2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages: Word of the Week - Week Eighteen.
By Administrator | 13 May 2019
As part of State Library's commitment to the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, we will be promoting a 'word of the week' from one of the 125+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and dialects from across Queensland.
State Library's 'word of the week' for Week Eighteen is yakka , from the Yugarabul language of Boonah and Ipswich. It is derived from ‘yaga’ meaning work / to work and is also recorded in the Yugara language of Brisbane.
Queen Susan (Bunjoey) depicted above was one of the informants for Yugarabul; her stories and words were published by Enid Bell in the Queenslander newspaper and a later compilation Legends of the Coochin Valley.
Thomas Hardcastle grew up at Dugandan and documented Aboriginal words of the district drawing upon the knowledge of Bunjoey and others who lived in the region. The image above identifies some of these local people.
The State Library holds a copy of the typescript of Hardcastle , which was later published in the 1946-47 Queensland Geographical Journal.
Yugarabul, also written as Yackarabul, Yuggarabul, Ugarapul, etc. is closely related to Yugara and the Brisbane languages with many 'shared' words. Yugarabul is classed as critically endangered by AUSTLANG and is one of the languages supported the Yugambeh Museum, Language and Heritage Research Centre.
State Library of Queensland invites you to celebrate the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages as we raise awareness of the rich diversity of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
Join the conversation as we post a new word for each week!
Week Eighteen 30 April - 6 May 2019.
#IYIL2019 #IYIL #IY2019WordoftheWeek #SLQIndigenousLanguages
Desmond Crump
Indigenous Languages Coordinator, State Library of Queensland
State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Webpages
State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Map
UN IY2019 Links
UN International Year of Indigenous Languages webpages
UN International Year of Indigenous Languages Resources
References
The word of the week has been sourced from the following item in the State Library collections.
Source: Hardcastle, T.W. (1930) ‘A Vocabulary of the language of the Aborigines of the Boonah District’. VF 499.15 har
Image: Enid Bell and Susan (Bunjoey) at Coochin Coochin Station, Boonah (1933). JOL Negative 18942.
Further Reading
Other materials in the State Library collections relating to Yugarabul and neighboring languages include the following:
Bell, E. (1946) Legends of the Coochin Valley. J 398.232943 bel
Hardcastle, T. (1947) "A vocabulary of the Yaggarabul language" in
Queensland Geographical Journal. Vol 51: 1946-1947, pp21-28. S 919.43 005
Holmer, N. (1983) Linguistic Survey of South-Eastern Queensland. J 499.15 HOL
Meston, A. (undated) Archibald Meston Papers Undated. OM64-17
Watson, F. J. (1944) “Vocabularies of four representative tribes of South Eastern Queensland”; supplement to the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland), No. 34, Vol XLVIII. REFJ 499.15 wat
Watson, F. J. (1941) F J Watson Papers 1941 OM73-20
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