Karri-borlbme Kun-wok

kabirrihni (W) kabarrihni (Kdj)

kabirrihni (W) kabarrihni (Kdj)

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English Translation
(Kun-balandaken)
They are sitting/they are there.
Pronunciation
(Bale ka-yime karri-ngeybun?)

gah-bidi'-nee or if you know IPA [gabiriʔni] or [gabariʔni]

Note that the letter h represents the glottal stop which is an obstruction of the airflow in the vocal tract like the hyphen in the English word uh-oh.

Morphology
(Karri-wokdjobdjobke)

kabirri- / gabarri- 'they (3+) non-past tense verbal pronoun prefix'
-h- the glottal stop usually indicates emphasis on the present moment 'right now as I speak'
-ni 'to be, to be seated'

Notes
(Njalenjale)

You can also say kabirrini 'they are there' or 'they are sitting' but the inclusion of the glottal stop -h- means 'they are there now' or 'they are sitting right now'. You can insert the glottal stop between the pronoun prefix and any verb stem:

kabirri-h-ni 'they are there now' (W)
kabirri-h-ngun 'they are eating now'
kabirri-h-re 'they are going now'
kabirri-h-burren 'they are fighting now'

kabarri-h-nan 'they are looking at it now' (Kdj)
kabarri-h-marnbun 'they are making it now'
kabarri-h-durndeng 'they are going back now'

Usage
(Bale kabirri-yime?)

(hyphens used to show verb stem):

Nakkan yi-na kunj kah-ni. (W)
There he is look, there's a kangaroo sitting.

Kabeneh-ni.
The two of them are sitting together (living together).

Bonj, nga-ni.
No, I'm going to stay.
(Bonj usually indicates completion rather than negation).

Mumeka kabirrih-ni?
Is there anyone at Mumeka?

Korlonjdjorr djama bininj kabarrihni. (Kdj)
There are no people living at Korlonjdjorr.

Date
(Balekeno)
04 Nov 2012