Lesson 5 – Language at home
Let’s look at some useful Yankunytjatjara words and sentences that get used commonly around the home and the camp.
Using language around the home and amongst everyday life is a great way to move your language skills from the learning phase to the practicing stage. The use of language in the home and the camp will help build confidence in your ability to use language with common day to day speaking.
Here are some words to learn for around the home and camp:
IN THE MORNING
To get someone out of bed you might say something :
If you wanted to get someone up a bit more quickly you might say:
Mapalku means quickly or immediately, and pakala means get up.
You might even direct it at a specific member of your family.
Katja means son, mapalku means quickly or immediately and pakala means get up.
Let’s get some other family members up for school quickly.
Kuṯa means older brother, Kangkuṟu means older sister, mapalku means quickly or immediately and pakala means get up.
Ngayuku means my, walytja means family, mapalku means quickly or immediately and pakala means get up..
Now let’s focus a little more around the camp then the home.
Maybe you want to ask someone to chop some firewood, you might say:
Nyuntu means you, waṟu means firewood and mara means to get.
Once you collect the firewood you might tell someone to light a fire. You could say:
Waṟu means fire, kalala means light it, kapi means water/rain, pala means that and ngalya-yananyi means coming.
You might want to tell your family you are hungry. You might say:
Ngayulu means I’m, anymatjara means hungry, ka means and, and nyuntu means you.
If you’re hungry you could say:
Ngali means us two, maḻu wipu means kangaroo tail and ngalkuṉi means eat.
After you’ve eaten some food you might ask someone to tell a story. You could say:
Tjitji means children tjuṯakutu means to them, wapar means ancestral story and watjala means tell it.
While sitting around the fire the smoke might be getting in your eyes. You might say Waṟungku puyutjunanyi. Waṟungku means the fire and puyutjunanyi means smoking me out. -ngku marks the subject of the sentence.
As it gets later, it might be time for everyone to go to sleep. You might say:
Ngayulu means I, manta means ground, the ending -ngka means at and ngarinyi means lying down.
Pointing at your Dad you might say:
Mamanya means Dad, anku means sleeping and ngarinyi means lying down.
Let’s recap the different words we’ve learnt.
That’s it for the first five lessons of Yankunytjatjara. We’ll be adding more over the next few months to help keep the learning going. Remember to keep going back over the material we’ve covered in the first five lessons to keep words and sentences fresh in your memory.