Kungka Kuṉpu Glossary

I love my language, Pitjantjatjara, and love sharing this language with people who are keen to learn. It is very important for language to be spoken. When language is lost, culture is lost, which is why we must celebrate the language by speaking it. I am proud that our language is as strong as our culture on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. The Pitjantjatjara language is spoken among young and old. Our language, like our culture, is alive, it is dynamic, it is always evolving and it is held with deep respect by all Anangu. I hope our language brings you the same joy it brings Anangu.
Sally Scales

This glossary was first developed and published as part of the Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa Project, a long-running cultural maintenance project and series of exhibitions by artists from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia.

Far from encyclopedic, the selection of words focus specifically on Anangu women, their roles, Country, and the plants and animals that share Country with Anangu. As with language, this glossary will continue to evolve over the course of the exhibition tour.

aṉangu :: person, human, body
Aṉangu :: Aboriginal people who speak Western Desert languages
ili :: wild figs
ilykuwara :: witchetty bush (Acacia kempeana); the type of grub found in its roots
inma :: song; cultural song and dance, ceremony
inuntji, inunytji :: flowers, blossoms
kaaṉka :: crow (Corvus bennetti, Corvus orru)
kaḻaya :: emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)
kami :: grandmother
kampuṟarpa :: desert raisin, bush tomato (Solanum centrale)
kangkuṟu :: older sister
kapi :: water, rain
kapi tjukuḻa :: rockhole
kuka :: meat
kuḻaṯa :: spear
kulini :: listening
kungka :: woman, girl
Kungkarangkalpa :: the Pleiades star cluster, also called the Seven Sisters; an important Tjukurpa
Kunmanara :: avoidance name, used after a person has died
kuṉpu :: strong, tough, confident
kuṉṯili :: auntie
kuṯa :: older brother
kutjara :: two, a pair
mai :: food, especially food from plants and grains
maku :: witchetty grub or other edible grubs
mama :: father
manguṟi :: head-ring, used to help carry loads on the head
manta :: earth, land, country
maṟa aḻa :: open hands (of traditional healer)
mingkuḻpa :: native tobacco (Nicotiana excelsior, Nicotiana gossei)
minyma :: woman
minyma pampa :: senior woman
Ngaanyatjarra :: dialect of the Western Desert language
nganampa :: our, for us
ngangkaṟi :: traditional doctor or healer
ngayuku :: my, mine
ngunytju :: mother
ngura :: camp, home, place; site, country
nguraṟitja :: traditional site owner, landowner, custodian
Nyiru or Nyirunya
:: Orion (constellation); male protagonist in the Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters story)
paarpakani :: take flight
palya :: good, OK
papa :: dingo, dog
Pilati :: A rockhole in the Mann Ranges in the Western APY Lands, an importatnt Tjukurpa site
piṟanpa :: white; white person
piti :: wooden bowl
piṯi :: hole
Pitjantjatjara :: dialect of the Western Desert language
puḻi :: rock, stone; hills, mountain
puḻka :: big, large, epic
puṉu :: tree, bush, plant; wood, timber; wooden carving, wooden implement
tali :: sand dune, sand hill
tjala :: honey ant (Camponotus inflatus)
tjamu :: grandfather
tjanpi :: various kinds of grasses, especially spinifex grass; works of art made from dry grass
tjiḻpi :: old man, senior man
tjina :: foot, feet, tracks
tjitji :: child, children
tjukuḻa :: rockhole, waterhole
Tjukurpa :: story; ancestral creation story; law or belief system
Tjukurpa puḻka :: most important ancestral stories
tjulpu :: bird
tjuta :: many
uninypa :: seed
uṉṯalpa :: daughter
waḻawuru :: wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax)
walytja :: family, relative
wana :: digging stick
waṉampi :: watersnake
wanguṉu :: naked woollybutt (Eragrostis eriopoda), a grain-bearing grass
waṟu :: fire
wati :: man
wiltja :: shelter, bush hut; shade
woka woka :: rhythm of the wana (digging stick)
Yankunytjatjara :: dialect of the Western Desert language