Karri-borlbme Kun-wok

yawkyawk

yawkyawk

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English Translation
(Kun-balandaken)
young women
Pronunciation
(Bale ka-yime karri-ngeybun?)

yawkyawk
—where the first consonant and diphthong "yaw-" rhymes with English "how". This word is commonly mispronounced by native English speakers as "yorkyork" (Australian English i.e. incorrectly making it ryhme with "pork").

Morphology
(Karri-wokdjobdjobke)

Probably related to the formative yaw which means 'young, offspring, woman's child'.

Notes
(Njalenjale)

The word can sometimes take the feminine noun class prefix ngal- (W) / al- (Kdj):
ngal-yawkyawk (W)
al-yawkyawk (Kdj)
Sometimes to mark the singular, the reduplication is dropped (but it must retain the prefix): ngal-yawk (W)

Can be used as a term of address: Ma, yawkyawk ngurrim-ray! 'Ok you girls, come here!'

Usage
(Bale kabirri-yime?)

Barrih-nami kebborlh yawkyawk albu mararradj barri-karrmi. (Kdj)
They used to put a nose decoration in the young girl's nose, if they had a sweetheart/girlfriend/boyfriend.

Yawkyawk ben-royhmeng. (W)
He was spying on the young women.

Date
(Balekeno)
08 Sep 2014