Warrongo language facts for kids

Warrongo (also called War(r)ungu) is an Aboriginal language from Australia. It belongs to the Maric group, which is part of the larger Pama–Nyungan family. People used to speak Warrongo in the area around Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

The last person who spoke Warrongo fluently was Alf Palmer. He passed away in 1981. Before he died, language experts Tasaku Tsunoda and Peter Sutton worked with Alf Palmer. They wanted to save the language. Because of their hard work, people are now trying to bring the Warrongo language back to life.

Warrongo has a special grammar rule called syntactic ergativity. This means how words are used in a sentence depends on whether the action has a direct object or not.

Today, Warrongo is considered a "dormant" language. This means there are no native speakers left. Other names for Warrongo include Warrangu, Warrango, War(r)uŋu, War-oong-oo, Gudjala, and Gudjal. The Warrongo language region stretches from the Upper Herbert River to Mount Garnet.

Bringing Warrongo Back to Life

Many people who identify as Warrongo live in different places today. Some are in their traditional lands near Mount Garnet. Others live in places like Palm Island, Townsville, Ingham, Cardwell, and Cairns.

As mentioned, the language stopped being spoken when Alf Palmer died in 1981. But in the late 1990s or early 2000s, a group of people started a language revival movement. Many of them were grandchildren of the last speakers. Alf Palmer's granddaughter was a key person in this effort.

This community reached out to Tasaku Tsunoda, the linguist who had worked with the last speakers. Between 2002 and 2006, Tsunoda held five teaching sessions. Each session lasted about 4 to 5 days. Because of these efforts, Warrongo is now used in some small ways. For example, children sometimes use it when teasing each other. People also use Warrongo words for personal names.

How Warrongo is Related to Other Languages

Warrongo likely had at least two dialects that were easy for speakers to understand. It belongs to the large Pama-Nyungan language family.

Warrongo is very similar to Gugu Badhun and Gujal. It shares many words with them. Experts believe Warrongo is part of the Maric group. This group includes languages like Bidjara and Biri. However, some parts of Warrongo's grammar are similar to the Herbert River group. This group includes languages like Dyirbal and Warrgamay. Some think that Warrongo might have borrowed these grammar rules from the Herbert River languages.

Sounds of Warrongo

Warrongo has different sounds for its words. These sounds are made using various parts of the mouth.

Consonant Sounds

Warrongo has many consonant sounds. These include sounds made with both lips, like 'm' and 'b'. It also has sounds made with the tongue touching the teeth, the roof of the mouth, or the back of the throat.

For example, the 'j' sound in Warrongo is often like the 'ch' or 'j' in English words like "church" or "jump." The way a consonant sounds can change slightly depending on where it is in a word.

Vowel Sounds

Warrongo has three main vowel sounds: 'a', 'i', and 'u'. The 'u' sound can sometimes sound like 'o'. The length of the 'a' sound can also change the meaning of a word. A long 'a' is written as 'aa'.

The 'i' sound can sometimes sound like 'e'. The exact sound of 'i' and 'u' depends on the consonant that comes before them.

Warrongo Word Types

Warrongo words are grouped into five main types:

• Nouns: These are words for people, places, or things.
• Pronouns: These words replace nouns, like "he" or "she."
• Adverbs: These words describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
• Verbs: These words describe actions or states of being.
• Interjections: These are short words that show strong feelings, like "Hi!"

Some words can also be used to ask questions or point things out. For example, a question word for a noun is ngani, meaning "what." A pointing word for an adverb is ngoni, meaning "there."

Words usually belong to only one type. If you want to change a word's type, you add a special ending to it. Adjectives, which describe nouns, are not a separate group. They act like nouns in Warrongo.

How Nouns Change in Warrongo

Nouns in Warrongo usually don't change to show if there's one item or many. They also don't change for gender. But pronouns do change. They have different forms for one person (singular), two people (dual), or many people (plural). They also change for who is speaking (first person), who is being spoken to (second person), or who is being spoken about (third person).

All nouns and pronouns change their endings to show their role in a sentence. This is called case. The endings can change based on the last sound of the word. Some nouns and pronouns have special, irregular forms.

Cases for Nouns

Warrongo uses different cases to show how words relate to each other.

• Nominative and Accusative: For most nouns, the same form is used for the subject of a simple action (nominative) and the object of an action (accusative).
• Ergative: The subject of an action that has an object uses a special ending. This is called the ergative case.
• Pronouns: For pronouns, the nominative and ergative cases are often the same. The accusative case has a special ending.

The ergative case can also show that a noun is used as a tool.

Other cases include:

• Locative: This case shows location, direction, time, or even the reason for something.
• Dative: This case shows purpose, reason, who receives something, or the goal of movement.
• Genitive: This case is mostly used for living things. It shows possession, who benefits from something, or who receives something.
• Ablative: This case usually shows a starting point in time or space, or a reason.
• Comitative: This case often means "together with."

Sometimes, genitive, ablative, and comitative endings can have other case endings added after them. Some adverbs can also take case endings.

How Verbs Change in Warrongo

Warrongo verbs belong to one of three groups. These groups are known by a special marker that appears in some verb forms. Verbs also change their endings to show things like:

• Tense: When the action happens (future, past, present).
• Mood: The speaker's attitude (like giving a command).

There are also "purposive forms." These forms show an intention or purpose. They can also show the result of an action or a series of actions.

Sentence Structure

The order of words in a Warrongo sentence is quite flexible. It doesn't always follow strict rules. However, there are some common patterns.

• Number words usually come after the noun they describe.
• Words that describe nouns (like adjectives) tend to come before the noun.
• The words that perform or receive the action usually come before the verb.
• The person doing the action often comes before the person receiving the action.

Joining Sentences Together

There are three main ways to join sentences in Warrongo:

• Sentence-sequence: Simply putting sentences next to each other. Each sentence has its own sound pattern.
• Coordination: Putting sentences next to each other that share a sound pattern and some grammar rules.
• Subordination: Making one sentence depend on another. The most common type shows purpose.

If two sentences share a word, that word is often left out of the second sentence, especially if it's a subordinate clause. Warrongo has special rules for shared words, typical of syntactically ergative languages. This means the shared word must have the same role in both sentences. Or, it can be the subject of a simple action in one sentence and the object of an action in the other.

For example, to say "The man told the woman to go," the word for "woman" is the object in the first part. It is also the subject of "to go" in the second part.

If the shared word is the person doing an action with an object, a special verb form called antipassivisation is used. This changes how the words are marked in the sentence. For example, to say "The husband told his wife to cook," the word for "wife" is the object in the first part. But she is the one doing the cooking (the agent) in the second part. So, antipassivisation is needed.