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Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders-in -Council Jandai Language Dictionary A dictionary of language spoken on Stradbroke and Islands ~oreton based on words remembered by all Elders and recorded by interested visitors to our shores. Dunwich, Stradbroke Island, Qld. 2011 We sincerely thank our sponsors without whom this project would not have been possible. Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Yugambeh Museum Language & Heritage Research Centre © Copyright 2011 Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders-in-Council Aboriginal Corporation PO Box 106 Dunwich, Stradbroke Island, Qld. 4183 Phone: (07) 3409 9723 Email: [email protected] Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without written permission. First published 30 September 2011. Language and culture consultants: Aunty Margaret Iselin, Fay Mabb, Richard Day, Lyn Shipway, Marlene Kerr and Sandra Delaney. Typeset in Times New Roman and Comic Sans. Dictionary database program Lexique Pro provided free by the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Linguistic guidance by Colleen Hattersley, B.A (ANU) Designed and Typeset by Ikaja. Printed by GEON Print and Communications Solutions ISBN 978-0-9870966-0-9 Permission has been sought to publish all images in this dictionary. Where required, acknowledgment is given beneath images. Cover design © Lyn Shipway 2011: the three totems of Minjerribah- kabool (carpet snake); quampi (pearl shell) and dabobila (porpoise). · Inside cover: Merriginba Dance by Yulu-Burri-Ba Dancers. Welcome I would like to tell you what happened to our beautiful language on this island. My early days were spent with two grannies who decided to teach us the language when I was five years old. There were about five or six of us depending on how many came to the lessons. In the middle of 1935 the government sent out notices and people to tell the grannies on Myora Mission that the language had to be stopped and by the time I started school at six it definitely was stopped. We were told that if we were caught speaking the language we would be sent away to the Barambah Mission (now known as Cherbourg ). This was something that we were very frightened of because to be sent away at our young age would have been a catastrophe, so the grannies would not teach us the language at the Myora Mission any more. Instead, in the afternoons after school we would go for walks with the grannies through the bush where they taught us the bush tucker. They told us about the different plants, the Aboriginal words for the different animals and the trees - but it was said very softly in the language so no-one else would hear. Then, on returning to the mission we spoke only English. Of course, I started to lose the language as I grew older, but I still know words that come up. I'm 80 years old now and I think this dictionary will give us the opportunity to recover our language which was taught to us all those years ago by Granny Dungoo and Granny Parsons, two lovely people who gave me the schooling on the culture of this island and I am ever so grateful to them for that. Margaret Iselin, President Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders-in-Council Dunwich, Ql d September 20 11 The Lord's Prayer Sanarree Bahbeeng woonyal wahgannchiba gniooba gniu maroomba Bulka gnaluba Yaganna guallu noonam tamanna. Bay-ann, woodya gnalleegannoo binggin. Wallu gnalleegnanna bammal, Wallu gnalleegnanna waleemal, Yandeegee gnalleegnanna walunjoo Gnareeba nanarnrn cooroomba beera Coobaggoolabbo Our father who stop up there your name is good. Come down to u.s. We do here what they do up there. Today, give us bread, forgive us this time, don't let us do wrong, take us away from bad. You are great, allis yours CONTENTS Page Welcome The Lord's Prayer by Archibald Meston Acknowledgements Location of our language and people ..................................................................... 1 Some stories from the Elders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Abbreviations and technical terms....................................................................... 4 How to use this dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The sounds of our language ................................................................................. 10 Pronunciation guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Jandai to English - alphabetical list . .. .. .. . . . . . . . .. .. . . .. . . . .. .. . . . .. .. .. . . . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. . . . .. . 15 Themes - words arranged by categories .............................................................. 69 English to Jandai- alphabetical list .................................................................... 95 More information ............................................................................................... 109 Where did the information come from? ............................................................. 110 Elders dictionary team ....................................................................................... 114 Types of words and the roles they play .............................................................. 115 How to make sentences using this dictionary .................................................... 118 Feedback sheet ................................................................................................... 125 Acknowledgements Minjerribah Moorgumpin Board of Directors and Members wish to express our thanks to the following people for their support with this project: Mr Paul Smith and Sibelco staff for your kindness and support over the years of knowing your company. Many thanks for publishing our dictionary. We the Elders are ever so grateful from the bottom of our hearts. Mrs Pat O'Connor from Yugambeh Museum Language and Heritage Research Centre, your kindness and encouragement is overwhelming. Lyn, Richard, Marlene, Fay and Sandra, our sincere thanks for the long hours over the years. Grandsons ofOodgeroo Noonuccal, Joshua Walker and his dance troupe the Yulu Burri-Ba Dancers. Thank you for helping us to keep our culture alive and growing. Colleen Hattersley, linguist, you have done the hard yards over the years. It was a pleasure working with you. Deb Olive, your understanding attitude has given us pleasure working with you. Robert Ashdown, Susy Willsteed, Richard Day, David and Dian Ambrust, Craig Owens (DERM) and Kathy Stephens (DERM), for generously sharing your photographs. Lenore Kennedy for your attention to detail in proofreading the document for technical accuracy. Our office staff, Maria and Leigh-Amy for the many hours of your help. Visitors to our island for taking enough interest to write down what they could hear. And of course we must not forget the two old grannies Lillian Dungoo and Alison Parsons who taught me and other young people the language when we were five years old. Thank you one and all. Aunty Marg and the Elders Board of Directors 1 Stradbroke Island, Minjerribah, lies off the coast of Queensland opposite the capital Brisbane city of Brisbane. Between the mainland and Minjerribah is Moreton Bay. In the early days there was much movement CORAL around the islands of Moreton Bay and the Sf A mainland. Most of the islands of Moreton Bay were inhabited long before the white people came. Our people had their own Mo1eton 8.1)' cultures and languages within the overall identity of Jandai. Our languages were similar to each other and to that of the nearby mainland. White people have been writing down snippets of our languages since about 1880 but without any system or agreement on how to accurately represent our words. In this dictionary we have collected N the information from six of these old documents to find out what our words might have been. In recent years we have made some publications using our language words. With this dictionary we are looking in http://www.google.eom.au/imgres?imgurt=http://www. more depth at what our words would have northstradbrokeisland.com been and how they may be written in a systematic and predictable way. There will therefore be some difference in spelling from our early publications in this and future written work. This is to be expected when we are writing a language that was not traditionally written and one which has not been fluently spoken for a long time. By encouraging people to use this dictionary we hope some of our language will come back into use. It may sound different from how the old people spoke, but all languages change over time and ours is no exception. 2 The old grannies at Myora used to tell the children stories that taught them about living on the Island. Here are four of those stories re-told by Aunty Margaret Iselin. Friends of the Aboriginal People Many many years ago, when the Aboriginal people wanted to fish, they would wade waist deep into the sea calling out in their language over the bay, clicking their boomerangs and spears. When the dolphins heard the people calling out in their language, they herded the fish into the shallows where the Aboriginal people would take enough for their needs. The rest would be left for the dolphins. This is a true story and to this day our Aboriginal people have never killed the dolphins. They are our friends. Wail (Whale) Rock Many years ago, an Aboriginal woman who was thought to bring misery and misfortune to every tribe she lived with, was abandoned by her people to a rock on the coastline. This rock is now known as Whale Rock because it has a blow hole. But Aboriginal people say it is Wail Rock because on a stormy and windy night the s Aboriginal woman cries can be heard, wanting to come back to her people. 3 Stories from the Elders Mirrigimpa the Sea Eagle Many years ago two sea eagles nested in a large gum tree on a hill at Myora. With the approach of the mullet season, the eagles would soar high in the sky and stay there, apparently motionless. The eagles watched the fish. Aboriginal people watched the eagles. As soon as the eagles flew seawards a roar would go up - Mirrigimpa! This was the sign the mullet season had commenced. In a day or two the channel near North Stradbroke Island would be blackened by thousands offish. Observing Nature Aboriginal people observe nature in detail. For instance, we know that when the parrots are seen in extra large numbers it is a sign of a good mullet season. We know that there will be an abundance ofh oney when the ti trees are in full bloom. Long lines of hairy caterpillars travelling are a sign of the fish moving up the coast to their spawning grounds. The old people taught us that if a certain wind is blowing the spore of the elkhorn will be propagated. 4 ABBREVIATIONS AND TECHNICAL TERMS The following shortcuts and technical terms have been used in this dictionary. Shortcut or Term Meaning Ablative A suffix that means coming from. Allative A suffix that means going to or towards. AMI&LS Aunty Margaret Iselin and Lyn Shipway Bush Tucker book Plants: bush tucker, medicinal and other uses of Minjerriba, see p.114. B. Birch C&W Colliver & Woolston, see page 113. cross reference Another word in the dictionary that has some connection with the entry you are reading. DERM Department of Environment and Resource Management. ELW Elders Language Workshop -date of the workshop follows the initials. finder word Words at the top of each page showing first and last entries for that page. Flora ofNSI Theflora ofNorth Stradbroke Island, K Stephens and D Sharp see p114. gloss The English equivalent of the word - may not always be one word. H. Holmer homonym When there is more than one word that sound the same but have different meanings. Each separate word has a number after it for example: balga 1 Locative A suffix that means in, on or at. M. Meston Ngugi The language and people of Moreton Island. Meston and Watkins collected some words of this language which are presented like this in the dictionary: M.(Ngugi), Wa.(Ngugi). SD Sandra Delaney. See Direction to the main entry. See also Direction to other words with similar meaning or showing application if the entry is a suffix. suffix An extra bit on the end of a word that gives more information. verb A word that describes something we do -now, in the past or in the future. Wa. Watkins We. Welsby