OPENER: A montage of Indigenous words from various guests plays over of Electric Field's song Pulkupa
VOICEOVER: Word up! Bringing you the diverse languages of Black Australia one word at a time.
JAY: Hello, I'm Jay Minning. I'm a Pitjantjatjara man and my language is Pitjantjatjara and English is my third language.
'Pitjantja' since I'm a Bidjinjara, people use it either way. You can say pitjantja or 'come with me' or pitjantja, 'go with them'.
So, Pitjantjatjara, I'm Pitjantjatjara, I can tell a person to go with that other person, pitjantja or I can tell that person to come with me or come to me and sit down with me. It's pitjantja and that's what Pitjantjatjara is. And that's my language. I can use it either way.
As long as I need to pronounce it the way how you're going to have a certain reaction, like if you're saying pitjantja you're going to use your hand sign to go along with that other person or call that person and say pitjantja. So, it's a little bit complicated but it depends how you pronounce it. So, that's how Pitjantjatjara language stands.
For me, being a man or Pitjantjatjara man, I do work with elders and all that. For me, Pitjantjatjara language, it's the same like learning English. When you're young, you're still learning more words and to communicate with people and socialise with people and you still haven't learned those words. It's the same for me to Pitjantjatjara. I can put it in words in Pitjantjatjara and where some young people Pitjantjatjara, they're still learning the other words too. So, it's the same. It's a language. Even though it's English or Pitjantjatjara, that's why a lot of elder people, when they speak to people or have a yarn with people, they got a lot to say because they've learned a lot of words over the past when they were young or growing up and they're older now. It's the same. The more you grow, the more you learn and the more language you learn and how to get along with people.
So, bye now, ladies and gentlemen. Goodbye.
VOICEOVER: Word Up, bringing you the diverse languages of Black Australia, one word at a time.
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