Orthographies(spellingSystems)andPronunciation

BecauseAustralianAboriginallanguagesweretraditionallyorallanguagesandnotwrittendown,itisimportanttoestablishastandardisedspellingsystemthatallowslearnerstoreadandwritethelanguageandalsoenablesthemtotranscribeanywordstheymayknowinanunambiguousway.

Phonemesarethesoundsthatarefoundinanygivenlanguages.Differentlanguagesmayhavedifferentphonemes.

Forexample,inEnglishwehavethephonemethatisrepresentedas‘th’asinthewordthereorpath.Youwouldn’tfindthisphonemeinGermanorFrenchorinDharawal.WhenyouseethinthespellingofwordsintheoldhistoricDharawalsources,likeMathews’ThurrawalthisrepresentsaslightlydifferentsoundtotheEnglishth.

AnotherexampleisthengsoundasintheEnglishwordsingorsinger.InDharawal,thissoundalsooccursatthebeginningofaword,whichitdoesn’tinEnglishandisoftendifficultforlearnersofDharawal(oranyotherAboriginallanguage)topronounce.Youwillfindthatinsomeoftheoldsources,thissoundmayhavebeenrepresentedasGn…orinMackenzie’spublishedtextstheupsidedowncapitalGwasused.

So,phonemes,whicharethesoundsinalanguagearethenrepresentedbysymbolsofletters(orcombinationofletters)andtheyarecalledgraphemes.

Itdoesn’treallymatter(well,itdoes,buttheoreticallyitdoesn’t)whatsymbol/graphemeyouuseforeachsoundinyourlanguage,aslongasitisconsistentandstandardisedanddoesn’tallowformisinterpretation.

WhatIhavetriedtodointhiscourseistousethemostapproximatecombinationsoftheEnglishalphabettoachievethesoundoftheDharawalwords.

OftentimesIhaveusedtheapostrophetoindicatewheretheemphasesshouldbeonwords.Normally,theemphasisoccursonthesecondsyllableofaword,howeverinmanycasesthewordsareactuallycomprisedofanumberofwordsandIhaveusedtheapostrophetodenotetheemphasisedsounds.

Forexample,forthephrase,Galumban’winima’kamawi’dyawa;Iwentnearyourhome,wheretheemphasisoraccentoccursontheloom,wi,kaanddya.

TheDharawalAlphabet

a FirstasinBadyal(flesh),secondandsubsequentasinDara(thigh).

ai AsinBaija(Air)

b AsinBinit(TawnyFrogmouthedOwl

d AsinDirar(hair)

dh AsinDharamuoy(BronzeWingedPigeon)

dj AsinDjanaba(Laughter)

dy AsinDyalgala(Embrace)

e AsinE’ora(Yes,weareThePeople)

g AsinGabara(Dance)

gw AsinGwaybila(Mars)

i Asinilla(no)

j AsinJambuk(whitecloud)

k AsinKuriheyat(AllPeople)

kw AsinQuandong

l AsinIlliwera(Whiteclay)

m AsinMana(Gather)

n AsinNadan(GoodWater)

ng AsinNgoonungi(FlyingFox)

ny AsinNya(weorus)

o AsinPokulbi(Dianella)

p AsinParra(eel)

r AsinTurella(CeremonialWarGround)

rr AsinWarrawarra(faraway)

t AsinTalara(frost)

tj AsinTjimbung(SpiritofLove)

uh AsinMullgoh(BlackSwan)

u AsinMuray(comeback)

w AsinWahu(skin)

y AsinYaguna(Don’ttellme!)