[mɐmpeˈmuɾuwuɭmuɾuwuɭ]
she's making (the girl's) hair beautiful Murrinhpatha – approx 2,500 speakers – Australia (Daly River region, Northern Territory) This word can be broken down into mam-, meaning third person singular, non-future, action performed with hands; pe-, an incorporated noun meaning head or hair, and murruwurl, the verb stem meaning to make nice or beautiful. The stem is reduplicated to show that the action is repeated, as in fussing with the hair. Murrinhpatha is one of the small number of Australian languages still being acquired by children, and is used as the daily language of communication in the community of Wadeye (Port Keats), Northern Territory. Source: Rachel Nordlinger (fieldwork) Comments are closed.
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