Karri-borlbme Kun-wok

kunwok

kunwok

Listen Yi-biddjuyme (Click play)

English Translation
(Kun-balandaken)
language, speech, talk, word
Pronunciation
(Bale ka-yime karri-ngeybun?)

goon-wok
If you know IPA: [ gʊnwok ]

Note: never pronounce the kun- (or gun- in Gundjeihmi) as in English ʼgun (firearm)ʼ. The 'u' is always 'u' as in 'put', never as in 'but'.

Morphology
(Karri-wokdjobdjobke)

kun- is the general noun class prefix
-wok is the noun stem

Notes
(Njalenjale)

If you are learning Gundjeihmi in Kakadu National Park, this word is spelt ʼgunwokʼ (pronunciation identical to the Kunwinjku spelling which is ʼkunwokʼ).

You will see the term 'Bininj Kunwok' (or the Gundjeihmi spelling Bininj Gunwok) in these resources. ʼBininjʼ as most of you will know by now means 'person, Aboriginal, human, man' and so the term Bininj Kunwok means 'the people's language' or 'Aboriginal language' or 'human speech'. It is not a term that Bininj use much, but it is a term of convenience to collectively refer to all of the related varieties of the same (mutually intelligible) language— Kunwinjku (the biggest variety, spoken at Gunbalanya), Kuninjku (Maningrida area), Kune (Cadell River), Gundjeihmi (Kakadu), Kundedjnjenghmi (Arnhem Land Plateau) and Mayali (Pine Creek, Katherine region). Read more at:
http://bininjgunwok.org.au/information/dialects/

Usage
(Bale kabirri-yime?)

W= Kunwinjku, Dj= Gundjeihmi

W= Nga-karrme kun-wok ke.
Dj= A-garrme gun-wok ge.
I've got some news for you.

W= Kun-wokbuyika.
Dj= Gun-wokbuyiga
A different language.

When this word is incorporated into verbs, you drop the kun- / gun- prefix.

W= Karri-wokbekkan.
Dj= Garri-wokbekkan.
'Let's listen to the talk/what's being said'

Sometimes when an adjective is added you can also optionally drop the prefix:

W= Wokwern nungka.
Dj= Wokwern nungga.
He talks too much.

Date
(Balekeno)
25 Jul 2012