Spelling

Unlike English, which has a complicated and irregular spelling system, the writing system for Indigenous languages of the Gascoyne region is simple and consistent so that sounds are always written in one way, and each letter always has just one sound. In older documents, local language words and place names may be spelled in a range of different, and incorrect, ways.

Like many other Australian Aboriginal languages, Gascoyne region Indigenous languages have just three vowel sounds: i, u, a. These are pronounced short and clear as in Italian. There are also long vowels, which we write as ii, uu, and aa. Note that u is pronounced like English “oo” in “foot”, and not like “u” in “cut”, which is the sound written as a in these languages. So, for example, in Yinggarda:

thuthu ‘dog’ is pronounced like “thoo-thoo”

gardu ‘person’ is pronounced like “ga-rdoo” (do not write it gurdoo)

There are 20 consonants, some of which are written with two letters together:
b, d, g, j, l, lh, ly, m, n, ng, nh, ny, r, rr, rd, rl, rn, th, w, y.

The sounds written with two letters have the following values:

• for th, lh, and nh the h indicates that the tip of the tongue is placed between the teeth, so pronounce lh like l but with the tongue tip between the teeth, the same for nh and th — sometimes th can sound like English ‘th’ in ‘this’, but the Gascoyne languages sound does not have the noisy friction of the English sound
• for j, ly, and ny the body of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, adding a palatal ‘y’ to the consonant. Gascoyne languages ny sounds similar to Italian gn in signora ‘Mrs’ or gnocchi ‘a kind of stuffed pasta’, or like Spanish ñ as in señor ‘Mr.
• for rd, rl, and rn the r indicates that the tip of the tongue is raised and curled backwards to produce what are called ‘retroflex’ sounds. You can approximate this by producing an American English ‘r’ plus ‘d’ or ‘l’ or ‘n’
• the combination ng represents a single sound, like English ‘ng’ at the end of ‘sing’. In Gascoyne Indigenous languages it can also occur at the beginning of words, as in ngatha ‘I’, which can be difficult for English speakers to master. Do not pronounce ng at the beginning of a word like plain “n”, as this will be incorrect and cause confusion

Gascoyne region Indigenous languages have two r-sounds: a glide r with the tongue tip turned back, similar to an American ‘r’, and a short flap r (pronounced very quickly, like the ‘d’ in the middle of Australian English words) or alternatively a rolled r pronounced like a Scottish ‘r’. The difference between the ‘r’s’ is important for meaning.

Note that all the languages have five n-sounds: n, nh, ny, ng and rn, and four l-sounds: l, lh, ly, and rl. Again, the differences between these sounds are important for meaning.

Words in Gascoyne region Indigenous languages must end in a vowel, and words begin with one and only one consonant. Note that y may be lightly sounded before i (so some people might hear inggarda as the language name) and w may be light before u.

In general, stress (emphasis) falls on the first vowel of a word. So, for example, the name of the language Yinggarda is pronounced as ying-ga-rda with stress on the ying. Do not put emphasis on later syllables as this sounds very unnatural in Yinggarda (English speakers might be tempted to say ying-ga–rda with stress on the middle syllable this would sound very strange to Yinggarda people). The same is true of Bayungu (pronounced ba-yoo-ngoo not ba-yoo-ngoo) and other languages.