Gurr-goni Dictionary Project
Mu-goni dictionary ngatjbulorndo ngatjburru njiwurr-mu-murnongi arrapu at-bu-burrkarl yandu gurl awurr-bogo, reading awurr-ningu, guwubarrwirdi, arrapu njiwu-barrwirdi ngatjburrupu njiwurr-murnongi. Balanda borrlorndo, yandu read awurr-ningu an-nji an-nalitji mubu ngutjin mutdjat gun-ngatjburru wetji Gurr-goni. Wurlek.
— Leila Nimbadja
Gurr-goni is a language spoken by people in North-Central Arnhem Land, in and near the township of Maningrida. It has a small group of speakers; however, Gurr-goni children still learn their language and speak it at home and on country. This dictionary has been compiled by Rebecca Green and Leila Nimbadja, who started working together on Gurr-goni language in 1988.
The Gurr-goni Dictionary was originally part of the Maningrida Arts and Culture (http://www.maningrida.com/) Endangered Languages Project (2000-2003). This project was auspiced by Maningrida Arts and Culture (MAC) and MAC’s parent organisation, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation (BAC).
We are very pleased to now present the dictionary in published form. This has been made possible with support from the NT Language Centre Support program at Batchelor Institute and the Australian Government’s Indigenous Languages Support and Indigenous Languages and Arts programs. The dictionary has been designed and copyedited by Christine Bruderlin and Mark MacLean of Bruderlin MacLean Publishing and is published by Batchelor Press.
The Gurr-goni to English dictionary was officially launched in April 2016.
Gurr-goni Dictionary cover
The artwork on the cover of the Gurr-goni to English dictionary is by Joe Injamul, a deceased Gurr-goni artist. We are grateful to the artist’s family for permission to reproduce the painting. Thankyou to Christine Bruderlin for designing the cover, and to the National Gallery of Australia for their support.