Filling gaps

Adding Suffixes

All Australian languages use suffixes (endings) to change both the meaning and function of words, and there is a strong and active tradition of creating new words in this way. Some Top End languages may also use prefixes at the beginning of words. Other languages may even insert affixes in the middle of words, like English jokingly does with abso-bloody-lutely and fan-flaming-tastic.

In Pitjanjtatjara and other Western Desert dialects the word for aware or wise, ninti, can have suffixes added to mean someone who habitually causes other people to become wise, nintilpayi, or someone who habitually becomes aware, nintirringkupayi. These words are now used for the modern ideas of teacher and student, and also function as the verbs to express teaching and learning in school. Many Australian languages also have suffixes that mean having, without, like, towards, from, at, for, and so on that allow for the creation of a great many new words.

New words created by this method may be based on describing what something does like mixer, buzzer and grabber (for policeman), an aspect of its appearance, or what it's associated with, and so on.

Awabakal

wangkalkay	foolish	from wangkal (fool)
wanaykay	childish	from wanay (child)
ngarrakay	wise	from ngarra (know)

Nyangumarta

tjanytjapinti	thermometer	from tjanytja (heat)
katjanapinti	chair	from katjana (sit)
ngarnkapinti	razor	from ngarnka (beard)

Kaurna

kanthi-ana	trousers	from kanthi (thigh)
mukarti-ana	hat	from mukarta (head)
tiki-ana	waistcoat	from tiki (ribs)
turti-ana	jacket	from turti (arm)
nuki-ana	handkerchief	from nuki (snot)

Many Australian languages have suffixes that offer the following possibilities for creating new words:

• to make be something make hot, sad, big, into stone, etc.
• to become something become cold, happy, small, a dog, etc.
  
• a person or thing that habitually does something ' reader, washer, runner, etc.
• two or more of something
• one of a pair of things
  
• more or less of something ; hotter, unhappier, smaller, stonier, etc.
• associated with something river-dweller, easterner, heavenly, etc
  
• with or having something ; with money, having a stick, with family, etc
• without or not having something ; without legs, sleepless, without food, etc.
• being like or unlike something ; like a fish, not like a man, like water, etc.
• not something ; not happy, undead, invisible, etc.
  

Because adding suffixes is such a rich tradition for Australian languages it can be one of the best places to start looking for ways to create new words. If a grammatical description exists for your language it should detail some of these suffixes. If not, the features of a neighbouring language are likely to be fairly similar to the ones your language would have once used and could be borrowed. The advice of a linguist would be very helpful in this task.

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Conversion

This is a common way for English to form new words and can be seen in recently created verbs like task and text (I tasked him with texting Sue the meeting time.) that have been converted from the nouns task and text, as well as verbs like green (The council is planning to green the town square.) converted from the adjective green.

This process is also found in many Australian languages, although they must often also add suffixes associated with the new word class that makes the process more explicit. For example, Pitjantjatjara can convert the adjective ninti (aware) to a verb (know), but must also add a suffix to produce a spoken form like nintini (knows/knowing), or nintinu (knew).

 

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Compounding

Joining two words together to make a new word or a fixed expression is found in many languages. Australian languages have a long history of using this process.

English speakers are very familiar with compounded words like intake, upkeep, dragonfly, waterfall, carpark and timekeeper, although they can sometimes be unsure whether to write them as one word, hyphenate them or write them as separate words.

Often such compounds are descriptive of the behaviour, function or appearance of the thing they refer to, like the early Gumbaynggirr compound for telephone, muya-bang-giing (breath is flying) or the new Yuwaalaraay word gayrragumbirri (electric brain) for computer.

Woiwurrung

galkgawang	bone head	skull
yarramirring	hair eye	eyebrow
yarrangurnduk	hair chin	beard
budhundjinang	sore foot	chillblain

Pitjantjatjara

pina pati	ear closed	deaf
kuru pati	eye closed	blind
tjaa pati	mouth closed	dumb
nyinakati	sit carry	sit down!
ngarakati	stand carry	stand up!
kunytjulpunganyi	phlegm hitting	coughing
nyuulpunganyi	snot hitting	blowing nose
ulkapatjunanyi	vomit putting	throwing up

 
Compounding is a method that could easily be used to create many new words in a reviving language.

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Borrowing

All languages borrow from other languages. Australian languages have always borrowed from their neighbours and are well known for the high level of sharing they display as a family. English is also a great borrower from other languages which is one reason it stays so strong. Some estimates suggest that around 70% of the words currently being used by English speakers are borrowed.

From very early on Australian languages began to borrow from foreign languages. Even before English was spoken in Australia, several languages from the Top End had borrowed around 500 words from Indonesia like rrupiya (rupee, from India) for money and balanda (Hollander) for Europeans.

As soon as people began encountering whitefellas here they quickly began borrowing words for the new animals they brought with them and the goods and technology they possessed, adapting the sounds of English into their own language:

Bandjalang

bujigehn	(pussy) cat
bulahwa	flour
dindihj	(tin) dish
gabugahn	(cob of) corn
ganjibal	police (constable)
garenggi	cranky

Pitjantjatjara

puluki	bullock
tjuka	sugar
rayipula	rifle
makiti	gun (musket)
waya	wire
mutukayi	(motor) car
tjampita	cup (jam pot)
panikin	pan (pannikin)
pulangkita	blanket

However, some revivers are concerned by the high level of borrowing from English that has already taken place. They argue that other strategies like adding suffixes and extending meanings of traditional words are better options to prevent the influence of English getting any stronger. It's up to the community to decide.

 

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Loan translation (calquing)

Loan translation is similar to borrowing words, except that it involves extended expressions that are translated word-by-word. English frequently uses loan translations including, from Chinese; lose face, brainwashing, long time-no see and paper tiger, and from German; stormtrooper, rainforest, beergarden, superman and concertmaster.

There are not many examples of this process being applied historically in Australian languages. However, some modern revivers are making use of it, such as for the names of the days of the week developed for Gumbaynggirr:

Sunday	Sun's day	Ngayan.ga	sun one
Monday	Moon's day	Giidanyga	moon one
Tuesday	Tiw's (Germanic goddess) day	Birrugan.ga	Birrugan (first man) one
Wednesday	Wodan's (Germanic god) day	Bimiirrga	middle one
Thursday	Thor's (Germanic god) day	Burruumgayga	thunder one
Friday	Frige's (Germanic goddess) day	Gawnggan.ga	Gawnggan (first woman) one
Saturday	Saturn's ( god) day	Birraarlga	birraarl (planet) one

Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were closely in touch with the cycles of the sun and moon, as far as we know, they didn't count the days of the week or recognise weeks as a unit of time, so the concept of having named days in a seven-day week is itself culturally foreign.

Some revivers outside Australia, such as the Maori, express concern that loan translations like these, where the concepts of a foreign culture are translated into a local language on top of the idea of counting days, are a greater cause for concern that simply borrowing words. They argue that just borrowing the word Thursday and changing the sound (say, to Tjaatjayi), without also attempting to translate the idea of naming it after the Germanic god of thunder, carries less foreign culture with it. They suggest that other strategies like adding suffixes and extending meanings of traditional words are better options to prevent the influence of English getting any stronger, like the Gumbaynggirr have done by calling Wednesday the middle one. Other people do not see this as a problem.

This is a discussion that hasn't really occurred widely in Australian revival so far. It's up to the community to decide.

 

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Extending meanings

Semantic extension is the very common process of stretching the meaning of existing words to take in new ideas. Many Australian languages have traditionally used the same word to describe an item and either its parts or its source. So, hand and fingers are often the same word, as are breast and milk; foot, footprint and tracks; fire and firewood; sun, day and time. Similarly hearing, understanding and thinking are expressed by the same word in many Australian languages.

Kayardild

munirra	breast, milk
mirnda	waist, tree trunk, spear shaft
kurndaji	dorsal fin, sand hill

Eastern Kulin

wilam	bark, hut
mirring	eye, hole in the ground
galk	stick, bone

Bangerang

bōrinya	arm, wing, branch of a river
waichēra	back shell of tortoise, bark plate, horny plate on emu's breast

Many languages have also made use of the same process in more recent times, extending the meaning of traditional words to cover new concepts:

Kaurna

pardi	maggot	extended to rice
kaaru	blood	extended to grape juice
maki	ice	extended to glass
pirri	claw	extended to hook

Eastern Kulin

wilam	hut, camp	extended to tent, house, shed
bilim-bilim	bitter, seawater	extended to alcohol

Mutti Mutti

ngundu	ceremonial song	extended to hymn
binggadha	paint up	extended to writing

Pitjantjatjara

waru	fire, firewood	extended to matches, lighter
tili	flame	extended to lights

Extending meanings is a traditional process for Australian languages that could easily be used now to take account of new ideas.

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Repetition

Repetition is much more common in Australian languages than it is in English. It usually creates a new word that is either more or less intense than the original, or entails some suggestion of repetitive action or multiples, such as in the traditional Gumbaynggirr number six bularri-bularri-bularri (two-two-two). Where a change of word class takes place, such as from verb to noun, adding suffixes may also be necessary.

Kaurna

murdumurdu	flour, bread	from murdu (dust, ashes)
tadlithadli	frypan	from tadli (spit)
pirrkipirrki	peas	from pirrki (bits, pieces)
tikathikati	chair	from tika- (sit)
pakipakiti	knife	from paki- (cut)
karnkarnkati	lifting device	from karnka- (raise)

Gamilaraay

gidjiirrgidjiirr	yellow	from gidjiirr (gidgee tree)
birraybirray	boys	from birray (boy)
gaabigaabi	nauseous	from gaabi (vomit)
buyabuya	boney	from buya (bone)
balabalaa	butterfly	from balaa (white)
ngarrangarrali	watch over	from ngarrali (see)

Gumbaynggirr

ngurra-ngurra	feed, supply	from ngurraa (give)
wulgam-wulgam	crooked, winding	from wuulga (bent, leaning)
wurra-wurra	fishing net, haul out	from wurraa (pull off, take out)

Some animal names borrowed from English also make use of repetition, possibly as a result of how they were first heard, how English speakers call out to them, or in an attempt by English speakers to make them sound simpler.

Warumungu

jipi-jipi	sheep
juku-juku	chicken (chook)
kapi-kapi	calf
kiti-kiti	kid
nani-nani	nannygoat
piki-piki	pig
pili-pili	billygoat
purrak-purrak	frog

Repetition is also commonly seen in the names of birds that are derived from copying sound.

 

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Copying sound (onomatopoeia)

Australian languages are well known for their use of sound mimicry in forming words, especially bird names:

Yankunytjatjara

aralapalpal	crested pigeon
kakalyalya	Major Mitchell cockatoo
kiilykiilykarri	budgerigar
kuurrkuurr	bobook owl
mininymininy	thornbill
nyiinyii	zebra finch
panpanpalala	bellbird
piilpiil	miner
pinpinpal	honeyeater
tiiltiil	magpie lark
tjintirrtjintirr	willy wagtail
wilyurukuruku	cockatiel

Other languages have also made use of this process to create words for new items:

Yolngu Matha

ŋurrŋŋurrŋ	pig
bumbum	car
dayn'dayn	motorbike

Note that in all these cases repetition is also being used.

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Abbreviation

Abbreviation is a common feature of rapid speech in strong Australian languages as it is in English and other languages. Some contractions are so frequent that they become normalised. So English speakers are now far more likely to say and write the contracted forms, can't and don't and wouldn't, rather than saying cannot, do not and would not. Most Pitjantjatjara speakers drop one syllable and say tji'tjuta, rather than the full tjitji tjuta (child many) for kids, but prefer not to write it like that. Similarly when people say the name of the language itself they often drop one tja syllable so that it is pronounced Pitjantjara, and many people have written it down that way. Contraction can sometimes also be seen in words formed by repetition in Australian languages.

Abbreviation by clipping words is also common in English, such as in creating ad from advertisement, uni from university, bra from brassiere and fax from facsimile. Some spoken varieties of English also combine clipping with adding a suffix such as commie or commo for communist, mozzie for mosquito, and cammo for camouflage. This is also a very common process for producing shortened 'pet' versions of people's names; Bess or Betty from Elizabeth, Bill or Billy from William, etc.

As a language with a long history of writing, English has also made use of initials to produce acronyms; words like laser from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, scuba from Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, and wasp from White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

Some of these processes for forming new English words have not been observed in Australian languages so far, but they could be used. It's up to the community to decide.

 

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Back-formation

Back-formation is a special process of abbreviation, which creates a new word that has a different meaning or is a different part of speech to the original, often by removing part of a word that is mistaken to be a suffix. The English verb babysit has been back-formed from the original noun babysitter, burgle from burglar, emote from emotion, and typewrite from typewriter. Burger is a back-formation from hamburger (a bread roll from Hamburg in Germany) now used in compounds like chickenburger, cheeseburger and fishburger. Similarly the apparent suffix -holic, back-formed from alcohol-ic, has been used to create new words like chocaholic, workaholic and shopaholic.

Back-formation can also be seen in Kaurna:

kapi	tobacco	from kapinthi (vomit)
maana	cross-cut saw	from maanthi (draw, pull)
warnka	sexual disease	from warnkawarnka (fungus species)
ngutu	knowledge	from ngutu-atpanthi (teach)

Yuwaalaraay revivers have also used back-formation to create new words in recent times:

gayrra	electricity	from dhan.gayrra (lightning)
man.ga	table	from man.ga-man.ga (flat)

just as the old people did when they first saw a whitefella - back-forming wanda from wandabaa (ghost).

And many of the Gumbaynggirr new numbers make use of the process:

3	guga	from gugaamgan (emu)
4	daan	from daan.gi (claws)
5	marla	from maarla (hand)
7	duwa	from duuwa (boomerang)
8	janya	from janyaany (octopus)
9	wagaa	from wagaarr (axe)
10	ngaal	from ngaala (across)

 

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Blending (portmanteau)

Blending is the process of combining sound and meaning from two or more distinct words to create a new abbreviated word, and has become very common in English and other European languages:

brunch	breakfast lunch
motel	motor hotel
breathalyser	breath analyser
advertorial	advertisement editorial
infomercial	information commercial
intercom	internal communication
internet	international network
netiquette	internet etiquette

Although there is little evidence of blending in Australian languages, it can be seen in items such as Pitjantjatjara nganantarrka (our side) blended from nganana (we) and tarrka (bone).

 

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Coinage

The creation of completely new word from no other source is not widely documented in Australian languages. However, the Gumbaynggirr recognise their word for horse, gaarr as one they created themselves. Although it has also been suggested that this may be copying the sound of a horse.

Given the way that stories and songs have traditionally been received in dreams in Indigenous Australian cultures, there might also be potential to consider dreaming new words as a strategy with some cultural appeal.