Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In the Dalabon language of Arnhem Land, the noun root malk can mean ‘place, country’, but also ‘season, weather’ as well as ‘place in a system’, e.g. one’s ‘skin’ in the overarching system of kin relations, or the point on a net where the support sticks are fixed. The verb root wonan basically means ‘hear, listen’ but is regularly extended to other types of non-visual perception, such as smelling, and to thought and consideration more generally. Combined with malk, it means ‘think about where to go, consider what to do next’. The generous polysynthetic nature of Dalabon — where polysynthetic denotes a type of language which can combine many elements together into a single verbal word to express what would take a sentence in English — gives us the word ngûrrahmalkwonawoniyan.' (Introduction)
