Last changed 23 January 2021

WARLMANPA BABY TALK

"a stylised way of speaking for the benefit of very young children from new born to those of around five years of age" (Laughren 1984:73)

BABY WARLMANPA	ADULT WARLMANPA	English gloss	BABY WARLPIRI	comment
nyam-nyam	yanunju, kuyu	food	nyanya	including milk
papa	ngapa	water	apa
paapa	paparti (B+)	B,Z (Wru?)	kakiyi (B), kayi	? <English bubba, baby
nyinya	kungurnina (B-,Z-)	B, Z (- ?)	yayi (Z)
kakka	kuna	shit, guts	kaka	harmful substance
nyanya	jajana	MM	jaja
jami	jampirtina	MF	tartarta
kangku	kangkuya	FF	(w)ayingiyi	Warlpiri adult warringiyi (< Arandic arrenge-ye)
apirli	yaparla	FM	apirli, aparli	< Arandic aperle-ye
miyimi	marrirti WMB	WM(B)/DH(Z)	miyimi; wilyakardu
	kirta, pimpirti	F, FZ	papa
	ngamirni	MB	angku	< English uncle
kujuju	maliki	dog, pup	jujuju
pumpum	murtuka	motor vehicle	pumpum	particularly applied to warn of a moving vehicle
		no, nothing	wawa	< Warlpiri lawa
		monster	mumu
		mythical evil beings	kuuku

Note: Not generally included above is a 'baby talk' variant form predictable from the adult form, such as ayingiyi ~ wayingiyi < warringiyi 'FF, etc', by rules described by Laughren (1984).

References

Heffernan, John. 1986. The possible influence of adult "baby talk" on Western Desert pronunciations. Language in Aboriginal Australia 2, 34-36.
Laughren, Mary. 1984. Warlpiri baby talk. Australian Journal of Linguistics 4.1,73-88. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0
Laughren, Mary. p.c. July 2016.
Nash, David. Notebook p.2956 (10/6/84), etc.
Swartz, Bev & Steve. p.c. July 2016.

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Created 30 July 2016
Last changed 23 January 2021
© 2016 David Nash

URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/aust/wpa/baby-talk.html