location of meeting was spoken, but neighbouring clans might not use the same language, so a sign language was used to indicate the number of days in the future when the people should assemble. The number was indicated by pointing to a location on the body from 1 to 16. After 16, at the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body.
| Numeral | Spoken number | Sign of the number | Literal meaning |
| 1 | bubupi-muningya | little finger | child of the hand |
| 2 | bulato-ravel | third finger | little larger |
| 3 | bulato | middle finger | larger |
| 4 | urnung-meluk | forefinger | urnung means a direction, meluk means a large grub found in some eucalypti |
| 5 | babungyi-muningya | thumb | the mother of the hand |
| 6 | krauel | wrist-joint | |
| 7 | ngurumbul | the divergence of the radial tendons | a fork |
| 8 | jeraubil | the swelling of the radial muscles | |
| 9 | thambur | the inside of the elbow-joint | a round place |
| 10 | berbert | biceps | the ringtail possum and also the name of the armlet made from the pelt of that animal, worn on the bicep during festive occasions |
| 11 | wulung | shoulder-joint | |
| 12 | krakerap | the collar-bone | the place where the bag hangs by its band |
| 13 | gurnbert | the neck | reed necklace, or place where the reed necklace is worn |
| 14 | kurnagor | the lobe of the ear | the point or end of a hill, or of a spur or ridge |
| 15 | ngarabul | the side of the skull | a range or the ridge of a hill |
| 16 | bundial | top of the head | the cutting-place, the place where the mourner cuts himself with some sharp instrument, from budagra meaning to cut |
| 17+ | From the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body. 17 is the other side of the skull. | From the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body. 17 is the other side of the skull. | From the top of the head, the count follows the equivalent locations across the other side of the body. 17 is the other side of the skull. |

## Boonwurrung
### Placenames derived from Boonwurrung language terms

| Placename | Origin |
| Allambee | Reported to mean "to sit and wait for a while", possibly from the verb ngalamba. |
| Barerarerungar | Country. |
| Beenak | Basket. |
| Buln Buln | "Lyrebird", same origin as the name of the Melbourne suburb Bulleen and the Bolin Bolin Billabong. |
| Bunyip | From the mythical water-dwelling beast, the bunyip. |
| Corinella | Unclear, some sources state "Running Water" whereas others claim "Home of the kangaroo" |
| Dandenong | Possibly derived from Tanjenong, the indigenous name of Dandenong Creek. |
| Darnum | Debated, some sources claim "Parrot", referring specifically to the crimson rosella. However, other sources claim this to be folk etymology. The name Datnum is recorded as the name of the parrot spirit who assisted Bunjil, one of six wirmums or shamans in Kulin mythology. |
| Dumbalk | "Ice" or "Winter" |
| Eumemmerring | Claimed to be a word meaning "agreement", early settler reports recorded "um um" as a word for "yes". |
| Korumburra | Thought to mean "Blowfly", recorded as karrakarrak in related languages. |
| Koo Wee Rup | Blackfish |
| Koonwarra | Black swan |
| Lang Lang | Unclear, may be connected to Laang meaning stony, although other sources claim the name derives from a different word meaning a group of trees, or from an early European settler named Lang. |
| Leongatha | From liang, meaning "teeth". |
| Meeniyan | Moon |
| Moorabbin | Unclear, possibly "woman's milk". Other sources state "resting place", or "people of the flat country." |
| Moorooduc | Unclear, some sources claim "flat swamp", others claim "dark" or "night". |
| Mordialloc | From Moordy Yallock. Yallock means creek or river, in reference to the Mordialloc Creek estuary. Some sources give "moordy" as meaning "small", whereas other sources have given it to mean "swamp". |
| Murrumbeena | Unclear, according to some sources named after a member of the native police. Identical with the word Murrumbeena recorded by Daniel Bunce in 1851 as meaning "you". |
| Nar Nar Goon | Unclear, said to be from a word for koala. |
| Narre Warren | Unclear, some sources allege connection to nier warreen meaning "no good water", although warreen usually refers to the sea. Other sources cite connection to narrworing, meaning "hot". Wathaurong sources refer to "warren" meaning 'towards the rising sun' or 'to the east' and "narre" meaning 'a long way' or 'far away'. Wathaurong from Ballarat and Geelong are known to have travelled to Narre Narre Warren for meetings of the Kulin Nation. |
| Nayook | From the word "ngayuk" meaning cockatoo. |
| Neerim | High or long. |
| Noojee | Often described as "place of rest", apparently literally means "done", "finished" or "complete". |
| Nyora | Native Cherry |
| Tarwin | From dharwin meaning "thirsty" |
| Tonimbuk | From the verb meaning "to burn". |
| Tooradin | Named from a Bunyip-like monster of local legend, which lived in the waters of Sawtell Inlet and Koo Wee Rup Swamp. |
| Warneet | One of the words for "river". |
| Warragul | A loanword originating from Dharug language around Sydney. Usually given as meaning "wild dog", although warragul was recorded as meaning "wild" for anything, including humans. Gippsland settlers used the word in derogatory way to describe Indigenous people. |
| Wonthaggi | Thought to be from the verb wanthatji meaning "get", "bring" or "pull". Other sources claim it means "home". |
| Yannathan | A form of the verb yana meaning "to go" or "to walk". |
| Yarragon | Thought to be short for Yarragondock, meaning moustaches. |

### Animals and plants

Some Boonwurrung words for animals and plants include:

#### Plants

* Banksia (Honeysuckle): Warrak
* Buttercup: Gurm-burrut
* Clematis aristata: Minamberang
* Peppermint Tree: Wiyal
* Sarsaparilla: Wadimalin
* She-oak: Tur-run
* Wattle: Garron
* Woolly Tea-tree: Wulep
* Yellow Box: Dhagurn
* Yam Daisy: Murnong

#### Birds

* Black Cockatoo: Yanggai
* Black Duck: Toolum
* Black Swan: Gunuwarra
* Emu: Barraimal
* Ibis: Baibadjerruk
* Magpie lark: Dit-dit
* Nankeen Kestrel: Gawarn
* Pelican: Wadjil
* Quail: Tre-bin
* Water Fowl: Kor-rung-un-un

#### Aquatic animals

* Blackfish: Duat
* Cockle: Mur-yoke
* Eel: Yuk / Ilk
* Flathead: Dalum
* Frog: Ngarrert
* Mussel: Mur-bone
* Oyster: U.yoke
* Periwinkle: Pid-de-ron
* Shark: Darrak

#### Insects

* Ant: Booran
* Bee: Murnalong
* Butterfly: Balam-balam
* Fly: Garragarrak