Word Up

Kylie Bracknell shares the Noongar word for 'older brother'.

Noognar language legend and Word Up boomerang Kylie Bracknell shares some more language that means something special to her. This week she discusses the Noongar word for someone of renown.

Writer, actor and language champion Kylie Bracknell returns to reflect on a Noongar word for "watching together".

Kylie Bracknell is a fierce Noongar language advocate and long-time friend of Word Up. This week, Kylie returns to share a very special Noongar compound word celebrating song and dance.

Kylie Bracknell is a Noongar woman and language champion. In 2016 Kylie was Word Up’s inaugural guest. Now, she returns to share a Noongar word that has a special significance — ‘ancestor’.

Kaurna artist James Tylor explains why he loves using his mob’s word for ‘deadly’.

This week, artist James Tylor returns to share another piece of Kaurna language. It's a compound word, a combination of the Kaurna words for water (kauwi) and brushtail possum (pirlta) — kauwirlta.

Multi-disciplinary artist James Tylor returns to share his one of his favourite words from Kaurna language. It's a word that describes the action of reflecting on something you’ve learnt — payanthi.

James Tylor is a  disciplinary artist  with a passion for Kaurna language. For Word Up this week, James shares a Kaurna word that means to prepare your mind for a challenge…

Mikayala Shaw-Friday's grandmother has been integral to her language learning. For Word Up this week Mikayla shares a little about her grandmother and a word that connects them.

Ngarinyman is the language from the northern Victoria River region in the Northern Territory. This month, Mikayla Shaw-Friday shares some Ngarinyman words that describe the time of day. This week we hear the Ngarinyman word for 'twilight'.

Ngarinyman speaker Mikayla Shaw-Friday returns to catch some more sunshine and share the word for afternoon.

Ngarinyman is the language from the northern Victoria River region in the Northern Territory. This month, Mikayla Shaw-Friday shares some Ngarinyman words that describe the time of day. She begins this week with the Ngarinyman word for 'morning time'.

Bayadherra is the name for the Yorta Yorta Totem, which is the Long Neck Turtle.

Ebony Joachim returns to share the Yorta Yorta names of two major rivers on her Country.

For Word Up this week Ebony Joachim shares the Yorta Yorta word for 'country'.

Yorta Yorta woman Ebony Joachim explains why the suffix '—pna' is often (though not exclusively) used in place names on her Country.

For Word Up this week Ebony Joachim shares a word that is special, not just to Yorta Yorta mob, but also to her because of the people that have passed on in her life.

Yugambeh linguist Shaun Davies delves into the language name itself and the power of names.

Throughout March, Yugambeh linguist Shaun Davies has been delving into the nuance of his language. This week his word selection has been inspired by our previous guest, Lorna Munro.

Linguist and Yugambeh man Shaun Davies shares a word you may have come across before but as Shaun explains when you look at the formation of the word it goes much deeper.

Yugambeh linguist Shaun Davies shares a word that his old people created in the early days of colonisation.

Poet and podcaster Lorna Munro's passion for language has led her to understand the origin of words that she used every day, without knowing they were indeed Wiradjuri – words like nyin – for grandmother, which translates to ‘heart’. Her last word is not so much a word as a conjugation, a Wiradjuri term widely spoken in Aboriginal English, but which is now known across Australia.

Words are something Lorna Munro knows all about — her poetry is widely published, and she’s even translated the King’s speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V into Wiradjuri, the language of the central west of New South Wales. For Word Up this week, she shares a single word that can act as a greeting, ask a question and lay down a philosophical challenge.

Lorna Munro has spent more than half her life engaged in a long research project, to discover how even a monosyllable — a familial term like ‘nan’ — holds a key to understanding how the ancestors thought, and more than that their worldview.