Wuliwuli (also Wuli Wuli, Wulli Wulli) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan language family formerly spoken by the Wulli Wulli people in Queensland, Australia.
The Wulli Wulli language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the North Burnett Regional Council, particularly the town of Eidsvold and the Auburn River catchment, including the properties of Walloon, Camboon, and Hawkwood.
Wuliwuli is regarded as a dialect of Wakka Wakka.
Names
The alternate names for Wuliwuli are Wilili, Wililililee, Willillee, Wuli Wuli, Wulili, Wulilli, and Wulli Wulli.
The name Wuliwuli is from the personal pronoun wuli, meaning "they".: 38
Phonology
The phonetic system of Wuliwuli is the same as that of Wakka Wakka and Barunggan.: 39
Grammar
Stem structure, the rules surrounding derivation, and the derivative suffixes are largely the same as in Wakka Wakka and Barunggan.: 40
Locatives are expressed by the ablative affix. Allatives are expressed either by the ablative, or the postpositions gu or gua. Perlatives can also be found.: 41
Nouns
Examples of nominal derivational suffixes include -gan (feminine suffix, e.g. ɲuam "husband", ɲuamgan "wife") and -ŋal (sociative suffix, e.g. bulu or buluŋ "stomach, belly", buluŋal "pregnant").: 40
The articles used are -bam and -ᶁin. Whether there is a difference in meaning between the two is unclear (e.g. murunbam or murunᶁin "(some) dark people"), although -ᶁin may be used for relationship terms. On occasion both suffixes can be joined together (e.g. ginbam or ginbamᶁin, "(some) women").: 41
Pronouns
The table below shows paradigms for the recorded pronouns in Wulli Wulli:: 41–42
Compound forms are also found (e.g. ŋam ŋin "we two, you and me" (inclusive)).: 42
The possessive pronoun ŋariɲ "my, mine" was found in the corpus with the article -ᶁin.: 42
The demonstrative pronouns are gana, gara "here, this" and mana, mara "there, that", with no inflectional forms recorded. Examples include gana jo˙ bai "he has come here" and mana jo˙ ba˙n "he is coming there". There seem to be shortened forms na and ra (-ra) (although the former is ambigious as -na is an imperfective suffix).: 42
The interrogative pronouns are ŋana "who?" and miɲa "what?", with the following inflectional forms recorded:: 42
Verbs
Examples of verbal derivational suffixes include -ma- (causative, e.g. garima "put in"), -la- or -le- (associative, e.g. gaila "look for") and -ŋi- (e.g. gilaŋi "turn around").: 40
There are two regular patterns of conjugation, in addition to irregular ones. The first uses -j- as the "thematic element"; the imperfective ends in -ena, whereas the intentional ends in -wa. The second uses a nasal (-n-, -ɲ-); the imperfective may end in -na, the perfective in -ɲi, and the intentional in -wa.: 42
Vocabulary
Some words from the Wulli Wulli language, as spelt and written by Wulli Wulli authors include:
- Ban: grass
- Djigum: sun
- Dungir: river
- Gahr: echidna
- Gamba dunba: good day
- Goolah: koala
- Gung: water
- Gunyar: bird
- Guraman: kangaroo
- Guyu: fish
- Moran: home/camp
- Nyilung: land
- Wangun: snake
References
