Gudang language facts for kids

Gudang, also called Djagaraga, was an Aboriginal Australian language. It was the traditional language of the Gudang people. They lived in the northernmost part of the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia.

Gudang was closely related to the Urradhi language, which was spoken just south of it. It also shared some words with the Western-Central Torres Strait Language (Kala Lagaw Ya) from the north. This happened because the Gudang people had a lot of contact with their neighbours.

Sounds of the Gudang Language

Linguists, who study languages, have looked at old records of the Gudang language. These records were made by people like MacGillivray and Brierly. From these records, we can guess how the Gudang language sounded.

Like many languages, Gudang had both vowel and consonant sounds.

• The vowels were like i, e, a, u, and their longer versions (like ii, ee).
• The consonants included sounds like p, b, m (from the lips), k, g, ng (from the back of the throat), and others.

Some words borrowed from the Western-Central Torres Strait Language might have kept their original sounds.

How Gudang Was Different from Urradhi

Even though Gudang and Urradhi were related, they had some clear differences in their sounds and words.

• Gudang used sounds like b, dh, and g where Urradhi might have had slightly different, softer sounds.
• Gudang had a special rt sound in some words. For example, water was artaba in Gudang, but atava in Urradhi. Hand was arta in Gudang, and mata in Urradhi.
• Sometimes, Gudang words were shorter at the beginning compared to Urradhi words.
• Gudang also kept the last part of some words, while Urradhi shortened them.
• There were also differences in how certain sounds like rr and l were used.

By comparing many words, experts could see that Gudang was its own separate language.

Gudang and Torres Strait Languages

About 20% of Gudang words were similar to words in Kalau Lagau Ya, a language from the Torres Strait. This happened because people borrowed words from each other.

Historical records show that the Gudang people and the Torres Strait Islanders often married each other. They also had a lot of contact and shared cultural practices. The Gudang people were often able to speak both their own language and the Western-Central Torres Strait Language. This is why so many words from the Torres Strait language ended up in Gudang records.

Comparing Words: A Closer Look

Linguists study how languages are related by comparing their words. The words below were collected a long time ago by explorers like J. MacGillivray and David R. Moore. They wrote down words from Gudang and other nearby languages.

Sometimes, the old spellings were hard to understand. So, linguists have tried to write them in a standard way. Words that are very similar in different languages are called cognates. These are often shown in bold. Words that might be similar are italic. Words that were likely borrowed from the Western-Central Torres Strait Language are marked with a star (*).

Here are a few examples of how words compare:

• Gudang aachari, Urradhi achawi – meaning mushroom
• Gudang alba, Urradhi alva – meaning wind
• Gudang ama, Urradhi ama – meaning man, person
• Gudang artaba, Urradhi atava – meaning river, creek
• Gudang iipi, Urradhi ipi – meaning fresh water
• Gudang uunpi, Urradhi unpi – meaning star
• Gudang yulpalga, Urradhi yupul – meaning night, darkness
• Gudang yuuku, Urradhi yuku – meaning wood, tree, stick, log

Many Gudang verbs (action words) were often repeated or had a special ending like -kamarra. This ending doesn't seem to be found in Urradhi.

Words Borrowed from Torres Strait Languages

Many words in Gudang, and even some in Urradhi, seem to have come from the Western-Central Torres Strait Language. We can tell this by how the words sound. Some of these borrowed words are quite old.

Here are some examples of words that might have been borrowed:

• The Gudang word for axe, aga, might come from the WCL word aga.
• The Gudang word for grandfather, bubaatha, might come from the WCL word bœbath.
• The Gudang word for knife, giiri, might come from the WCL word gii.
• The Gudang word for hat, walaapa, might come from the WCL word walap.
• The Gudang word for fish, waapi, might come from the WCL word waapi.

Sometimes, a word might have been recorded incorrectly. For example, the Gudang word thawarr was recorded as seaweed. But the WCL word thawal means coast or shoreline. This suggests there might have been a misunderstanding when the word was first written down.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma gudang para niños