Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages facts for kids

Prior to Europeans arriving, Australian Aboriginal languages were only spoken. They did not have a writing system. When Europeans came, they started writing these languages using the Latin alphabet. However, the way sounds were written changed over time and from person to person. This often led to many different spellings for the same word or name.

Early Attempts at Writing

At first, most Australian languages were written down using English orthography (English spelling rules). A few were written using German orthography. Writers simply wrote words as they sounded to them.

This caused some problems:

• Sounds that were different in Aboriginal languages but sounded the same in English were written the same way.
• Sounds that were just different ways of saying the same thing in Aboriginal languages (but were distinct in English) were written differently.

Most Aboriginal words used in English today follow these early spellings. Because of this, they often do not show how the word was truly pronounced in its original language.

Some writers who knew more about languages used special symbols. For example, they might use ⟨ŋ⟩ or ⟨ġ⟩ for the 'ng' sound. They used ⟨ñ⟩ for a 'ny' sound. They also used macrons ⟨ˉ⟩ or circumflexes ⟨ˆ⟩ for long vowel sounds. However, they often didn't use these symbols in a consistent way.

A page from an 1856 book showing letters for the Gamilaraay language. Notice the letter eng (ŋ) and macrons (ˉ) are used.

Modern Ways of Writing

Today, linguists (people who study languages) use clear and consistent ways to write Australian Aboriginal languages. These systems are based on a detailed study of how each language's sounds work. In these modern systems, each spoken word can only be written one way, and each written word can only be read one way.

Usually, these modern systems use only the letters of the basic Roman alphabet (like English). This means they often use two letters together, called digraphs, for sounds that don't have their own single letter. For example, the 'ng' sound (like in 'singer') is written as ⟨ng⟩.

Sometimes, using digraphs can cause confusion. For instance, the single 'ng' sound and the 'n' followed by 'g' sound (like in 'finger') might both be written as ⟨ng⟩. To make them clear, linguists might write the 'n' followed by 'g' as ⟨n.g⟩ (with a dot), ⟨n’g⟩ (with an apostrophe), or ⟨nk⟩.

Vowels and Semivowels

Most Australian Aboriginal languages have only three main vowel sounds. These are written as ⟨i⟩, ⟨a⟩, and ⟨u⟩. Even if these sounds sometimes sound like 'e' or 'o' to English speakers, they are still written as 'i', 'a', or 'u'. For example, the Martuthunira word wirrirri (meaning "flame") is pronounced like "wererri".

Long vowel sounds are shown by writing the letter twice. So, a long 'i' sound is ⟨ii⟩, a long 'a' is ⟨aa⟩, and a long 'u' is ⟨uu⟩.

The semivowels ⟨w⟩ and ⟨y⟩ are usually pronounced like they are in English. In some languages, the 'w' might not be pronounced next to a 'u' sound, and 'y' might not be pronounced next to an 'i' sound. However, linguists might still write them. For example, the Gamilaraay word yinarr (meaning "woman") is actually pronounced "inar".

A few languages have a special 'yh' sound, which is a dental semivowel (see "Place of articulation" below).

R-like Sounds (Rhotics)

Most Australian Aboriginal languages have two different 'r'-like sounds, called rhotics:

• One is a soft 'r' sound, like the 'r' in American English. This is written as ⟨r⟩.
• The other is a rolled 'r' sound, like the 'rr' in Spanish. This is written as ⟨rr⟩.

In languages that only have one of these 'r' sounds, it is simply written as ⟨r⟩.

Where Sounds Are Made (Place of Articulation)

Sounds made with the lips (bilabial), the back of the tongue (velar), and the front of the tongue (alveolar) are usually written the same as in English:

• ⟨p⟩, ⟨b⟩, ⟨m⟩ (lips)
• ⟨k⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨ng⟩ (back of tongue)
• ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨l⟩ (front of tongue)

The ⟨ng⟩ sound is like the 'ng' in 'singer', not like in 'finger'. The 'ng' in 'finger' would be written ⟨ŋg⟩. Sometimes, the 'ng' sound is written using the special letter ⟨ŋ⟩, called eng.

Sounds made with the middle of the tongue against the roof of the mouth (palatal) are often written with an alveolar consonant plus ⟨j⟩ or ⟨y⟩. For example:

• 'tj' or 'ty'
• 'dj' or 'dy'
• 'nj' or 'ny'
• 'lj' or 'ly'

Sometimes, 'c' and 'j' are also used for these sounds.

Sounds made with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth (dental) are written with an alveolar consonant plus ⟨h⟩. For example:

• ⟨th⟩
• ⟨dh⟩
• ⟨nh⟩
• ⟨lh⟩

It's important to know that ⟨th⟩ here is a 't' sound made with the tongue on the teeth, not the 'th' sound in English words like 'think' or 'this'.

Sounds made with the tongue curled back (retroflex) are usually written with an 'r' plus an alveolar consonant. For example:

• ⟨rt⟩
• ⟨rd⟩
• ⟨rn⟩
• ⟨rl⟩

In some languages, like Pitjantjatjara, the alveolar consonant is underlined instead (e.g., ⟨ṯ⟩, ⟨ṉ⟩, ⟨ḻ⟩) to show it's retroflex.

A few languages have sounds made between the middle and back of the tongue (palato-velar). In the Yanyuwa language, these are written as ⟨yk⟩ and ⟨nyng⟩.

Voicing of Stop Sounds

Most Australian Aboriginal languages do not have a separate 'p' and 'b' sound, or 't' and 'd' sound. Instead, they have one sound that can sometimes sound like 't' and sometimes like 'd'. Both ways of saying it are usually written the same way. Linguists choose whether to use the 't' symbol or the 'd' symbol based on which is more common in that language. This means the same sound might be written differently by different linguists.

However, some languages do have distinct voiced (like 'b', 'd', 'g') and voiceless (like 'p', 't', 'k') stop sounds.

Sounds with a Nasal Start (Prenasalisation)

Some languages have prenasalized consonants. This is when a stop sound (like 'b' or 'd') is immediately preceded by a nasal sound (like 'm' or 'n'), but it's considered one single consonant. In the Yanyuwa language, these are written as:

• ⟨mb⟩
• ⟨ngk⟩
• ⟨nj⟩
• ⟨nth⟩
• ⟨nd⟩
• ⟨rnd⟩

See also

In Spanish: Transcripción de las lenguas aborígenes australianas para niños