Anēwan
TheAnēwan,also writtenAnaiwanandAnaywan,are anAboriginal Australianpeople whose traditional territory spans theNorthern TablelandsinNew South Wales.
Language
[edit]TheAnēwan language,also known as Nganyaywana, has been classified byRobert M. W. Dixonas belonging to the Djan-gadi/Nganjaywana subgroup of Central New South Wales, and was one of three varieties of the group, the other dialects being Himberrong and Inuwon.[1]For a long time Anēwan was regarded, likeMbabaram,as alinguistic isolate,ostensibly failing to fit into the known Australian patterns of language, since the material in word-lists taken down of its vocabulary appeared to lack cognates in contiguous languages such asGamilaraay.The status of its seeming irregularity was solved in 1976 byTerry Crowleywho showed that the differences were caused byinitial consonant losswhich, once accounted for, yielded up over 100 cognate terms between Anēwan and other languages and dialects of the region.[2][3]One of the peculiarities generated by this phenomenon of initial loss was that manyhomophoneswere created between originally distinct words, so that in Anēwan the word forgoannaandbull antbecame identical (janda).[3]
Country
[edit]According toNorman Tindale,the Anēwan's traditional lands measured some 3,200 square miles (8,300 km2), spreading over the New England tableland from Moree,GuyraandBen Lomondsouth toUralla,Walcha,and theMoonbi Range.Northwest their borders ran toTingha,and encompassed alsoBendemeerand Armidale.[4]Neighbouring tribes were theBaanbay (Gumbaynggir)to their east;[a]theDjangadito the south-east, theYugambal (Jukambal)andNgarabalto their north, and theGamilaraayto the west.[5]
Social structure
[edit]The Anēwan consisted of several clans, one of which was theHimberronghorde. Their section names were:
- IrongfeminineArkan
- ArpongfeminineIran
- IyongfemininePatjang
- ImbongfeminineIrakena.
TheIrongintermarried with theIyong,and theArpongwith theImbong.[6]
History
[edit]By the timeR. H. Mathewsbegan to record elements of the Anēwan language in 1903, remnants of the original tribe had been widely dispersed over New England.[7]Those who remained in Armidale lived on a site on the town fringes known as "The Dump", inhumpiesbuilt close to the rubbish tip, which were devoid of the basic amenities of water, sewerage and electricity, and jerry-rigged by usinghessianbags, corrugated sheet iron and cardboard boxes. In 1960, four children died and 11 were hospitalised from infections picked up in conditions that were called "appalling". The government then allocated funds to clean up the area and built cottages infibro cementfor its residents. Eventually, these were replaced by brick units in a settlement which the local Aboriginal community namedNarwan.[8]
Some words
[edit]- dunya(penis)[3]
- gyaya(food)[2]
- ilgaiwa(summer)[9]
- jarrwanba(winter)[9]
- mbunya(mbanyja) (kangaroo)[2][10]
Notable people
[edit]- Kyah Simon,international soccer player
- May Yarrowick(1876-1949) midwife, and first known Aboriginal person to register as a nurse.
Notes
[edit]- ^Hoddinott showed that the Baanbay language described as a spoken by a distinct group was simply a minor variant ofGumbaynggirr(Hoddinott 1967,pp. 56–60)
Citations
[edit]- ^Dixon 2002,p. xxxiv.
- ^abcDixon 1980,pp. 196–197.
- ^abcReid 2009,p. 244.
- ^Tindale 1974.
- ^McDonald 1996,p. 181.
- ^Radcliffe-Brown 1930,p. 234.
- ^Mathews 1903,p. 251.
- ^Woolmington 1991,pp. 25–37.
- ^abReid 2009,p. 247.
- ^Reid 2009,p. 253.
Sources
[edit]- "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia".AIATSIS.14 May 2024.
- Crowley, Terry(1976). "Phonological change in New England". InDixon, R. M. W.(ed.).Grammatical categories in Australian languages.Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.pp. 19–50.ISBN978-0-855-75055-8.
- Dixon, R. M. W.(1980).The Languages of Australia.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-29450-8.
- Dixon, R. M. W.(2002).Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development.Vol. 1.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-47378-1.
- Henderson, John (1851).Excursions and adventures inNew South Wales.W. Shoberl.
- Hoddinott, W. G. (September 1967). "The BA: NBA I Language of Northern New South Wales".Oceania.38(1): 56–60.doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1967.tb00935.x.JSTOR40329645.
- Lynch, John (June 2005). "In Memoriam, Terry Crowley 1953-2005".Oceanic Linguistics.44(1): 223–241.doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0022.JSTOR3623236.S2CID143865935.
- Mathews, R. H.(1903)."Languages of the New England Aborigines, NSW".Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.42:249–263.
- McDonald, Barry (1996). "Evidence of four New England corroboree songs indicating Aboriginal responses to European invasion".Aboriginal History.20:176–194.JSTOR24046134.
- Radcliffe-Brown, A. R.(July 1930). "The Social Organization of Australian Tribes. Part II".Oceania.1(2): 206–246.doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1930.tb01645.x.JSTOR40327321.
- Reid, Nicholas (2009) [First published 2002]."Creating Aboriginal Placenames: Applied Philology in Armidale City"(PDF).InHercus, Luise;Hodges, Flavia; Simpson, Jane (eds.).The Land is a Map: Placenames of Indigenous Origin in Australia.Australian National University.pp. 241–254.ISBN978-1-921-53657-1.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett(1974)."Anaiwan (NSW)".Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names.Australian National University Press.ISBN978-0-708-10741-6.
- Woolmington, Jo (1991). "The" Assimilation "years in a country town".Aboriginal History.15(1/2): 25–37.JSTOR24046400.