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Groote Eylandt Ayakwa (Language) Centre: Context and Projects

Presentation at Puliima Conference, Darwin, 21-22 August 2019

Presenters: K. Mamarika, Lily Yantarrnga, Carol Wurramara, Katelynn Bara, Judy Lalara

K. Mamarika

Halo, nganyangwa ekirra K. Mamarika

Hello, my name is K. Mamarika

Aduwaba yarna kamakinama yirrilangwalangwa ayakwa Anindilyakwa

Today we will tell you about our language, Anindilyakwa

Yarna yikiyengbinama yirrilangwuma ayakwa Anindilyakwa enena-manja presentation mena yirrilangwa akwa yirrilangwalangwa warnungwarekbakiya warnumamalya ena eningadinibawiya ayakwa baba

We will talk in our language, Anindilyakwa, for this presentation. We prefer to talk in our language, because it is the first language of our people

Yarna yirruwerrikilyelyingmajungwunama yarningankawura ngawa yirrilangwalangwa ayakwa kemba ngarraminingayindenama yikengkirrajama nungkurruwa

We’re proud of our language, and we want you to hear it

Kirrakina yikiridumindenama amangkadirruma amirndakibina yikiyengbina-manja subtitles

You can read the English translation of what we are saying in the subtitles on the powerpoint

Yirrumirndakayena Groote Eylandt-langwa,ebina nuwambilyama Gulf of Carpentaria-manja

We are from Groote Eylandt-langwa that is in the Gulf of Carpentaria

Yirrumirndakeyena yirrirukularrinuma yakwujina akwa yarna yirrambambilyama angkababurna langwa ngawa Groote Eylandt-manja

We were born there, and we always live on Groote Eylandt

Akina ambilyuma community Ambukwamba akwa Angwurrkwa akwa mining town Alyangkwula Groote Eylandt-manja

There are two communities Umbakumba and Angurugu and a mining town Alyangula on Groote Eylandt

Ngarningka awilyaba community Milyakburra nuwambilyama Bickerton Island-manja angalaliba akwabirrangarna Groote Eylandt-langwa

There is a third community, Milyakburra, on Bickerton Island, an island north-west of Groote Eylandt

Akilikaja-manja Bickerton Islandu-wa Groote Eylandt-langwa angaliba Alyangula-langwa ferry-ma ngarna 1 hour akamuwilyakinama makina yenjerrikina,umba erribilenuma akilikaja-manja makina 10 mins makina akamuwilyakinama yenjerrikina

When we go to Bickerton Island from Groote Eylandt leaving from Alyangula on the ferry it takes 1 hour to take us there, but when we go on the plane it takes 10 mins to take us there

Ena ayakwa eningadinibawiya Groote Eylandt-langwa.

Anindilyakwa is the first language of Groote Eylandt

Ena ayakwa nayengbiyengbeyinuma arekbirekbakiya-wiya-langwa ngawa yirrilangwa warnumamalya

This language was spoken from a long, long time ago by our people

Ena ngawa arribida nayangbijejungwunama ebina eningadinibawiya ayakwa Australia-langwa

This first language of Australia is spoken strongly

Ena ayakwa emikbiyiya ena yirrakarribidirrkinama

This language is important, it makes us strong

Yarna yirruwarduwardenama angababurna-langwa language centre-manja

We are always working at the language centre

Yirruwardenama ababurna-manja projects yarna, kemba kamakinama akwala nungkurruwa-manja

We work on many projects. We will tell you about some of them

Lily daka yikangumakinama yirrumenama-langwa alwudawarra enungkunungkurakba-langwa jurra akwa yirringekbirakinama-langwa enikinikaduwa jurra

Lily will tell you about how we make old books new again

Carol ngalaja yikangumakinama audio recording-langwa

Carol will tell you about audio recordings of stories

Lola yikangumakinama videos ebina yirrumirndakingekburakinama-langwa

Lola will tell you about videos we have made

Kembirra Agatha akwa Judy wurrungalakina yikabumakinama yirrikuwerrukwajinama-langwa amangkadirra ayakwa yirrilanguwa amamalya ayakwa

And Agatha and Judy will tell you about translating English to Anindilyakwa

Lily

Halo, nganyangwa ekirra Lily Yantarrnga

Hello, my name is Lily Yantarrnga

Aduwaba ningena ningiyengbinama enungarakbakiya langwa jurra

Today I will talk about our jurras (books)

Kemba yarna yirrilawurrakajinama enungwarakbakiya jurra yirrenibikinama akwa yirrenikaduwakinama

We are taking the old books and making them new

Ena jurra enungkuraba, nuwarrkajungwunuma 1974-manja

This is the old jurra, it was made in 1974

Yirruwa yirrumurndukwayinama akwa yirrilyelyumbukweyinuma akinalangwa jurra kajungwa wurruyukwayuwa karriridimideniyada ambakamurra.

We sat together and talked about how to make the jurra easy to read for the children

Ena arakba eningaba kajungwa kuweningmidinayada akwa karriridimideniyada arakba schoolmanja

Now it is easy to read and we will use it in the school program

Ena eningarakbakiya jurra yimenda-langwa alawudawarra, kajungwa wurriyikeyuwa karringkeniyada akwa karriridimideniyada ambakumurra

This old jurra is about the turtle story, so that the children can see and read it for the future

Yirruwa yirrakburrangama eningarakbakiya alawudawarra akwa eyukwayuwa akwurruburringka yirralangwamanja jurra

We found this old story and some small pictures in our dictionary

Yirruwa yirrumurndukwayinuma akwa yirrilyelyumbukweyinuma amirnakinalangwa jurra kajungwa ngakwurrilangwa wurriyukwayuwa karrirringkinayada akwa karriridimidinayada ambakamurra

We sat together and talked about how we make the jurra easy for the children to read

Kembirra dakina Brighde yingakumarna alida akinamanja jurra

Then Brighde gave colour to those pictures

Ngakurruwa ngarrarukweyinama ena jurra akwalamanja communities enamanja Australia, ena ngakwurruwalangwa project International Year of Indigenous Languages

We are sharing this book with other communities in Australia, as part of a project for the International Year of Indigenous Languages

Kirrababurna wurrirringkina yirrilangwa jurra. Eningaba!

Everybody, look at our book now! It looks good!

Carol

Halo, nganyangwa ekirra Carol Wurramara

Hello, my name is Carol Wurramara

Aduwaba ngayuwa ningiyengbinama eningerribirralangwa alawudawarra ebina narrayangkwabajinama akumalyumalyangkamanja kajungwa wurrababurna warnumamalya kuwengkirrikajiyada.

Today I will talk about recordings of our stories

Yirruwa yirruwilyakinama ababurna alawudawarra yirrilanguma ayakwa

We have lots of stories in our language

Yirruwa yirriyangkawiyabajinama eningerribirra alawudawarramirriya kajungwa wurriyukwayuwa kuwengkirrikajiyada eningabawiya kayengbiniyada yirrilangumirra amamalya ayakwa

We record these stories for the kids to listen. They need to hear the right way so they can speak our language

Ena ayakwa yirrarrkarranguma schoolyada.

We made this recording for the school.

Akina meditation recording wurriyukwayuwayada kajungwa kuwengkirrkajayada akwa karrakumamurikajinayada wurridirringekburna kuwambilyayada.

It is a meditation video, for the kids to listen to, to help them feel relaxed.

[Play meditation video]

Katelynn

Halo, nganyangwa ekirra Lola

Hello, my name is Lola

Aduwaba ngayuwa ningiyengbinama yirrilanglangwa akirrbirringka ‘Ambarrngarna’ akwa ‘Eningaba aninga’.

Today I am talking about our videos, ‘Ambarrngarna?" and ‘Eningaba Aninga!’

Ngayuwa ningekburakama Ambarrngarna nungwardanguma wurrumirndakeyinamanja Radio Team

I made ‘Ambarrngarna?’ with the Radio team

Adinubawiya ngayuwa ningekburakama jurra kajungwa kawilyakajinayada wurriyukwayuwamanja amirndakenalangwa alida akwa akerrikerra

First I made a book to teach children about colours and numbers

Wulka amamalya ayakwa mena warna wurriyukwayuwa enenalangwa Ayangkidarrba nayengbinama ambawura amangkadirra

It is only in Anindilyakwa because children on Groote Eylandt don’t speak a lot of English

We made the video with IndigiMob and showed it to people in Alice Springs

Yirruwa yirringekburakama akirrbirringka IndigiMobmanja akwa yirrawilyakajuwama warnumamalyamanja angakuba AliceSpringmanja

[Play video]

Awilyaba video yirruwa yirringekburaka aningalangwa Eningaba aninga.

Another video we made is ‘Eningaba Aninga!’

Yirruwa yirringekburakama ena kajungwa yikawilyakajinayada warnumamalya eningaba aninga

We made this to teach people about healthy food

Ena yimbuka amamalyuma ayakwa mena wurrababurna wurrarumuruma nalelyingminama kayengbinama yirrilanguma amamalya ayakwa, nara amangkadirra. Ngakwurrilangwa amamalya ayakwa ena namarndenama enamanja ayangkidarrba.

It is only in Anindilyakwa because most adults like to speak in our Anindilyakwa language, not in English. Our language is stuck to this island.

Ena video chicken curry-langwa, akwa ngarningka awilyaba yiburadalangwa stew.

This video is about chicken curry, and we have one about kangaroo bolognaise.

Ambakumurra yirruwa yikingekburakinama akina museli

Next time we will be making muesli

Yum! Eningaba Aninga!

Yum! Good food!

Agatha

Halo, nganyangwa ekirra Agatha

Hello, my name is Agatha

Aduwaba ngayuwa akwa Judy yikingiyengbinama yirrarrkirrenamulangwa ayakwa amangkadirralangwa yirrilanguwa amamalya ayakwa

Today, Judy and I are talking about translating from English to our Anindilyakwa language

Yirruwa yirriyarrkwarrkwajinama ayakwa amangkadirra yirrilanguwa amamalya ayakwa kajungwa wurrababurnalangwa yirrilangwa warnamamalya karrimuringkinayada ebina amangkadirra nuwerrkarrijungwunama.

We translate for the whole community, so that all our Warnumamalya people understand.

Yirriyarrkwarrkwajinama amangkadirra ayakwa ebina nalarrkajungwunama jurra angaliba eminingkalangwa angalya enenuwa ayangkidarrba ebina amikbiya aningangkawura ngawa yirrababirnalangwa yarnamalya akwa kirrimangkadirralangwa enenamanja angalya Australia.

We translate information from outside our island, that is important for all Australians.

Yarna ngarningka yirriyarrkwarrkwajinama ebina ayakwa aningenumamalyalangwa organisation, ebina nawilyakinama amikbiya ayakwa enenalangwa community.

We also translate information from our local organisations, with information important to this community.

Yarna yirriyarrkwajuwama amangkadirralangwa ayakwa yirrilanguwa amamalya ayakwa electionlangwa kajungwa karrimuringkinayada yirrilangwa ayakwa kemba kuweningmidinayada adirrbura voting kayaminayada.

For the election we translated a message so that our people could understand, and could know the right way to vote.

Wurrirringkina ena video

Watch the video!

Judy

Halo, nganyangwa ekirra Judy

Hello, my name is Judy

Awarnkadinuba ngarningka awilyaba ayakwa MJD-langwa yirriyamama

Another translation we did not too long ago was for the MDJ foundation.

Akina MJD awurrariya angbiluwa wurrukwalamanja yirrilangwa warnumamalya namirndakayuwayijinama aburrilangwa yarrerra kembirra arakba aringkidarrbalangwawiya nara arakba alikanguma yeya.

MJD (short for Michado-Joseph Disease) is a bad disease that affects some of our people. It makes their muscles weak, so that after a while they can’t walk or move around.

Akina kembirra ayakwa yirrerrkerrenama ebina kayaminamulangwa exercise mijiyelyamanja akwa erriberribamanja kajungwa karrakumamirikajinayada warumamalya wurribina narruwilyakinama MJD wurridirringekburna kamirndakuwarrinayada akwa kalikajayada yeya awankamiyerra.

This translation gives information about doing exercise out in the bush and at the beach, to help people with MJD be able to keep walking and moving around for longer.

Awilyaba translation ngarninga yirriyamama awankadinuba bilijimenalangwa.

Another translation we did not too long ago was for the police.

Wurrakina warnumamalya kuwangkirrakaja akina ayakwa kalikajamanja shopuwa. Akina ayakwa kirrakumakinama warnumamalyuwa kajungwa yikuwardenayada yirruwurakawaruma akwa kuwambilyayada amulyukwa yirrilangwa angalya.

People can hear this message when they go to the shop. It tells people information about how we can work together towards having a safer community.

[Play demonstration of Police translation]

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