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.

Wama kara tyutyu kara

At the Dieri families Yarning about Language workshop last weekend, there was some discussion about how to describe the following picture:

Some people said it is a wama while others said it is a tyutyu. Both are right but in different ways.

In Diyari, wama is the term for ‘carpet snake’, also called ‘Ramsay’s python’ or ‘sand python’. Its scientific name is Aspidites ramsayi and you can see more information about it, including pictures, here. In addition, wama can be used to refer to any snake, especially if you can’t identify it or you don’t know the specific name.

In Diyari, tyutyu is the term for any ‘biting or stinging animal’ that can hurt people, and this includes snakes as well as insects like mosquito (kunthi), fly (muntyu), louse (kata), ant (mirka), scorpion (kadninurndi), centipede (thilthirri) or spider (marankara).

You would not use it for things that don’t bite people like grubs (pardi) or grasshoppers (pindri). We also don’t use it for larger animals like dogs (kinthala) or fish (parru), even though they can bite.

So wama is the general term for snakes, and tyutyu is the general term for small biting animals (snakes and insects).

Note: the title of today’s post means ‘Either snake or biting animal’ — it uses kara ‘or’ after each word to mean ‘either … or …’.

Thanks to Jan Scott for correcting some errors in an earlier version of this post.

Kararaya yawarra — mara ya thidna

Diyari has lots of words for describing the human body, which often don’t cover exactly the same areas as their English equivalents. Today we are going to focus on two: mara ‘hand’ and thidna ‘foot’.

The word mara is often translated as ‘hand’ but it is also used to refer to the fingers and thumbs as well. Some of the digits have a different name:

• mara ngandri is your thumb (ngandri means ‘mother’ so mara ngandri is ‘mother of the hand’)
• mara wutyu is your pointing (index) finger (wutyu means ‘long and thin’). This can also be called mara ngapiri, where ngapiri means ‘father’, so ‘father of the hand’
• mara thati is your middle finger (thati means ‘middle’)
• mara waka is your little (pinkie) finger (waka means ‘small’)
• there is no separate term for what we call the ring finger in English (Dieri people never wore rings, traditionally, of course)

Alongside the hand and fingers themselves we have the following (note the combinations with other body parts here):

• mara parlku is your wrist (parlku means ‘body, flesh’)
• mara mudlha is your fingertip (mudlha means ‘nose’)
• mara pirri is your fingernail (pirri means ‘sharp point’)
• mara mandra is your palm (mandra means ‘stomach’)
• mara thuku is the top or back of your hand (thuku means ‘back’)
• mara murru is dirt or dried rubbish on your hand (murru means ‘encrustation’, so milki murru is ‘sleepdust’, where milki is ‘eye’ and mudlha murru means ‘dried snot’, where mudlha is ‘nose’)
• mara warra means ‘five’ (warra means ‘half’, so half the fingers)
• mara partyarna means ‘ten’ (partyarna means ‘all’, so all the fingers)

Let’s look at thidna now — it is usually translated as ‘foot’ or ‘feet’ but like mara it is also used to refer to the toes as well. Again, we have various names:

• thidna ngandri is your big toe (ngandri is ‘mother’, as indicated above for mara ngandri ‘thumb’)
• thidna ngapiri is your middle toe (the longest one) (ngapiri is ‘father’ again)
• thidna waka is your little toe (waka means ‘small’)
• other toes don’t have a special name.

Just as we saw for mara, alongside the foot and toes themselves we have the following (note the combinations with other body parts here):

• thidna parlku is your ankle (parlku means ‘body, flesh’)
• thidna mudlha is your tiptoes (mudlha means ‘nose’)
• thidna pirri is your toenail (pirri means ‘sharp point’)
• thidna mandra is the sole of your foot (mandra means ‘stomach’)
• thidna thuku is the top of your foot (thuku means ‘back’)
• thidna murru is dirt or dried rubbish on your foot, so toejam (murru means ‘encrustation’, so milki murru is ‘sleepdust’, where milki is ‘eye’ and mudlha murru means ‘dried snot’, where mudlha is ‘nose’)
• thidna warta is the heel of your foot (warta means ‘butt, bottom part’ as in pathara warta ‘butt of a coolibah tree’)

As you can see, Diyari has lots of terminology here, and lots of combinations of different body parts (like thidna mandra for sole of the foot, literally ‘foot stomach’) that help us understand how Dieri people see and describe the world around them.

If you want to practise the terms we introduced today, you could print out or copy the pictures above and write in the Diyari language terms for their parts.

Kararaya yawarra — pinarru

Today we look at the Diyari word pinarru, which means ‘old man’, and other related words for male people. There are some important cultural aspects related to these terms, and they are used in different ways from English terms. The discussion is based on the Reuther’s Diari dictionary (see here) and our own work with Diyari speakers. For discussion of the word widlhapina (also pronounced wilhapina) ‘old woman’ and other terms for females see here.

In Diyari, the word pinarru is used to refer to an ‘old man’, generally one who has grey hair (para warru) and has been through aspects of the Law. It is a positive term of respect and indicates that a person has lots of knowledge and life experience.

The following are the Diyari words used to refer to the various life stages of males (note that the different stages are not linked to exact ages but rather to biological and social development:

• thitharri ‘new-born baby’, before he or she has been given a name;
• kupa ‘child’, after naming and up to about seven years old. This term can be used for both boys and girls;
• kanku ‘boy’, a male child from seven up to puberty, when beard hairs (ngarnka ‘beard’) begin to sprout;
• karruwali ‘uninitiated male’, aged from around 12-15 years old. Traditionally, karruwali had an incised baler shell ornament (called a kuri) tied around their necks Immediately before initiation into the first stage of the Law. They were then called kuri mani ‘shell ornament carrier’;
• thari ‘youth who has been through the first stage of initiation’, which is usually after 15-16 years old;
• mathari ‘initiated man’ who has undertaken further aspects of the Law. Notice that the word mathari has a different use as the name of one of the two divisions that people inherit from their mother — it is contrasted with kararru. The two divisions are discussed here;
• nhuwamara ‘married person’ (made of of nhuwa ‘husband, wife’ and –mara ‘having’), used to refer to both men and women;
• mangawarru ‘widower, widow’, used to refer to someone whose wife or husband has died. Reuther reports that traditionally “a man’s beard is plucked out after a bereavement”;
• pinarru ‘old man’.

Note that the general term karna ‘Aboriginal person’ can be used for males and females at any stage of life. For non-Aboriginal people we say walpala, which comes from English ‘white fella’.

The podcast episode of this blog post is here.

Kararaya yawarra — words of the day: kararru ya mathari

Today we look at two Diyari words kararru and mathari, which are culturally very important. (Notice that Diyari has three ‘r-sounds’ written in the spelling system as r, r and rr, and they should all be pronounced differently in these words. You can listen to them in the podcast linked below.)

Dieri society is divided int two halves (called ‘moieties’, in technical terminology) which are inherited from a person’s mother — a kararru woman will have kararru children (male and female) while a mathari woman will have mathari children (male and female). Traditionally, kararru could only marry mathari, so husbands and wives must belong to the opposite group (there were other marriage preferences but the general rule is that your husband or wife cannot be in the same group as you). Notice that children will share the same group as their kadnhini ‘nanna, mother’s mother’ and kaka ‘uncle, mother’s brother’, and be different from both their ngapiri ‘father’ and other uncles, aunts, and grandparents. The word mathari has another use in Diyari, which we will discuss in the next blog post.

Every Dieri person has a mardu (which literally means ‘taste’) that is a plant, animal or natural feature that they have a special relationship with (and which they could not eat, traditionally). This also comes from a person’s mother and the list of mardu differs depending on whether you are mathari or kararru, as shown in the following table:

Mathari mardu		Kararru mardu
karrawara	eaglehawk	kawalka	crow
warrukathi	emu	purralku	brolga
malurra	cormorant	tyukurru	kangaroo
kinthala	dog	kadnungka	type of wallaby
yikawarra	native cat	karapana	marsupial mouse
mayarru	marsupial rat	kukula	stick nest rat
puntha	marsupial mouse	wama	carpet snake
kapirri	goanna	thidnamara	frog
kilapara	black bream fish	kanangara	seed of manyura
markara	yellow belly fish	malka	mulga tree (seed)
pardi	type of grub	kuntyirri	type of bush
manyura	type of seed	karku	red ochre
pityirri	pitchere tobacco	thalara	rain

Traditionally, to identify someone, rather than asking for their name, we would typically ask them:

minha mardu yini?

What is your mardu?

From the answer, you can work out whether that person is mathari or kararru. Anyone who belongs to the same mardu as me is considered close, and can be called palku ngakarni, literally ‘my body’.

If you memorise the words for mardu you will add to your vocabulary in Diyari and, hopefully, understand the culture better.

For the podcast episode of this blog post click here.

Kararaya yawarra — word of the day: widlhapina

Today we look at the Diyari word widlhapina (also pronounced wilhapina), which means ‘old woman’, and other related words for female people. There are some important cultural aspects related to these terms, and they are used in different ways from English terms. The discussion is based on the Reuther’s Diari dictionary (see here) and our own work with Diyari speakers.

In Diyari, the word widlhapina (or wilhapina) is used to refer to an ‘old woman’, generally one whose children have grown up. It is a positive term of respect and indicates that a person has lots of knowledge and life experience. The corresponding term for men is pinarru ‘old man’.

The following are the Diyari words used to refer to the various life stages of females:

• thitharri ‘new-born baby’, before he or she has been given a name;
• kupa ‘child’, after naming and up to about 10 years old. This term can be used for both girls and boys;
• mankarra ‘girl’, a female child;
• mankarra mulurru ‘girl who is not old enough yet to be married’. Traditionally, this would be up to 15 years old;
• karluka ‘young woman’ who has not yet given birth to a child;
• widlha (also pronounced wilha) ‘woman’ who has given birth to a child;
• widlhapina ‘old woman’.

Note that the general term karna ‘Aboriginal person’ can be used for females and males at any stage of life. For non-Aboriginal people we say walpala, which comes from English ‘white fella’.

The podcast episode of this blog post is here.

Ngapa ngakayi kudnarranhi

Today’s post is about a song composed by Dieri karna Chris E. Dodd, who writes and sings country and western music. Chris won an award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2011 for a song called ‘Spinifex Man‘ and has released an album called Back to Silverton.

Another song by Chris is called ‘The Cooper’s Coming Down’ and it celebrates Dieri country and the times when rain in western Queensland results months later in floodwaters eventually coming down south, including along Cooper Creek (called kudnarri in Diyari language). The result is ngapa ngakayi kudnarranhi which means ‘water is flowing in the Cooper’. In Diyari ngapa means ‘water’, ngakayi means ‘is flowing’ (made up of the root ngaka ‘to flow’ and the ending –yi ‘is happening now, present tense’, and kudnarranhi means ‘in the Cooper’ (kudnarri means ‘Cooper Creek’ and –nhi is an ending which means ‘in, on’ — notice that the final i of kudnarri changes to a when we add an ending. This applies to all words ending in i that have three syllables.)

At a Diyari language workshop in Adelaide, South Australia, held on Saturday 2nd February 2013 and Sunday 3rd February the Dieri elders present, Greg Wilson, and I together created a song in Diyari that was inspired by the chorus of Chris’ song about the Cooper. This was a rather difficult task as we had the melody that Chris had composed (and played on a borrowed guitar for us), but we needed to come up with Diyari words which made sense, rhymed, and fit the melody. The result is not an exact translation but here is how the chorus turned out:

ngapa-ngapa pirna ngariyi
ngarrimatha wakarayi
thalara pirna kurdayi
ngayanarni mithanhi
daku pirna thana
matya ngayana pankiyilha
ngapa pirna ngakayi
parru pirna pakarna

Here is what it means in English:

Lots of water is coming down
A flood is coming
Lots of rain is falling
In our country
There are big sandhills
So we are happy now
Lots of water is flowing
And big fish (are coming) too

There is plenty of interesting Diyari grammar in the song, like the endings –yi ‘happening now’ (ngari-yi ‘is coming down’, kurda-yi ‘is raining’, panki-yi ‘is happy’) and -nhi ‘in, at, on’ (mitha-nhi ‘in the country’) that we mentioned above. We also saw the ending rni which is used to indicate ‘possession, belonging to’, as in ngayana-rni mitha ‘our country’.

After a bit of practice, on Sunday morning everyone at the workshop joined together to sing this Diyari song, which you can listen to over on the Dieri Yawarra podcast.

Ngandriya dityi

Sunday 14th May 2023 is Mother’s Day in Australia, and some other parts of the world. For anyone who would like to wish happiness to their female relatives in Diyari on this day, here are a few possible expressions to use. Note that in pre-contact times there was no concept of Mother’s Day, so these are recent developments.

The term ngandriya dityi means ‘mother’s day, day of mothers’ and is made up of ngandri ‘mother, mother’s sister’, the ending -ya meaning ‘of, belonging to’, and dityi ‘day’. To express ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ we could say:

Ngandriya Dityi Pankiyamayi

Here we have added the word pankiyamayi which is made up of the root panki ‘to be happy, to be glad’, and the endings -ya ‘order’ and -mayi ’emphasis’, so the whole expression means ‘be happy!’. Be careful to pronounce nk in the middle of panki as an n sound followed by a k sound. Do not confuse this with pangki (with an ng sound plus k sound) because this means ‘side, flank’ in Diyari. English speakers often confuse these two separate words: panki and pangki.

Here are some other words for female relatives who are mothers, or could be mothers, that you can also use (remember that ngandri is also used for ‘aunty, mother’s sister’, and Dieri people distinguish relatives in different ways than we do in English):

• papa ‘aunty, father’s sister’ (also ‘mother’s brother’s wife’, and ‘sister’s son’s wife’)
• kadnhini ‘granny, mother’s mother’
• kami ‘granny, father’s mother’
• payara ‘mother-in-law’
• tharu ‘daughter-in-law, son’s wife’
• kaku ‘older sister’
• ngathata ‘younger sister’
• puyurru ‘straight cousin’ (mother’s sister’s child, father’s brother’s child)
• kami ‘cross-cousin’ (mother’s brother’s child, father’s sister’s child)
• ngathamurra ‘daughter’ (father speaking)
• ngathani ‘daughter’ (mother speaking)

You can listen to a podcast of this material that includes pronunciation of all the Diyari words.

Let’s hope everyone has a Happy Mother’s Day on Sunday.

Muku pirna

An article (available for free download here) that was published in June 2020 in the leading international scientific journal Nature contains words in the Diyari (Dieri) language, namely muku pirna meaning ‘big bones’, from muku ‘bone, bones’ and pirna ‘big’. Actually, the expression muku pirna meaning ‘big bones’ also occurs in the Malyangapa language that was traditionally spoken in north-east South Australia and far western New South Wales.

The six scientist authors report that the bones and teeth of a new species of ancient extinct large animal (related to the giant marsupials Diprotodon and Thylacoleo, whose modern relatives are wombats and koalas) were discovered in the Namba Formation of South Australia, dating from the late Oligocene period (26–25 million years ago). The location where the bones were found is near Lake Pinpa, south-east of Lake Frome in Malyangapa country.

Size estimates based on the bones and teeth suggest that the muku pirna was between 143 and 171 kg, suggesting that it was around 5 times larger than living wombats — not something you would like to wrap your bullbar around!

Diyari and Malyangapa have now entered scientists’ vocabularies, as the new species is officially called Mukupirna nambensis and is part of a new family called Mukupirnidae. The scientists note in their article that the “name is from the words muku (“bones”) and pirna (“big”) in the Dieri (Diyari) language traditionally spoken in the area around Lake Eyre and refers to the large size of the animal”. Unfortunately, they don’t mention the Malyangapa connection.

Many thanks to David Nash for letting us know about this article and its connections to Diyari (Dieri).

Pirra ya pityi

[You can listen to a podcast of this blog post here]

The Dieri people traditionally made a very versatile tool out of tree bark (pityi) called a pirra, which is usually called ‘coolamon’ in English. These pirra (not to be confused with pira ‘moon’!) were of various sizes and used to carry water (ngapa), seeds (thandra) and vegetables (puka), tools (like wadna digging stick), and even babies (kupa). They could also be used as digging implements: widlhali kurdu pakuyi pirrali ‘the woman is digging a hole in the ground with a coolamon’.

Coolamons were made by cutting the bark off a living tree with stone axes and wedges, and then heating and shaping them over a fire. They could be decorated with ochre and/or incisions.

On our recent trip to Killalpaninna in Dieri country we were able to visit a pathara tree that a pirra had been cut out from — the Dieri traditional owners described how it had been made and used.

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Words in this post:

pirra

pira

pityi

pathara

ngapa

thandra

puka

wadna

coolamon

moon

bark

coolibah tree

water

seed

vegetable food

woman’s digging stick