🚀 go-pugleaf

Mark Addinall wrote:
> 
> Ananke wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, 02 Jan 2002 00:06:44 +0800, Mark Addinall wrote:
> > >
> > >Water
> > >
> > >anheme    - Eastern Arrente
> > >badu      - Sydney
> > >bawa      - Yindjibarndi
> > >galiyn    - Wir
> >
> > How is that pronounced?  I assume Wir is Wiradjuri?
> 
> Correct.
> 
> GAL-lin-Jhun
> 
> As far as I can tell.

I think not.  The "yn" is the palatal nasal (like the ny in canyon). 
It's usually written "ny" in transliterations of Australian languages,
but some use the convention of swapping the n and the y when this sound
occurs at the end of words, so that monolingual English speakers won't
be tempted to pronounce the last part the same as in "felony".

Since few non-linguist English speakers can distinguish the palatal
nasal at the end of a word, you can probably get away with "gah-leen"

I'm not sure about the stress, but most Wiradhuri words have it on the
first syllable -- unless the second vowel is long (as it is in bila: =
casuarina species -- spelt belah in English)
> > >
> > >River
> > >
> > >bila       - Wir
> >
Here the a is short, so it's not homonymous with the tree!

This has the variant bilabang, which has of course been borrowed into
Australian English as billabong.

Around Wellington (NE dialect of Wir), it meant "milky way" (the big
river in the sky)

John.