GLOSSARY

bad news — message about a death

boss for oneself — autonomy

business — ceremonies, ritual

business woman — woman who engages in and takes responsibility for ritual and ceremonies

camp — domestic space consisting of windbreaks, rows of sleepers and fires

cruising — driving or walking around, checking out what is going on elsewhere, and visiting

divorced — the end of sexual relations in a marriage

dolla-wangu — without money, broke

grow up — to look after and nurture a child

early days — the period of initial settlement and strict institutional control

humpies — shelters of corrugated iron and bush materials

jangkayi — men’s camp

jarnpa — a person who walks around at night in order to kill another person and make trouble, men with special powers to make themselves invisible who wear emu-feather foot covering to dissimulate tracks, who travel with harmful intentions, kurdaitcha, bogey-man

jilimi — women’s camp

jinamardarni — to hold and to look after

jinta — one, alone, single, singly, single-handed, solitary, same, unique

jukurrpa — dream, Dreaming, ancestral beings and associated rituals, designs, songs, places, ceremonies time of the ancestral beings, story, ritual, song, law, custom

kala-rla — lunchtime

kapu — he/she/it will (do something)

kardirri — white, light in colour

Kardiya — non-Indigenous person, whitefella

karikurda — erratic wind that changes direction, ‘upside-down’ winds

karlarra — west

karlarra-wardingki — ‘those belonging to the west’, polite way of referring to women

karna — I am (doing something)

-ku — suffix: to, for

kulkurru — in the middle

kumparri — thunder

kunarlupu — storm clouds, hail

kurdaitcha — see jarnpa

kurdu-kurdu — children, storm clouds

kurdu-kurdu-pinyi — to form clouds, make offspring, generate, form, spawn, and procreate

kurlangu — belonging to

-kurra — towards

lawa — no

look after — to be in a relationship of responsibility towards (a child, a ceremony, country)

marlpa — company, companion, companionship

-mayi — turning a sentence into a question, ‘isn’t it?’

munga — night

mungalyurru — early morning

mungalyurru-rla — as the sun comes up

munga-ngka — night-time, at night, in the night

ngapa — water, rain

ngati — mother, kinship term

-ngka — on, in, at; suffixed onto words with one or two syllables

ngunaka — lie down!

ngunami — to be, to lie, lying down

ngurra — home, camp, shelter, nest, ancestral place, country

ngurra-jarra — two camps, two nights

ngurra-jinta — one camp, one place, one night

ngurra-kurlarni-nyarra — (lit. camp-southside) = patrimoiety of J/Nakamarra, Jupurrurla/Napurrurla, J/Nampijinpa, J/Nangala subsections

ngurra-ngajuku — my home

ngurrara — country, fatherland, place, land, home

ngurrarntija, ngurra-wardingki — person belonging to a certain place, countryman, householder.

ngurra-yatuju-mparra — patrimoiety of J/Napanangka, J/Napangardi, J/Nungarrayi, J/Napaljarri subsections

ngurra-yuntuyuntu — place where many people lived for an extended period of time, large camp, long-term camp

nullahnullah —Aboriginal English term for fighting stick, also kuturu

olden days — pre-contact and early contact times, characterised by a nomadic lifestyle, a hunting and gathering economy and an elaborate ritual life

pipa —paper, bible, church service, funeral

-rla — on, in, at; suffixed to words with more than two syllables

run around — having transient sexual relationships

sorry, sorry business — vernacular term for mortuary rituals

sorry camp — camp people sleep in during mortuary rituals

sorry mob — group of people who have travelled from other settlements to participate in mortuary rituals

stopping — staying at, living with

story time — sitting around a fire with close friends and relatives and exchanging news and gossip, remembering events from the past, planning trips, and joking

visiting — coming and going from camp to camp for social interaction, daytime activity

visitor — ‘strangers’, people one does not know but who are in Yuendumu for some reason

wantimi —to fall

Warlpiri — name of people traditionally occupying northern part of the Ngalia Basin, the Tanami Desert, Lander River, Hansen River (see also Yapa), name of the language spoken by Warlpiri people

warlu — fire, firewood, hot, ashes, fireplace, hearth, cooking fire

warungka — deaf, forgetful, unable to understand or remember, stupid, retarded, foolish, mindless, uncaring, feeble-minded; also used for the very young and the very old: not fully knowledgeable social persons

wirnpa — lightning

wiyarrpa —poor bugger, poor thing, sympathetic exclamation

women’s business — women’s ceremonies and rituals

wuraji — afternoon

wuraji-wuraji — around sunset, late afternoon, evening

yalka — space between windbreak and head of sleeper

yani — going, walking

yanirlipa — we go

yanirra — going away (from us)

yantarra —go away!

Yapa — person, Warlpiri person, Aboriginal person, people, Warlpiri people

yaparla — reciprocal kin term for a person’s FM, FMZ and FMB, and SC

yarlu — space with nothing on or over it

yarlukuru — synonym for jilimi, women’s camp

yarrkujuju — place where deceased person lived, where person died, camp of dead person, deceased person’s camp

yatijarra — north

yitipi — outside, on the outside

yungka-ju! — give me!

yungkami — giving

yunta — windbreak, place where people sleep

yupukarra — married people’s camp

yuwarli — house (physical structure)

yuwayi —yes