Karri-borlbme Kun-wok

bedda

bedda

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English Translation
(Kun-balandaken)
they, them
Pronunciation
(Bale ka-yime karri-ngeybun?)

bet-duh
If you know IPA, [bet:a]

Note the 'dd' which is called a 'double stop'. The sound straddles the syllable boundary. To an English speaker, the first consonant in the double stop sounds like 't' and the second sounds voiced like 'd'. Think of the first 'd' closing the first syllable and the second one opening the next syllable, bed-da. The -dd- sound can only appear between vowels.

Morphology
(Karri-wokdjobdjobke)

The bed- syllable is also found in other related free-standing pronouns such as bedberre 'theirs, belonging to them' and bedman 'themselves'.

Notes
(Njalenjale)

Bedda can also be used to identify a group by placing it after the name of a referent associated with or a member of the group. In this construction it is also a strategy for indirect reference when it appears after someone's name (or a kin term) requiring the addressee to
infer the identity of the referent by association with the directly named individual(s), e.g.
(a man speaking on the phone) Ngaye, Abigail bedda.
'It's me, [the one associated with] Abigail and the rest of them.
Here the speaker's daughter's name is Abigail and he uses her name to get his addressees to infer that Abigail's father is speaking. That way, the speaker doesn't have to say their own name (which is generally avoided).

Also, you must not refer directly to, or address your mother-in-law. Instead of saying ngaleng 'she' (a pronoun we have already learnt) you must refer to her by saying bedda 'them'— using the plural to refer to tabooed kin, even if it is only a singular person.

Usage
(Bale kabirri-yime?)

Kunekke kabirri-yime bedda.
[That they-say/do them]
(Kuninjku dialect)
'That's what they do'.

Ngarri-re rowk wanjh bedda kabirri-wohnan.
[we-go all then they they-watch.after]
When we go [i.e. die], then they will be in charge.

Date
(Balekeno)
18 Jun 2012