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!)