How to say “This is us” in Diyari

We saw in an earlier blog post that there are two ways in Diyari to say “This is me” — if you are female then you would say nhaniya nganhi and if you are male you would say nhawuya nganhi. This is because nhaniya means ‘this (female)’ and nhawuya means ‘this (not female)’.

When it comes to saying “This is us” then there are four ways to say this in Diyari. If there are just two people then we say:

pulaya ngaldra ‘These two are you and me’ (including the person you are talking to)

pulaya ngali ‘These two are someone else and me’ (excluding the person you are talking to)

If there are three or more people then we say:

thanaya ngayana ‘These three or more are you and us’ (including the person you are talking to)

thanaya ngayani ‘These three or more are someone else and me’ (excluding the person you are talking to)

For more information about pulaya and thanaya look at this blog post.

Advanced: more about “this” and “that” and “these” and “those” in Diyari

In the previous blog posts here and here, we learned that in the Diyari language there many ways to say “this” and “that” depending on what you are talking about or who you are talking to. These are the words we looked at:

nhaniya	‘this one (female)’
nhawuya	‘this one (not female)’
nhaniwa	‘that one (female)’
nhawuwa	‘that one (not female)’
pulaya	‘these two’
pulawa	‘those two’
thanaya	‘these three or more’
thanawa	‘those three or more’

Listed above are the basic terms that we use in sentences like ‘… is me’ or ‘… is going’. In other contexts, different terms are used, built upon these basic terms. Here is the full set that is found in Diyari (see my Grammar of Diyari for more details — it is free to download here).

For “this” and “these”:

Function	this one female	this one not female	these two	these three or more
active subject	nhandruya	nhuluya	pulaliya	thanaliya
object	nhanhaya	nhinhaya	pulanhaya	thananhaya
possessor	nhangkarniya	nhungkarniya	pularniya	thanarniya
with, to	nhangkanguya	nhungkanguya	pulanguya	thananguya
from	nhangkangundruya	nhungkangundruya	pulangundruya	thanangundruya

For “that” and “those”:

Function	that one female	that one not female	those two	those three or more
active subject	nhandruwa	nhuluwa	pulaliwa	thanaliwa
object	nhanhawa	nhinhawa	pulanhawa	thananhawa
possessor	nhangkarniwa	nhungkarniwa	pularniwa	thanarniwa
with, to	nhangkanguwa	nhungkanguwa	pulanguwa	thananguwa
from	nhangkangundruwa	nhungkangundruwa	pulangundruwa	thanangundruwa

Here are some examples of these various terms:

nhandruya mankarrali pulanhawa kanku nhayirna warayi This girl saw those two boys

nhaniwa widlha yathayi thananguya pinarranhi That woman is talking to these three or more old men

pulaya kupa thanarniwa walypalaya mindrirna warayi nhungkangundruwa ngurandru These two children belonging to those three or more white people ran away from that camp

This system might look complicated when we list out all the different terms, but with some practice you will be able to understand and use them all in their correct context.

How to say “these” and “those” in Diyari

In the previous blog post we learned that in the Diyari language there are basically two terms that are used to say “this” and two other terms that are used to say “that”, depending on whether we are talking about or talking to people or animals that are female and those which are not female (that is, they are male, or neutral or unknown, such as worms or ants). We use nhaniya for ‘this one (female)’ and nhawuya for ‘this one (not female)’, and nhaniwa ‘that one (female)’ and nhawuwa ‘that one (not female)’.

These are the words we use for one person, animal or thing — for two there is just one term and no difference between female and not female. So, we have pulaya ‘these two’ and pulawa ‘those two’, as in:

Pulaya mankarra wapayi nguraya These two girls are going to the camp

Pulaya kanku wapayi nguraya These two boys are going to the camp

Notice that in Diyari ordinary words do not have to change for one (singular) or more than one (plural), unlike English (‘boy’ –> ‘boys’, ‘child’ –> ‘children’ etc.). If you want to, you can add the ending –wurlu to indicate ‘two …’ or ‘a pair of …’ (e.g. mankarrawurlu ‘two girls, a pair of girls’ and kankuwurlu ‘two boys, a pair of boys’), but this is not necessary.

The same pattern applies when talking about things far away (“those”), so we say pulawa for ‘those two’ regardless of whether we are talking about females or others, as in:

Pulawa mankarra wapayi nguraya Those two girls are going to the camp

Pulawa kanku wapayi nguraya Those two boys are going to the camp

If we are talking about three or more people, animals or things then we use thanaya ‘these three or more’ and thanawa ‘those three or more’, as in:

Thanaya mankarra wapayi nguraya These three or more girls are going to the camp

Thanaya kanku wapayi nguraya These three or more boys are going to the camp

Thanawa mankarra wapayi nguraya Those three or more girls are going to the camp

Thanawa kanku wapayi nguraya Those three or more boys are going to the camp

Again, notice that in Diyari ordinary words do not have to change for one (singular) or more than one (plural), unlike English. If you want to, you can add the ending –wara to indicate ‘three or more …’ (e.g. mankarrawara ‘three or more girls’ and kankuwara ‘three or more boys’), but this is not necessary.

How to say “this” and “that” in Diyari

In the Diyari language, there are basically two terms that are used to say “this” and two other terms that are used to say “that”. Diyari makes a fundamental difference between talking about people or animals that are female and those which are not female (that is, they are male, or neutral or unknown, such as worms or ants). We use nhaniya for ‘this one (female)’ and nhawuya for ‘this one (not female)’, as in:

Nhaniya mankarra wapayi nguraya This girl is going to the camp

Nhawuya kanku wapayi nguraya This boy is going to the camp

The same difference applies when talking about things far away (“that”), so we use nhaniwa for ‘that one (female)’ and nhawuwa for ‘that one (not female)’, as in:

Nhaniwa mankarra wapayi nguraya That girl is going to the camp

Nhawuwa kanku wapayi nguraya That boy is going to the camp

It is important to remember this difference when describing or pointing to people, such as in a picture. To say “this is me” there are two different sentences, depending on whether the person speaking is male or female:

Nhaniya nganhi This is me (when a female is speaking)

Nhawuya nganhi This is me (when a male is speaking)

The same is true in the following:

Nhaniwa nganhi That is me (when a female is speaking)

Nhawuwa nganhi That is me (when a male is speaking)

When it comes to speaking to someone, then what we say will depend on whether that person is female or male, as in:

Nhaniya yidni This is you (when talking to a female)

Nhawuya yidni This is you (when talking to a male)

Nhaniwa yidni That is you (when talking to a female)

Nhawuwa yidni That is you (when talking to a male)

There are also different ways to say “this” and “that” if we are talking about or talking to more than one person — we will discuss this in the next blog post.

P.S. My thanks to Aunty Rene Warren for reminding me of the importance of nhaniya versus nhawuya in a Diyari language meeting in Port Augusta this week.

Yarning about Language — Dieri families workshop

On the weekend of 11-12th November 2023 Dieri families met in Broken Hill, New South Wales, for a workshop called Yarning about Language, to talk about Diyari language and to practice some words and expressions. This was the first time a language workshop had been organised in Broken Hill — it was arranged and paid for by the families themselves. Peter Austin (linguist) and Taryn Debney (archaeologist) were invited along to talk about their work, including the visit to Killalpaninna in December 2022, but the main focus was on language learning and use. Readers who are on Facebook can find out more on the https://www.facebook.com/dieri.language page.

The workshop was attended by about 60 enthusiastic participants over the two days, many of whom came on both days. They included elders from Port Augusta (South Australia) and Broken Hill, parents, teenagers, as well as children as young as seven. Everyone joined in the activities of learning words and expressions (such as parts of the body, and greetings), singing (especially mangathandra pilpiri pantya thina ‘head shoulders knees toes’), and playing lingo bingo, a game where players match picture cards with the Diyari word by listening to them said aloud. We concentrated on listening and saying skills, and did not worry about how to spell the words as the focus was on hearing and speaking the language, rather than reading and writing. Copies of the Diyari Reference Dictionary by Peter Austin were given to family groups so they can look up words and spelling themselves later — interested readers can download a PDF of the dictionary to their phone, iPad, or computer (or print it off) at http://www.peterkaustin.com/docs/Austin_2013_Diyari_Dictionary.pdf.

Everyone attending knew many of the words we practiced, including the younger children. When talking about parts of the body the children suggested thina puta ‘shoe’ (made up of thina ‘foot’ and puta ‘boot’, originally from English). When asked how they knew that word, they said their father always told them “don’t go out thina puta parlu“, that is, without any shoes on (the word parlu means ‘naked’). So families in Broken Hill are using Diyari language every day along with English.

The workshop was a great success and the two days were enjoyed by everyone who came along. In the final yarning sessions the Broken Hill families asked for more workshops in the future, especially trips to Killalpaninna where people can use the language on Dieri country.

Wata nhawu puka padni

In today’s post we learn how to say “no” in Diyari.

The English word “no” corresponds to a number of different expressions in Diyari and it is important to learn how to use them. In answer to a question or a demand we can use the word wata for ‘no’, as in:

Yini wapayi karari? Are you going now?

Wata. No.

Yundru nganthi thayirna warayi? Did you eat the meat?

Wata. No.

Nganha yingkiyamayi! Give it to me!

Wata. No.

We also use wata at the beginning of sentence to negate it, that is, to say ‘do not …’ or ‘did not …’, as in:

Wata nganhi wapayi. I’m not going.

Wata yundru nganthi thayirna warayi. You didn’t eat the meat.

Wata nganha yingkiyamayi! Don’t give it to me!

We also use this to express ‘no-one, nobody’ or ‘nothing’, like the following examples:

Wata karna wakararna warayi. No-one came. (literally, ‘not person came’)

Wata ngathu thayirna minha kurnu. I ate nothing. (literally, ‘not I eat something one’)

When talking about not having something, or lacking something (without X, or X-less), then we use padni after the thing we don’t have rather than wata at the beginning, as in:

Nganhi marda padni. I have no money.

Nhawu puka padni. He has no food.

Nhani mankarra nhintha padni. That girl is shameless (OR That girl has no shame).

Karna thidna padniyali nganha nandrarna warayi. The man with no shoes hit me (OR The man without shoes hit me) .

Kupanhi nhani yatharna warayi kathi padninhi. She spoke to the child with no clothes on (OR I spoke to the child without clothes).

If someone asks if you have something and you don’t have it, then you can simply answer padni, as in:

Yidni mardanthu? Do you have any money?

Padni. ‘None’

Diyari people, like many other Aboriginal groups, can use a hand gesture together with or instead of padni to indicate they have nothing — place one spread hand in front of the body at a 45 degree angle with palm facing away and then rotate it away from the body. (There is a video of a Wangkatjungka man demonstrating this hand sign here — it’s the second one he shows.)

Notice that we can use both expressions in the same sentence, so the title of today’s blog post can be translated as ‘No, he doesn’t have any food’.

Nhawurdatha nganhi!

Here is the comic we presented in the last blog post:

Here is what the two characters (Thidnamara ‘Frog’ on the left, and Mawakantyi ‘Greedy’ on the right) are saying:

Thidnamara:	wardaru yini mawakantyi? ‘How are you?’
Mawakantyi:	matya nganhi manyu ‘I’m fine’
Thidnamara:	waranha nhaniya? ‘Who is she?’
Mawakantyi:	nhaniya ngakarni papa ‘She is my aunt’
Thidnamara:	waranha nhawurda? ‘Who is he?’
Mawakantyi:	nhawurda ngakarni kaka ‘He’s my uncle’
Mawakantyi:	nhawurdatha nganhi! ‘This is me!’

The English translation misses some important parts of the meaning in the Dieri original because English does not have a way to express certain concepts, like the distance someone is from the speaker. Notice that Frog uses nhaniya to refer to the aunt who is a little distance away, using the ending -ya. But when he points to the uncle who is understood to be right close by he uses nhawurda with the ending -rda that means ‘close by’. Similarly, when Greedy sees himself on the computer screen he uses nhawurda because it is close by (he could reach out and touch it) — he also adds the ending -tha which indicates old information, something that everyone can see and know about. Notice if the character was female she would say nhanirdatha nganhi! ‘This is me!’ using the female term for ‘this, she’.

You can use these expressions by yourself or in a group to practise Dieri in several ways. One possibility is to draw pictures of your relatives (and yourself!) and write the term for their relation to you in Dieri under the picture. Then place them on a table at various distances away and practice saying things like nhawurda ngakarni kaka ‘This (right here) is my uncle’ or nhaniwa ngakarni ngandri ‘That (far away) is my mother’. You can also do this with a friend as question and answer pairs, like:

Question: waranha yingkarni kaka ‘Who is your uncle?’
Answer: nhawurda ngakarni kaka ‘This (nearby) is my uncle’

or:

Question: nhaniya yingkarni kaku kara yingkarni ngathata ‘Is this your older sister or your younger sister?’
Answer: nhaniya ngakarni kaku ‘This is my older sister’

If you can use Powerpoint you can also scan the pictures with their Dieri relation terms, and create a Powerpoint show with them, one on each slide, and then narrate the slides in Dieri as you present them. You can end your presentation with nhawurdatha nganhi! or nhanirdatha nganhi!, depending on whether you are male or female.

Note: Thanks to Greg Wilson and the Dieri Language Committee for sharing some of the materials and ideas in this blog post.

Waranha nhawurda?

Today’s comic talks about different relations:

Here is what the two characters (Thidnamara ‘Frog’ on the left, and Mawakantyi ‘Greedy’ on the right) are saying — to help understand them you might have a look back at this blog post and this blog post. For some of the dialogue listen to the recordings of Aunty Rene and Aunty Winnie below:

Thidnamara:	wardaru yini mawakantyi?
Mawakantyi:	matya nganhi manyu
Thidnamara:	waranha nhaniya?
Mawakantyi:	nhaniya ngakarni papa
Thidnamara:	waranha nhawurda?
Mawakantyi:	nhawurda ngakarni kaka
Mawakantyi:	nhawurdatha nganhi!

Listen to Aunty Rene and Aunty Winnie saying part of the dialogue:

nhaniya ngakarni papa

nhawurda ngakarni kaka

nhawurdatha nganhi!

In the next blog post we will look at the translation of this dialogue and also some ways it can be used in language learning activities, either by yourself or in a group, such as in a classroom.

Note: Thanks to Greg Wilson and the Dieri Language Committee for sharing their sound recordings.

Nhingkirda, nhingkiya, nhingkiwa, nhaka

The previous blog post presented a comic where the characters talk about ‘this’ and ‘that’ and ‘here’ and ‘there’ in Dieri. Here it is again:

Here is what the two characters are saying (Warrangantyu means ‘left, left-hand’ and is the character on the left, and Ngunyari means ‘right, right-hand’ and is the character on the right in each panel):

Warrangantyu:	minha nhawuwa? ‘What’s that?’
Ngunyari:	wirdirdi? nhingkirda? ‘Where? Here?’
Warrangantyu:	wata! nhawuparra nhingkiwa ‘No, that one, there’
Ngunyari:	nhaka? pirtanhi? ‘There? In the tree?’
Warrangantyu:	wata yaruka warritha marla ‘Not that far away’
Ngunyari:	aa nhingkiwa ‘Oh, there’
Warrangantyu:	kawu ‘Yes’
Ngunyari:	nhawuparramatha mutaka ngakarni ngapiraya ‘That’s my father’s car’

English has only two words ‘this’ and ‘that’ to talk about things, and ‘here’ and ‘there’ to talk about locations. Dieri has more terms and is able to make subtle contrasts that are lacking in English.

To point out something we can use the words nhani ‘she, this’ for females and nhawu ‘he, it, this’ for everything else (these are the forms we use for intransitive subject in Dieri — the full set of forms for other functions are listed in this blog post). We can then add to these words endings that show distance from the speaker and the person spoken to:

-rda ‘right next to the speaker’, around 1 metre away
-ya ‘near the speaker’, around 2-3 metres away
-wa ‘far from speaker’, over 5 metres away

This gives us the following diagram:

Dieri has two other useful endings:

-parra ‘previously mentioned’, indicates something that the speaker or another person has mentioned previously, or that is being pointed to
-matha ‘identified information’, indicates that the speaker is able to identify the thing being spoken about

This gives us:
nhawuparra ‘this one we were talking about’
nhawumatha ‘this one that I just realised what it is’

You can combine these to give:
nhawuparramatha ‘this one that we were talking about that I just realised what it is’

This is used Ngunyari in the last frame when he realises exactly what it is that Warrangantyu has been pointing to all the time.

Finally, to talk about locations we have the following terms in Dieri (notice that English has only ‘here’ and ‘there’):

nhingkirda ‘here, right next to the speaker’, around 1 metre away
nhingkiya ‘here, near the speaker’, around 2-3 metres away
nhingkiwa ‘there, far from speaker’, over 5 metres away
nhaka ‘there, far from the speaker and the person spoken to’, a long distance away (including places that cannot be seen, like places over a hill or on the other side of the world)

This gives us:

Note: The two characters also use two very useful Dieri words kawu ‘yes’ and wata ‘no’ in their discussion.

Nhawuparra nhingkiwa

Today’s comic is about saying ‘this’ and ‘that’ and ‘here’ and ‘there’ in Dieri.

Here is what the two characters are saying (Warrangantyu is on the left and Ngunyari is on the right in each panel):

Warrangantyu:	minha nhawuwa?
Ngunyari:	wirdirdi? nhingkirda?
Warrangantyu:	wata! nhawuparra nhingkiwa
Ngunyari:	nhaka? pirtanhi?
Warrangantyu:	wata yaruka warritha marla
Ngunyari:	aa nhingkiwa
Warrangantyu:	kawu
Ngunyari:	nhawuparramatha mutaka ngakarni ngapiraya

Here is the vocabulary you need to understand this conversation:

kawu ‘yes’
marla ‘very’
minha ‘what?’
mutuka ‘car’
ngakarni ‘my’
ngapiraya ‘of father’ (consisting of ngapiri and the ending -ya ‘possessor, of’, with a change in the last vowel of the root element)
nhaka ‘there’
nhawu ‘he, this/that’
nhingki ‘here’
pirtanhi ‘in the tree’ (consisting of pirta ‘tree’ and the ending -nhi ‘in, located at’)
warritha ‘far, distant’
wata ‘no, not’
wirdirdi ‘where?’

There are also some endings that can be added to pronouns like nhawu ‘he, this/that’ and nhani ‘she, this/that’ and to the location word nhingki ‘here’ that appear in this conversation:

-rda ‘right next to the speaker’
-matha ‘identified information’
-parra ‘previously mentioned’
-wa ‘far from speaker’

Using this information, try to understand the conversation and to translate it into English. We will present the translation and some grammar notes in the next blog post.

Note: Thanks to Greg Wilson for suggesting the topic of today’s post.