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By Cath
12 Mar 2013
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26 Oct 2012
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20 Sep 2012
Indigenous Languages
Australian English borrowed more than 400 words from some 80 Aboriginal languages
Cartoon: David Pope
Bung
Broken, exhausted, out of action — 'the TV's bung'.
It comes from bang meaning 'dead', which was first recorded in 1841 in the Yagara Aboriginal language of the Brisbane region.
The word found its way into nineteenth-century Australian pidgin, where the phrase to go bung meant 'to die'. By the end of the nineteenth century, the present sense had developed.
Hear the word bung in use (MP3 54kb)
Cartoon: David Pope
Koori
An Aboriginal person, usually from south eastern Australia.
First recorded in 1834, Koori comes from the term for 'Aboriginal man or person' in the language of the Awabakal Aboriginal people of eastern New South Wales, and in neighbouring languages. It is now widely used throughout the south-eastern states.
Different words for 'Aboriginal person' are used in other parts of Australia, such as Murri, Nyungar, Palawa, and Yolngu.
Hear the word Koori in use (MP3 66kb)
