Wergaia or Werrigia is an
Australian Aboriginal language
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
in the
Wimmera
The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Austral ...
region of north-Western
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
. The Wergaia language consisted of four distinct dialects: Wudjubalug/Wotjobaluk, Djadjala/Djadjali, Buibadjali, Biwadjali. Wergaia was in turn apparently a dialect of the
Wemba Wemba language
The Wemba Wemba language is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language once spoken along the Murray River and its tributaries in North Western Victoria and South Central New South Wales.
Nari Nari, a dialect of Wemba Wemba, is part of a langu ...
, a member of the
Kulinic branch of
Pama–Nyungan.
The
Aboriginal people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
who speak Wergaia dialects include the
Maligundidj or Wergaia people, which means the people belonging to the
''mali'' (mallee) eucalypt bushland which covers much of their territory, and the
Wotjobaluk people
The Wotjobaluk are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. They are closely related to the Wergaia people.
Language
R. H. Mathews supplied a brief analysis of the Wotjobaluk language (now known as Wergaia), describing what he ...
.
In mid-2021 a
language revival
Language revitalization, also referred to as language revival or reversing language shift, is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one. Those involved can include linguists, cultural or community groups, o ...
project started up at the Wotjobaluk Knowledge Place, established in December 2020 at
Dimboola
Dimboola is a town in the Shire of Hindmarsh in the Wimmera region of western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 334 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.
History
Situated on the Wimmera River, Dimboola was previously known as 'Nine Creek ...
. A Wergaia language program would run over 20 weeks.
Sounds
The following is the Djadjala dialect.
Vowels given are /a e i u/.
[Hercus 1969.]
Some words
* ''dhallung'' (male or buck klangaroo)
* ''gal'' (dog)
* ''kulkun'' (a boy)
* ''laiaruk'' (a woman)
* ''lanangurk'' (a girl)
[
* ''mindyun'' (a kangaroo)
* ''muty'' (doer or female kangaroo)][}
* ''winya nyua'' (Who is there?)][
* ''wotjo'' (a man)
]
Notes and references
Notes
References
*
*
*
{{refend
Wergaia
Kulin languages