A lively thread has been unwinding over on the RNLD email list recently, in response to a request for examples of Australian tongue twisters.
So many great phrases have come out of the woodwork that it behooves us to set them down here for posterity. Thanks to John Hobson for starting the discussion, and to all those who contributed examples.
It’s interesting that quite a few of these seem to be about drilling the word-initial velar nasal [ŋ-], one of the perenniel challenges for mother-tongue speakers of English but less ‘twisty’ for speakers of Australian Aboriginal languages, or indeed for anyone who lives in the vicinity of these red dots.
Arrernte
Intelyapelyape yepeyepe-kenhe lyepelyepele anepaneme
‘The butterfly is sitting on the sheep’s intestines’
(thanks: Jenny Green)
Arrernte (Western)
Kwerrekwerre kweke kakeke kaltye.
‘Little owl recognises big brother.’
(thanks: John Hobson, per John Henderson)
Bardi
Ingoorrooloorrloorroona noorroo.
‘They were kindling a fire ‘
(thanks: Claire Bowern)
Bininj Kunwok (Kuninjku dialect)
nganganghnganga ʼngehngehʼ yimeng
[ŋaŋaŋʔŋaŋa ŋɛʔŋɛʔ yimeŋ]
‘The grey-crowned babbler said nge’ nge’.’
Dabborrabbolk birribidbom bembem birribimbom.
[dabːorabːolk bɪrɪbitbom bembem bɪrɪbɪmbom]
‘The old people climbed up and painted a sole fish.
(thanks: Murray Garde)
Burarra/Gun-nartpa
rrugurrgurda jin-digigirrnga
‘the crab crawls around’
(thanks: Margaret Carew)
Iltyem-iltyem Central Australian Sign Language
‘Mum eats cake’, a finger-twister that has to be seen to be appreciated.
(thanks: Eileen Campbell and Margaret Carew)
Jiwarli
Wangkirarrirarringu
‘(We) intend to talk to one another’
[wangka- ‘to speak’; -irarri ‘reciprocal’; -irarringu ‘intentive’]
(thanks: Peter Austin)
Kayardild
ṱúrupuɖuyùpuɖu
(thurruburduyuburdu in practical orthography)
‘mudskipper’
badaɻaraɻar
‘cuttlefish’
(thanks: Nick Evans)
Lardil
Dubuduburr durathur dulbiribiriwu burururu.
[ɖubudubur ɖuɹaðuɹ ɖulbiɹibiɹiwu buɹuɹuɹu]
‘The tiger mullet will tickle the rain bird with a (species of bush used for firedrill)’
Burbur bana buribur bana burdu.
[buɹbuɹ bana buɹibuɹ bana buɖu]
‘Both the feather and the gun are short’
Dulbiribiri dulburri burrurri.
[ɖulbiɹibiɹi ɖulburi bururi]
‘The rain bird picked seaweed up off the ground’
(thanks: Norvin Richards)
Murrinhpatha
ngunungam-ngem ngarra Kungarlbarl
‘I’m going to Kungarlbarl’.
(thanks: Rachel Nordlinger)
Nganga ngalla
‘big green frog’
(thanks: John Mansfield)
Ngan’gi
Awafilfilimuy wannimfifilirrmuy.
‘the restless ones are staggering around’
(thanks: Nicholas Reid)
Nyangumarta
murnurrurnurru
‘mud wasp’ (onomatopoeic) –
(thanks: Mark Clendon)
Warlipiri
murruru-murruru
‘swarm of hornets’
murrururruru (Variant: murruru).
‘hornet, wasp, insect sp.’
(thanks: David Nash)
Malikirli ka mardarni kartirdi kardirri kirrirdi
‘The dog has long white teeth’
(thanks: Barry Alpher)
Western Desert Language
Nguuurrnguur ngayuku ngurrangka ngarringu.
‘My pig lay in camp.’
(thanks: John Hobson)
Nganananya
‘Ours.’
(thanks: Greg Wilson)
Yuwaalaraay
Ngaandi nginda ngarray ngaarrima?
‘Who did you see over there?’
Ngaya nginunha ngarraldanha.
‘I am looking at you.’
(thanks: John Giacon)
Follow
Here at Endangered Languages and Cultures, we fully welcome your opinion, questions and comments on any post, and all posts will have an active comments form. However if you have never commented before, your comment may take some time before it is approved. Subsequent comments from you should appear immediately.
We will not edit any comments unless asked to, or unless there have been html coding errors, broken links, or formatting errors. We still reserve the right to censor any comment that the administrators deem to be unnecessarily derogatory or offensive, libellous or unhelpful, and we have an active spam filter that may reject your comment if it contains too many links or otherwise fits the description of spam. If this happens erroneously, email the author of the post and let them know. And note that given the huge amount of spam that all WordPress blogs receive on a daily basis (hundreds) it is not possible to sift through them all and find the ham.
In addition to the above, we ask that you please observe the Gricean maxims:*Be relevant: That is, stay reasonably on topic.
*Be truthful: This goes without saying; don’t give us any nonsense.
*Be concise: Say as much as you need to without being unnecessarily long-winded.
*Be perspicuous: This last one needs no explanation.
We permit comments and trackbacks on our articles. Anyone may comment. Comments are subject to moderation, filtering, spell checking, editing, and removal without cause or justification.
All comments are reviewed by comment spamming software and by the site administrators and may be removed without cause at any time. All information provided is volunteered by you. Any website address provided in the URL will be linked to from your name, if you wish to include such information. We do not collect and save information provided when commenting such as email address and will not use this information except where indicated. This site and its representatives will not be held responsible for errors in any comment submissions.
Again, we repeat: We reserve all rights of refusal and deletion of any and all comments and trackbacks.