Karri-borlbme Kun-wok

mawah

mawah

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English Translation
(Kun-balandaken)
father's father (+his siblings) and reciprocal
Pronunciation
(Bale ka-yime karri-ngeybun?)

The pronunciation should be straightforward from the spelling. Remember that the final 'h' represents a glottal stop in Bininj Kunwok which is very different from the sound of 'h' in English. Listen to the audio.

Morphology
(Karri-wokdjobdjobke)

Notes
(Njalenjale)

Note that in the main Bininj Kunwok varieties there are four terms for grandparents (and also grandchildren). In English we have grandparents and grandchildren but in Bininj Kunwok the same term is used by both the grandparent and the grandchild to refer to each other. That is, the term is reciprocal. For example, a person calls their father's father mawah and that man also calls their son's child mawah. Your father's father and all his brothers and sisters are also considered mawah, and the reverse.

Your mawah is like a kind of brother or sister, even though they are two generations removed from you.

Usage
(Bale kabirri-yime?)

Kundedjnjenghmi dialect:
Boliblib na-kuken karlba na-kare barri-karungi, mawah yiban-yime, na-Wurrbbarn.
At Boliblib there is an old important traditional yellow ochre site where those you call father's father (and his brothers/sisters) of the Wurrbbarn clan used to dig it there.

Nga-karrekurrkurrbme, kareh mawah kam-re.
My lower leg is twitching, maybe my mawah is about to arrive.
[DIfferent parts of the body represent different family members. Your lower leg represents your brothers and sisters and your mawah].

Date
(Balekeno)
07 Oct 2015