Miriwoong, also written Miriuwung and Miriwung, is an Aboriginal Australian language which today has fewer than 20 fluent speakers, most of whom live in or near KununurrainWestern Australia.[3] All of the fluent speakers are elderly and the Miriwoong language is considered to be critically endangered. However, younger generations tend to be familiar with a lot of Miriwoong vocabulary which they use when speaking Kimberley KriolorAboriginal English.
Despite the endangered status of the Miriwoong language, the Miriwoong community is vibrantly multilingual. Languages spoken include Miriwoong (for a small number of speakers), the Miriwoong signed language, Kimberley Kriol, and English. Two varieties of English are present in the community, Aboriginal English, and Standard Australian English. Many speakers are bi-dialectical in both varieties while many others have a strong preference for Aboriginal English.
The Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring Language and Culture Centre has been tasked with the preservation and revitalisation of the Miriwoong language since the 1970s.[5]
MDWg engages in a wide range of language revitalisation and documentation activities including a language nest, public language classes and on-country training camps. The language nest reaches around 300 children every week, both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous.
A significant part of MDWg's revitalisation efforts is the publication of books in Miriwoong.
Miriwoong distinguishes 19 consonant phonemes. The consonant inventory of Miriwoong is fairly typical for Indigenous Australian languages, having multiple lateral and nasal consonants, no voicing contrast, and no fricatives.
The largely phonemic orthography of Miriwoong was developed at the Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. Some sounds that do not have a standard character in the Latin script are represented by digraphs. The vowel /u/ is spelled oo in Miriwoong.
Grapheme
IPA symbol
Miriwoong example
English translation
Vowels
a
a
dawang
place
e
ə
jawaleng
man
oo
u
joolang
dog
i
i
ngirrngiling
cat
iyi
i: ~ iji
ngiyi
yes
Monograph consonants
b
b
bare
to stand
d
d
dooleng
heart
g
g
goondarring
fish
j
c~ɟ
wija
swim
K (only following n)
g
bankalng
footprints
l
l
biligirrimawoong
white
m
m
moonamang
magpie goose
n
n
Goonoonooram
Kununurra (river)
r
ɻ ~ ɹ
ramang
grass
w
w
woothoony
small (f)
y
j
mayeng
non-meat food
Digraph consonants
ly
ʎ
bilyiny
tick
ng
ŋ
ngerregoowoong
big
nh
n̪
ngenhengbeng
red
ny
ɲ
gerany
rock
rd
ɖ
gardag
cup
rl
ɭ
gerloong
water
rn
ɳ
merndang
paper
rr
r
Darram
Bandicoot Bar (place name)
th
d̪
thegoobeling
black
MDWg is working with local organisations to conform to the standardised orthography when Miriwoong is written in documents or signage.
Miriwoong nouns have grammatical gender and adjectives and demonstratives agree with the noun. There are two genders, designated masculine and feminine.
Verbs in Miriwoong have a compound system of coverbs, which are generally uninflected and carry the main semantic content, and inflecting verbs, which carry the grammatical information. Both coverbs and verbs can stand alone but most verbal expressions comprise both a coverb and an inflecting verb[6] (Newry 2015: 20-21). The inflecting verbs are a closed class and number around 20 while the coverbs are an open class. This type of verb system has been observed in other Australian languages, particularly in languages spoken in the north of Australia.
^"Our Country". Mirima Dawanga Woorlab-gerring Language and Culture Centre. Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. Archived from the original on 28 February 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
^Olawsky, Knut (2010). "Revitalisation strategies for Miriwoong". In Hobson, John; Lowe, Kevin; Poetsch, Susan; Walsh, Michael (eds.). Re-awakening languages: Theory and practice in the revitalisation of Australia's indigenous languages. Sydney: Sydney University Press. pp. 146–154.
^Newry, Dawayne (2015). Ninggoowoong boorriyang merndang - Family book. Kununurra, WA, Australia: Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring. pp. 20–21. ISBN978-0-9922849-5-4.
Kofod, F. M. (1978). The Miriwung language (East Kimberley): a phonological and morphological study.
Kofod, FM, 1976. Simple and Compound Verbs: Conjugation by Auxiliaries in Australian Verbal System: Miriwung. Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies.
Olawsky, Knut, J. (2010) Revitalisation Strategies for Miriwoong In Re-awakening languages: theory and practice in the revitalisation of Australia's indigenous languages. In Hobson, J., Lowe, K., Poetics, S. & Walsh, M. (Eds.) Sydney University Press: Sydney
Olawsky, Knut J., 2010. Going public with language: involving the wider community in language revitalisation. In J. Hobson, K. Lowe, S. Poetsch and M. Walsh (eds.), Re-Awakening Languages: Theory and Practice in the Revitalisation of Australia’s Indigenous Languages. Sydney, Australia: Sydney University Press, pp. 75.
Olawsky, Knut, 2013. The Master-Apprentice language learning program down under: experience and adaptation in an Australian context. Language documentation and conservation,7
McGregor, William (1988). Handbook of Kimberley languages. Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.
Galbat-Newry, G., (2002) Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring Language and Culture Centre. Ngoonjook: A Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues. 21 26-49.
Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN978-0-708-10741-6.