Warlpiri

[Struthiomimus]

Hey, warlpiri, did you ever get a chat group going on Skype or somewhere?

[Struthiomimus]

Yuwa!

Lesson 2:

Ngana ka wangkami? = Who's speaking?
Who+auxiliary+speak-verb

Kurdu ka wangkami. = A/The child is speaking.
Kulaka ngana wangkami. = Nobody is speaking.

Ngaju karna wangkami. = I'm speaking. (pronoun "ngaju" is optional here)
Ngaju kulakarna wangkami = I'm not speaking.

Nyuntu kanpa wangkami. = You're speaking.
Nyuntu kulakanpa wangkami. = You're not speaking.

I guess I should add the rest of the auxiliary forms for the sake of completeness. Here they are:

*Karli wangkami = We (dual, inclusive) speak

*Karlijarra wangkami = We (dual, exclusive) speak

*Karlipa wangkami = We (plural, inclusive) speak

Karnalu wangkami = We (plural, exclusive) speak

Kanpala wangkami = You two speak.

*Kanpalu/kankulu wangkami = You (three or more) speak.

Ngarrka-jarra kapala wangkami = The two men speak.

Ngarrka-patu *kalu wangkami. = The men (three or more) speak.

For the (*) auxiliaries, there are other forms as well, but I'm not completely certain of their uses yet, so I can't explain them now.

[Yeshua.C]

e

[Yeshua.C]

a

[Struthiomimus]

I came across two interesting papers on Warlpiri a while ago, but forgot to post them here. Here they are:

http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/dm/theses/legate02.pdf

and

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~jlegate/nllt26.pdf

[Michael]

I would be more likely to take up Nahuatl than Warlpiri given that Nahuatl would be more relevant to my Mexican heritage, but I have a real thing for Warlpiri..

I was inspired by the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence that I saw in our literature class.. really inspired, so much that I feel I could go fight with the Aborigines if I had to. I know that most likely the Aborigines in that movie were speaking another of the 150+ Australian Indigenous languages and not Warlpiri, but Warlpiri itself is such an interesting language, and it doesn't look as scary as I thought.

[Struthiomimus]

Faith and begorrah, some life in the Warlpiri thread!

but I have a real thing for Warlpiri..

Heck yeah!

I was inspired by the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence that I saw in our literature class.. really inspired, so much that I feel I could go fight with the Aborigines if I had to. I know that most likely the Aborigines in that movie were speaking another of the 150+ Australian Indigenous languages and not Warlpiri, but Warlpiri itself is such an interesting language, and it doesn't look as scary as I thought.

I haven’t seen the movie, but if it took place in Western Australia, it probably wasn’t Warlpiri, since Warlpiri is mainly spoken in the Northern Territory.

In the Jigalong community, it might’ve been Nyamal or Banyjima or some other Ngayarda language:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigalong_C ... _Australia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngayarda_languages

If the languages were spoken on the Moore River Native Settlement…I dunno, since there were Aborigines brought there from all over…

I came across this website too, which is pretty interesting:

http://www.wangkamaya.org.au

[Michael]

Faith and begorrah, some life in the Warlpiri thread!

but I have a real thing for Warlpiri..

Heck yeah!

I was inspired by the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence that I saw in our literature class.. really inspired, so much that I feel I could go fight with the Aborigines if I had to. I know that most likely the Aborigines in that movie were speaking another of the 150+ Australian Indigenous languages and not Warlpiri, but Warlpiri itself is such an interesting language, and it doesn't look as scary as I thought.

I haven’t seen the movie, but if it took place in Western Australia, it probably wasn’t Warlpiri, since Warlpiri is mainly spoken in the Northern Territory.

In the Jigalong community, it might’ve been Nyamal or Banyjima or some other Ngayarda language:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigalong_C ... _Australia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngayarda_languages

If the languages were spoken on the Moore River Native Settlement…I dunno, since there were Aborigines brought there from all over…

I came across this website too, which is pretty interesting:

http://www.wangkamaya.org.au

Who knows? I may choose to take up both Warlpiri and Nahuatl for the TAC! Well..I don't really know about that..but, still.

And for Warlpiri, it would be even harder finding resources on it than for Nahuatl! Manx Gaelic, though having a lesser number of speakers than Warlpiri, has a comprehensive series of online resources, therefore I'm the more motivated to learn it and keep on learning it until I can speak better than Ned Maddrell himself!

But, nevertheless. Though I do learn language quite quickly, that only pertains to Romance languages. It was quite easy for me to forget Polish over one year, and this past summer I had to relearn the little I did learn, and am still a beginner in it. But that's just because I learn Polish out of necessity more than out of pure will.

Quizás. Espero...que pueda, que tenga las ganas, y que no abandone lo que aprendí y lo que aprenderé.

But as for the Wangka Maya Pilbara Language Center website whose link you provided, I find it very consoling. To think that several decades ago, speakers of these languages were being told that they were speaking the Devil's language God I just wanted to smack Mr. Neville upside his head, saying "Oh, we're doing this for their own good." -_-

[księżycowy]

Not sure if anyone knew, but there's a Warlpiri dictionary here:
http://www.sil.org.au/Resources/Digital ... fault.aspx
(Direct link: http://www.sil.org.au/portals/42/Lexico ... n/main.htm)
Figured I'd share seeing as there is a lack of Warlpiri dictionaries out there.

[Struthiomimus]

Awesome find, księżycowy! Thanks! I hadn't come across this site before.

[księżycowy]

I was looking at the book Warlpiri Dreamings a bit today, and (granted I don't know any Warlpiri) how do you get any vocab out of it Struth?!
Hopefully that dictionary I linked to helps!

[Yeshua.C]

Struthiomimus, message me if you want some interesting Warlpiri materials

[księżycowy]

Hey Yeshua!
Just to let you know, Struth's computer is down, so it might take him few days to PM you.

[Yeshua.C]

Cheers księżycowy. I know he won't want to miss this one! Get on Skype at some point, you'll want to hear about this one too.

[księżycowy]

I can't now, but I'll try you in the morning (well my morning anyway). If I don't catch you then I'll leave you a message anyway.
Meant to ask you before, but when's the best time to catch you?

[Yeshua.C]

Well, I'm +10 hours. So, I'll leave Skype open all day.

[Struthiomimus]

I was looking at the book Warlpiri Dreamings a bit today, and (granted I don't know any Warlpiri) how do you get any vocab out of it Struth?!

Ugh...not too successfully Although it's easier when a word/phrase is repeated. I tried once a while ago going line by line and just got frustrated, so now I'm just reading through all the stories to get a feel for it, and then I'll start dissecting again. The translations are pretty liberal...well, maybe that's not fair to say, but the translations are far from a straight gloss (which would make my life easier ). Anyway, I'm glad to have something as Warlpiri materials are hard to come by.

Struthiomimus, message me if you want some interesting Warlpiri materials

Sorry, Yesh, my comp is down so I won't be on Skype for a while, but glad to see you're still interested in/learning Warlpiri.

Who knows? I may choose to take up both Warlpiri and Nahuatl for the TAC! Well..I don't really know about that..but, still.

So, you chose Warlpiri right?

[księżycowy]

I'm glad to have something as Warlpiri materials are hard to come by.

Yeah, I hear that!

[Yeshua.C]

Nah, things are getting easier all the time.

[księżycowy]

Yeah, I'm quite hopeful about the future of all indigenous languages myself. The only thing I worry the most about are the Native American languages. Specifically the fact that the younger generations aren't learning the language. (Not that I'm saying that it's only a problem here.)

And sorry 'bout not skyping you yet Yeshua. Been a little busy.