Lesson 3 – Colours and Numbers
In this lesson we will learn how to talk about colours and numbers in Tanganekald ruminyeri (Tanganekald language). We will also learn some general descriptive words and some sign language.
Colours
To start with, let’s learn the colours in Tanganekald ruminyeri.
mulkali means ‘red ochre, red substance’ which was traditionally used to paint shield decorations, ngamthumelin is a descriptive word which means ‘yellow’, thumelin is a descriptive word meaning ‘green’, kinemin is a descriptive word meaning ‘black, brown, dark coloured’, ringkari is a descriptive word meaning ‘white’.
Some colours don’t have a specific word in Tanganekald. Instead, you can simply say that something is luk ‘like’ something else.
kinanyi means ‘her’ mayinggi means ‘clothes, belongings’, luk means ‘like’, tupaduwi means ‘sky’, panmauri means ‘dog’, tuiyar means ‘hair’, kari means ‘smoke’, ngomanyi means ‘your’, marki means ‘cheeks’ and milgi means ‘pigweed’.
Here are some ways you could use colour words in a sentence.
yarru means ‘which, what’, panmauri means ‘dog’, ngomanyi means ‘your’, ringkari means ‘white’, kinanyi means ‘his/her’, kinemin means ‘black’, tuiyar means ‘hair’ and mulkali means ‘red’.
Descriptive words
Let’s learn some more words for describing things.
Here are some sentences using these descriptive words.
orni means ‘that’, meimini means ‘woman’, katjeri means ‘beautiful’, ya means ‘he’, yandi means ‘old’, korni means ‘man’, andili means ‘right here’, ruwi means ‘country’, ngankuri means ‘good’, thumelin means ‘green’, the ending -ru means ‘really, very’, ngapa means ‘I’, tau means ‘no’, purranggi means ‘short’ and yuluki means ‘tall’.
Numbers
Tanganekald people used sign language alongside the spoken language. These signs would often be used when out hunting, or between people standing a long distance apart from one another.
Let’s now learn how to count using both spoken language and sign language.
kinggerang-kinggerang is ‘four-four’ which means ‘eight’ and turuwar-kinggerang is ‘five-four’ which means ‘nine’.
Here are some more general words to use when talking about ‘how much’ or ‘how many’ of something there is.
Here are some ways to use these number words in a sentence.
minyai means ‘how many’, wark means ‘crow’, natji means ‘there’, pekuwilund means ‘a great many’, ngenta means ‘you’, yam means ‘one’, peleti means ‘egg’, thulun means ‘wanting’, ngapa means ‘I’ and nengkung means ‘two’, peletengk means ‘eggs [two]’.