A revival is under way, with the language being taught in schools, TAFE college, and at Charles Sturt University.
Reclamation
Teaching
The Wiradjuri language has been taught in primary schools, secondary schools and at TAFE since before 2012 in the towns of Parkes and Forbes.[5] It is taught at Condobolin. Northern Wiradjuri schools such as Peak Hill, Dubbo, Narromine, Wellington, Gilgandra, Trangie, and Geurie by AECG[a] language and culture educators.[citation needed] All lessons include both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.[citation needed] As of 2017 the language was also being taught in Young, having a positive impact on the number of pupils self-identifying as Aboriginal.[6]
Charles Sturt University also offers a two-year course in Wiradjuri language, heritage, and culture, focusing on language reclamation.[7] This course, which commenced in 2014, was developed by Wiradjuri Elder, Dr Stan Grant Senior, as part of their Wiradjuri Language and Cultural Heritage Recovery Project.[8][9]
Dictionary
The process of reclaiming the language was greatly assisted by the publication in 2005 of A First Wiradjuri Dictionary[10] by elder Stan Grant Senior and academic John Rudder. Rudder described the dictionary: "The Wiradjuri Dictionary has three main sections in just over 400 B5 pages. The first two sections, English to Wiradjuri, and Wiradjuri to English, have about 5,000 entries each. The third sections lists Names of Things grouped in categories such as animals, birds, plants, climate, body parts, colours. In addition to those main sections the dictionary contains an introduction to accurate pronunciation, a basic grammar of the language and a sample range of sentence types." A revised edition,[11] holding over 8,000 words, was published in 2010[12] and launched in Wagga Wagga, with the launch described by the member for Wagga Wagga to the New South Wales Parliament.[13][14] A mobile app and web-based version based on the book is also available.[15] A Grammar of Wiradjuri language[16] was published in 2014.
The phonemes /ə/ and /aː/ tend to be considered as belonging to the same pair (refer to the orthography table below).[17]
Sample vocabulary
"Wagga Wagga"
Route 41 Wagga Wagga sign (Mills St)
The Aboriginal inhabitants of the Wagga Wagga region were the Wiradjuri people and the term wagga wagga, with a central open vowel /aː/, means 'dances and celebrations',[18] and has also been translated as 'reeling like a drunken man'.[19] The Wiradjuri word wagan means 'crow', which can be pluralised by reduplication.[20]
Until 2019, it was claimed by the Wagga Wagga council and others that Wagga Wagga translates to “the place of many crows”.[21] However, as Uncle Stan Grant Snr has stated, "Wagga Wagga does sound a bit like Waggon Waggon, but it’s not quite the same. If you say “Wagan Wagan,” you’re saying 'many crows'. And Wagga Wagga means dance celebrations… But the fact is, it’s my language, our language, and it’s got nothing to do with crows whatsoever.".[22]
^Taylor, Suzi. How a language transformed a town. ABC, 4 July 2012. "The boundary of the Wiradjuri Nation extends from Gilgandra in the north, straddling the Great Dividing Range down to the Murray River and out to western NSW. It includes the townships of Dubbo, Condobolin, Orange, Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Narrandera and Griffith."
^Rudder, John; Grant, Stan, 1940– (2005), A first Wiradjuri dictionary : English to Wiradjuri, Wiradjuri to English and categories of things, Restoration House, ISBN978-0-86942-131-4{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Günther, James (1892). "Grammar and Vocabulary of the Aboriginal dialect called Wirradhuri". In Fraser, John (ed.). An Australian Language. Sydney: Government printer. pp. 56–120 of appendix.
"Wiradjuri Materials". Restoration House: Publishers of Australian Aboriginal Material. Archived from the original on 9 November 2004. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
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