warr!

[wa:]

an exclamation of surprise, to draw attention to something

palawa kani – the revived language of Tasmanian Aboriginal people, Tasmania, Australia.

Early descriptions by observers from 1798 described warr being ‘hallooed’ ‘very vehemently’ and sounding ‘thrilling’ and ‘galvanic’. Still remembered into the early 1900s in different parts of the state of Tasmania, it has been brought back into use by Tasmanian Aborigines in the revived palawa kani language.

palawa kani is Tasmanian Aboriginal language retrieved from information recorded of the 8 to 16 original languages but is not exactly the same as any of them. As not enough words or information survived of any of the original languages to rebuild any one of them exactly as it was, palawa kani combines words retrieved from as many of the original languages as possible. It is the only Aboriginal language spoken in Tasmania today. This retrieval work began in the late 1990s and Aborigines of all ages can now speak palawa kani and children learn it from infancy.

warr features in tribal songs which were documented by European observers from the 1820s, and among fragments of songs remembered into the twentieth century as late as 1972 by family of Fanny Smith. Songs sung in 1899 by Fanny and recorded on wax cylinder recordings were the only recordings ever made of a Tasmanian Aboriginal language by a native speaker, and are now listed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.

warr! was also still in use in the early 1900s among other Aboriginal families on northeastern Tasmanian offshore islands, quite separate from Fanny’s families in the south of the state.

It was a stand alone exclamation, and also attached on the end of other words or following them, to draw attention to the thing spoken about. The word is still used in both those ways.

Today it is often used as a rallying call in gatherings and protests advocating for the rights of Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

Sources: mina tunapri nina kani. palawa kani Dictionary, 2019.

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre – palawa kani (tacinc.com.au)

Credits: palawa kani Language Program, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre

yoko

[ɟoko]

cause something bad to happen to someone / something

Jarawara - 240 speakers, Amazonas state, Brazil

The subject of the verb is the causer, and the direct object is the person or animal that experiences the bad thing.

aba kitikiti ne hiyokomatamonaka
fish.M it.flapped AUX it.caused.a.bad.thing.to.happen.to.him
'The fish flapping caused a bad thing to happen to him.'

As the man was fishing, the fish flapping on the end of his line attracted the attention of an alligator, which came and bit off the man's arm.

A person can cause a bad thing to happen to themselves, as in the following:

hine yokohabone hinamoneke
self she.will.cause.a.bad.thing.to.happen.to he.said
'He said she deserved the punishment he was going to give her.'

A man's wife had done something that he thought deserved his punishment. The verb means she caused a bad thing to happen to herself.

More about this word / language: https://www.silbrasil.org.br/resources/archives/72031

Source: Vogel, Alan, compiler. 2016. Jarawara-English dictionary. Anápolis, GO: Associação Internacional de Linguística – SIL Brasil.

Credits: Vogel, Alan

saaw-saaw

[sa̰a̰w-sa̰a̰w]

loudly, from the sum of many small noises

Dai Lue, or Lü – 300,000 speakers, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China

ᦺᦢᦺᦙᧉ       ᦶᦓᧃ             ᦙᦱ           ᦌᦱᧁᧉᦌᦱᧁᧉ
baj˥ma̰j˩    næn˩               maa˩        sa̰a̰w˩sa̰a̰w˩
leaf            make.sound    cont         loudly
The leaves were rustling “saaw-saaw.”

ᦷᦂᧇ    ᦵᦃᧆᧈ      ᦔᦲᧃ     ᦶᦉᧃ           ᦣᦸᧂᧉ     ᦌᦱᧁᧉᦌᦱᧁᧉ
kop˦˥     xeet˦˥       pin˥      sæn˥              hɔ̰ŋ˩        sa̰a̰w˩sa̰a̰w˩
frog      frog        be        100,000          cry          loudly
Frogs by the millions were croaking “saaw-saaw.”

Dai Lue is spoken in China, Burma, Laos and Thailand. Dai Lue belongs to the Kra-Dai family, a family that includes Thai and Lao. It is written using the New Tai Lue alphabet, which is similar to the Thai and Lao scripts.

Dai Lue has six tones: ˥ high, ˦ high rising, ˨˧ low rising with creak, ˩ low tone, ˧ falling tone, ˩ low tone with creak. Here are some minimal sets that demonstrate the distinctiveness of the tones.

˥  ᦎᧁ   taw˥  fireplace      ᦉᦱᧁ   saaw˥ young woman
˦  ᦎᧁᧈ taw˦˥ turtle            ᦉᦱᧁᧈ  saaw˦˥ to add ingredients while stir-frying
˨  ᦎᧁᧉ ta̰w˨˧  gourd          ᦉᦱᧁᧉ sa̰a̰w˨˧ feed-trough
˩  ᦑᧁ taw˩ seaweed          ᦌᦱᧁ saaw˩ twenty
˧  ᦑᧁᧈ taw˦˧ to equal         ᦌᦱᧁᧈ saaw˦˧  – 
˩  ᦑᧁᧉ ta̰w˩  to support     ᦌᦱᧁᧉ sa̰a̰w˩ loudly, from the sum of many small noises

The online Dai Lue-English Dictionary has more information about
all aspects of Dai Lue sounds, grammar, writing system, and vocabulary.

Source: William Hanna

aodu

[ao'ⁿdu]

gather people together in love for reconciliation

Natügu – 3,700 speakers, Santa Cruz Island, Solomon Islands

Aodu can be analysed as a- (causative) + odu (to gather in friendship).

Aodu is usually initiated by a community or family leader, so that members who are feuding do not just passively agree to get along, but grow to value and love the others and desire for them to be blessed. Aodu involves hearing the other person’s position in the presence of the one who gathers them, who serves as both moderator and mediator.

The Natügu language has a `circumfix' (prefix-suffix combination) nz- + -ngr which converts verbs into nouns. Thus, from odu and aodu we can form nzodungr `friendship' and nzaodungr `loving reconciliation'.

Natügu has 10 vowels. Five of them are represented using the letters a, e, i, o, and u. The remaining five use the letters, c, q, r, x, and z, which have no other use in the language. The sounds of c, q, r, x, and z are something like the vowels of English words caught, cute, curt, cat, and cut. Years ago, speakers of Natqgu made this decision because typewriters did not contain the letters with extra symbols, like â, ü, ö, ä, and ë. This decision makes it easy for people to compose text messages in Natqgu today.

Source: Boerger, Brenda H. (2016). Freeing biblical poetry to sing. Open Theology 2:179-203. Topical issue on Bible Translation. Mark L. Strauss, ed. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/opth-2016-0014, page 198.

llakichina

[ʎaki'ʧina]

1. make someone feel tender emotions including love, sadness, or empathy, e.g. to make someone love someone/something so much that it makes it them sad, or to love someone/something so much that it hurts

2. a genre of traditional songs that can inspire such feelings

Amazonian Kichwa – 60,000 speakers, Ecuador

Derived from adding a the causative morpheme -chi to the verb llakina, to love / to be sad. The notions of love and sadness are intricately intertwined in this language.

One may feel llakichina for not just other people but also for infants and animals. An infant or baby animal may induce llakichina as its relatively pathetic and helpless state – being unable to care for itself – may make one feel sad and love at the same time. See the following citation for more information:

Nuckolls, J. B., & Swanson, T. D. (2018). Respectable uncertainty and pathetic truth in Amazonian Quichua-speaking culture. In J. Proust & M. Fortier (Eds.), Metacognitive Diversity: An Interdisciplinary Approach (pp. 171–192). https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198789710.001.0001

Source: Nuckolls, J. B., & Swanson, T. D. (2020). Amazonian Quichua language and Life: Introduction to grammar, ecology, and discourse patterns from Pastaza and Upper Napo Speakers. Lanham: Lexington Books.

Credits: Tod D. Swason, Janis B. Nuckolls, Alexander Rice.

tummang

[tum:aŋ]

coolness after overheating; feeling of returned mental clarity after one's body temperature lowers

Western Pantar – 10,000 speakers, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Pantar Island has few sources of potable water, and work and travel during the dry season can lead to heat exhaustion, including fatigue, dizziness, and faintness. Once overheated, without access to water, one must wait in the shade or relative coolness of evening for one's body temperature to lower. This subtle and gradual cooling is accompanied by a returned mental clarity and almost euphoric sense of well being, known as tummang.

Tummang is an experiencer verb which takes a patientive pronoun. Thus, one cannot initiate tummang; rather, tummang is something that happens, beyond the speaker's control. Naing tummang. 'I have cooled down' (with the implication that I have come out of my stupor and am ready to get on with my work).

Source: Holton and Lamma Koly (2008). Kamus Pengantar Bahasa Pantar Barat.

Credits: Mahalalel Lamma Koly, Gary Holton

aɨ́k

[a˧.ɨk˦]

The uneasy feeling that one's insides are being displaced, such as when looking down from a height, sitting in a fast-moving vehicle going over hilly terrain, or being in the presence of a member of the opposite sex.

Galo – approx 60,000 speakers – C. Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India

Galo is a Trans-Himalayan language spoken by approximately 60,000 people in Central Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. Although many young Galo are increasingly using Arunachali Hindi as a primary mode of communication, Galo is still a vibrant language with a high percentage of fluent speakers and child learners. Galo community members are also very active in language documentation and development, under the patronage of the Galo Welfare Society and the Galo Language Development Committee. Working both independently and in partnership with Mark W. Post, Galo community members have produced a community orthography (notably, one which is capable of accurately representing a complex tone system), gained official state recognition for their language, gained approval for its use in school curricula in Arunachal Pradesh, produced language textbooks and other written materials, and published a large-scale dictionary from which this word has been excerpted. 

Source: Galo-English Dictionary and field notes

Credit: Mark W Post, 'Ilww Rwbaa, 'Igoo Rwbaa, Miilww Xodu and Bomcak Rwbaa​

anikok

[anɪkɔk]

the pain felt when swallowing something dry

Muyu – approx 2,000 speakers – Western New Guinea

Used as a noun and clearly different from all other forms of pain one can experience, which are labeled welen.

Muyu is a Non-Austronesian (Papuan) language of New Guinea. It is spoken by an estimated 2,000 people living alongside the Kao and Muyu Rivers in the Boven-Digoel regency, Papuan Province, Indonesia. There is no transmission to a younger generation. Muyu speakers are aware of nine dialects: Kasawut, Are, Ninggrum, Yonggom, Kakaip, Kawip, Kapom, Kamindip, and Okpari.

Source: Personal field notes, https://www.elararchive.org/dk0601/

Credit: Alexander Zahrer

dampurraweyithi

[dampuɾawejici]

when a parent has been trying to tell their children to do something, then they just give up and say "oh go on then"

Murrinhpatha – approx 3,000 speakers – Australia (Wadeye, Northern Territory)

Murrinhpatha is spoken by Australian Aboriginal people from several clans, living in Wadeye and other towns in the Northern Territory. Murrinhpatha is still learnt as first-language by children growing up in the area.

Source: Originally heard in a story recorded by Chester Street in the 1970s. John Mansfield followed up on the meaning in 2021.

Credit: Dungkul Noelene Parry. Any inaccuracy in the translation is due to John Mansfield.

gemen

[gemɛn]

A discourse marker to show that the speaker believes something is imaginary, illusory, or hard to believe.

Kriol – 30,000 speakers – Central Northern Australia (Barunga region)

Example of use for (1) an imaginary scenario and (2) an illusionary belief:

(1) Im, gemen mardi reken lil beibi darran dei
    Trans.: “[About someone treating a teddy bear as if it was a real baby.]
    She is like, pretending to think that this is a little baby.”

(2) imin jis hapi ba luk im mami gemin bat najing
    Trans.: “[About a little girl who believes (wrongly) that she is going to find her mother.]
    She was so happy to see her mum she thought, but it didn’t happen.”

Gemen is a discourse particle, and as such it is invariable. It is relatively flexible as to where it can be placed in the sentence. 

Source: Data from speakers in Beswick, Barunga, Weemol. See also Schultze-Berndt, Eva, Maïa Ponsonnet and Denise Angelo. In prep. The semantics of modal markers in Northern Australian Kriol. 

​Credit: Maïa Ponsonnet and Denise Angelo

njirrk(mu)

​[ɲɪrk, ɲɪrkmu]

brood over something: feel resentful, remorseful; be sad, be upset. Also, for some speakers, be confused, not know.

Dalabon – 5 speakers – Australia (Arnhem Land)

njirrk(mu) describes negative emotional states that involve worrying and even feeling depressed, but also negative feelings targetting others such as holding resentment. It is also associated with social isolation, lack of communication, hatred and conflict. More.

njirrk(mu) is an intransitive verb. 

(1) Mak bala-njirrkmi, mak bala-burruni.
     "[After their relative died,] they didn’t hold resentment (feel vengeful) [towards the person responsible for their relative's death], they didn’t fight."

(2) Kardu bunu burrah-marnu-buninj, be-burrng, o kanh eksiden-kun balah-eksidenhminj… Balah-dja-njirrmu yelek. 
     "Perhaps them two bashed their son, or about an accident, they had an accident. They are still brooding over it, yet."

Source: Ponsonnet, Maïa. 2011. Les figures du doute en langue dalabon (Australie du Nord). Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 132(1):151-164. http://jso.revues.org/6358?lang=fr and Ponsonnet, Maïa. 2014. The language of emotions: The case of Dalabon (Australia). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Collection Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts, p. 435

​Credit: Maggie Tukumba

yartparrawarra

[jaʈpaɾawaɾa]

one who excels at playing the didgeridoo

Mawng – approx 260 speakers – Australia (Goulburn Island, Northern Territory)

Mawng is the common language spoken on Warruwi, an island also known as South Goulburn Island in the North West of Australia’s Arnhem Land. Around 400 people live on Warruwi. Mawng is the main language but people also speak Kun-barlang, Kunwinjku as well as Yolgnu-matha languages and some Torres Strait Creole and English. More about Mawng.
Source: Ruth Singer, Nita Garidjalalug, Mawng Dictionary

Credit: Linda Barwick

angwatki

[ɑŋwɑtkiː]

barren woman (woman unable to bear children); woman permitted to play a male role in a 'singsing' ritual masked dance

Baining, Qaqet – 6,400 speakers – Papua New Guinea (East New Britain)

This word consists of angwat (man) with -ki (feminine suffix). Normally, it would be angwat-ka with the masculine suffix. More about Baining.

Source: Gail Pool, “Lost Among the Baining” (U of Missouri Press, 2015), p. 137

Credit: Jonathan Pool

kadeyhme

[gaɾeiʔme]

the cracking noise made when crushing a louse under one’s fingernail

Kunwok – approx 2,000 speakers – Australia (West Arnhem, Northern Territory)

When finding a mother louse ngalbadjan, it is satisfying to crack it between one's thumbnails or by using mabarla, a special flat stick used to part hair and crush lice.

The verb can also incorporate the noun bid (hand), to form the word kabiddeyhme, 'pull the trigger of a gun.'

Kunwok is one of the small number of Australian languages still being acquired by children, and is used as the daily language of communication in the community of Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), Northern Territory. More about Kunwok.

Source: Alexandra Marley (fieldwork)

mampemurruwurlmurruwurl

[mɐmpeˈmuɾuwuɭmuɾuwuɭ]

she's making (the girl's) hair beautiful

Murrinhpatha – approx 2,500 speakers – Australia (Daly River region, Northern Territory)

This word can be broken down into mam-, meaning third person singular, non-future, action performed with hands; pe-, an incorporated noun meaning head or hair, and murruwurl, the verb stem meaning to make nice or beautiful. The stem is reduplicated to show that the action is repeated, as in fussing with the hair.

Murrinhpatha is one of the small number of Australian languages still being acquired by children, and is used as the daily language of communication in the community of Wadeye (Port Keats), Northern Territory.

Source: Rachel Nordlinger (fieldwork)

dalabborrord

[dalappoɾoɖ]

place on a tree where two branches rub together; the sound of two branches rubbing together

Dalabon – 5 speakers – Australia (Arnhem Land)

You can curse someone by putting a piece of their dirty/sweaty clothing in spot where the two branches meet. The accursed will get sick and can only recover if the item is removed from the dalabborrord.

Source: Evans, Merlan & Tukumba (eds, 2004) Dalabon Dictionary

Credit: Alexandra Marley

'unuldilh

[ʔʌnʌltiɬ]

(s)he is eating berries off the bush

Carrier/Dakelh – 600 speakers – central British Columbia, Canada

Berries, especially blueberries, form a significant part of the traditional diet, and collecting and drying berries is a major summer activity. Carrier people even set forest fires in order to create berry habitat. Of course it is hard to avoid eating while you work, or picking a few berries for a snack while travelling. However, "eating berries off the bush" is not the true meaning of this verb. You can use it to describe someone eating berries as he or she picks them, but you can also use it to describe someone eating berries one by one from a bowl. On the other hand, someone eating berries by the spoonful cannot be described using this word.

What this verb actually describes is eating individual members of a "mess" of berries. Most of the time we do not concern ourselves with individual berries, just as we do not concern ourselves with individual grains of sand, salt, sugar, or rice. There are so many that we think of the collection as an uncountable mass, not as a set of individuals. If we eat members of such a "mess" one by one, so that we individuate them, we are doing what is described by this verb. 

In this word, the n is a "classifier" for round things. We can use the same basic verb, without the n, to describe a bear eating ants, where, unfortunately from the bear's point of view, it is possible only to get hold of one or a few ants at a time. More about Carrier.

Source: personal field notes

Credit: Bill Poser

karriyolyolmen

[gaɾijoljolmɛn]

Let's story

Kunwok – 2,000 speakers – Australia (Arnhem Land)

The word karriyolyolmen can be analysed karri- (we) yolyolme (tell story) -n​ (imperative). The root yolyolme, "tell a story", or "relate news", is distinct from wokdi, "speak" or "talk".

Nga-yolyolme    bu         namarrkon   djang
I-     "story"       about     lightning      dreaming
I tell a story about lighting dreaming

​Kunwok is a complex of six language varieties spoken in West Arnhem in the 'Top End' of Australia. For more information about Kunwok visit kunwok.org.

Credit: Steven Bird, Bulanj Dean Yibarbuk

k'onih'azi

[k'onihʔazi]

A newly wed beaver couple, that is, a male beaver and a female beaver who have recently formed a union and built a lodge together.

Carrier/Dakelh – 600 speakers – central British Columbia, Canada

The Carrier region is full of streams and woods suitable for beaver, and beaver are plentiful. European contact was motivated largely by the desire for the pelts of beaver and other fur-bearing animals. Traditionally, Carrier people hunted beaver primarily for the meat, especially the tail, which is rich and fatty, which may be off-putting to non-locals but is appealing to people accustomed to a cold, northern climate. Carrier people know a great deal about beavers and have an elaborate terminology for them. More about Carrier.

Source: field notes from work with the late Harry Pierre

Credit: Bill Poser

tikotara

​[tikotaɹa]

(of a man)
Carry a lover to several locations inside a house (to demonstrate physical strength) before having sex.

Takuu – 1,800 speakers – Taku Atoll near Bougainville, Papua New Guinea

Piers Kelly came across this word while editing the Takuu dictionary. Richard Moyle explains that its cognates in several parts of Polynesia refer to the kingfisher bird. The kingfisher is not known on Taku Atoll, although it may have been present in the past. Even that meaning has a hidden story because the word is a compound noun: tiko 'shit', tara 'curved end of a house'.

Moyle writes: "How the term became transferred to a form of athletic foreplay remains unclear, and my dictionary collaborators were less than forthcoming."

Source: Richard M. Moyle (2011). Takuu Grammar and Dictionary. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics
​
Credit: Piers Kelly, Richard M. Moyle