Karri-borlbme Kun-wok

kunbard

kunbard

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English Translation
(Kun-balandaken)
1. knee 2. node on stem of plants
Pronunciation
(Bale ka-yime karri-ngeybun?)

GOON-bart (bart as in a north American pronunciation of "Bart Simpson")
If you know IPA [ˈgʊnbaʈ]

Morphology
(Karri-wokdjobdjobke)

kun-/gun- is the noun class prefix and -bard is the noun stem.

Notes
(Njalenjale)

Body parts mostly start with a kun-/gun- prefix. If we are referring to the nodes on a plant— bamboo for example, then we would use the vegetal noun class prefix: man-bard (W) an-bard (Gdj).
Again, body part nouns can be incorporated into verbs:
Kabardbakme (ka-bard-bakme)
'the (spear grass) nodes are breaking (and the grass is falling)'

The nodes of spear grass (wet season sorghum grass) feature in some traditional mythology and kunborrk genre music in Western Arnhem Land.

Usage
(Bale kabirri-yime?)

Ngabardlurlmeng 'my knee has swollen'
nga-bard-lurlme-ng
I-knee-swell-past.tense

You can also use this word in a predicate noun construction:
Konda kabard 'here it stands (spear grass or bamboo). The ka- prefix (third person singular i.e. he/she/it) which normally goes on verbs can also go on this noun so that it literally means 'it-knee' or 'it is standing (by virtue of the nodes or 'knees').

Date
(Balekeno)
09 Sep 2012