Yalarnnga language

Yalarnnga
RegionQueensland
EthnicityYalarnnga
Extinct1980
Language codes
ISO 639-3ylr
Glottologyala1262
AIATSIS[1]G8
ELPYalarnnga

Yalarnnga (also Jalarnnga, Jalanga, Yelina, Yellunga, Yellanga, Yalarrnnga, Yalanga or Yalluna[2]) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan language family, that may be related to the Kalkatungu language.[1][3] It was formerly spoken by the Yalarnnga people in areas near the Gulf of Carpentaria the towns of Dajarra and Cloncurry in far northwestern Queensland.[3][4] The last native speaker died in 1980.[5] It is a suffixing agglutinative language with no attested prefixes.[2]

Classification

Yalarnnga is sometimes grouped with Kalkatungu as the Kalkatungic (Galgadungic) branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. O'Grady et al.,[6] however, classify Kalkatungu as the sole member of the "Kalkatungic group" of the Pama-Nyungan family, and Dixon (2002)[7] regards Kalkatungic as an areal group.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants[5]
Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Dental Alveolo-
palatal 		Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive p k t̪ t̠ʲ t ʈ
Nasal m ŋ n̪ n̠ʲ n ɳ
Rhotic ɾ
Lateral l̪ l̠ʲ l ɭ
Approximant w j ɻ

Vowels

Vowels[5]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Open a
Phoneme/Sound Allophones Notes
/i/ [ɪ] in unstressed or lax positions
[iˑ] as a realization of the sequence /ji/
[i] elsewhere
/a/ [ə, ɐ] in unstressed or lax positions
[æ, ɛ] when within the position of palatal sounds
[ɑ] when stressed and preceded by peripheral consonants
[ɒ] when stressed and preceded by /w/
[ä] elsewhere
/u/ [ʉ, y] when within the position of palatal sounds
[ʊ] in unstressed or lax positions
[o] occasionally in word-final positions
[u] elsewhere

Vocabulary

Some words from the Yalarnnga language, as spelt and written by Yalarnnga authors include:[4][8]

  • Kuyungu mungatha: good day
  • Karlu / karlo: father
  • Mernoo: mother
  • Woothane: white man
  • Kathirr: grass
  • Karni: shoulder
  • Katyimpa: two
  • Kunyu: water
  • Karrkuru: yellowbelly (fish)
  • Monero: tame dog

References

  1. ^ a b G8 Yalarnnga at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  2. ^ a b Breen, Gavan (2007). The grammar of Yalarnnga : a language of western Queensland. Canberra, ACT: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Australian National University. ISBN 978-0858835672.
  3. ^ a b This Wikipedia article incorporates text from Yulluna published by the State Library of Queensland under CC BY licence, accessed on 20 May 2022.
  4. ^ a b This Wikipedia article incorporates text from Yalarnnga published by the State Library of Queensland under CC BY licence, accessed on 16 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Breen, Gavan; Blake, Barry J. (2007). The grammar of Yalarnnga : a language of western Queensland. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-85883-567-2.
  6. ^ O'Grady, Geoffrey N.; Voegelin, Charles F.; Voegelin, Florence M. (1966). "Languages of the World: Indo-Pacific Fascicle Six" (PDF). Anthropological Linguistics. 8 (2): 1–197. JSTOR 30029431.
  7. ^ Dixon, R. M. W. (2003). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521473781.
  8. ^ Eglinton, E. (1886). "The Burke River" (PDF). In Curr, Edward Micklethwaite (ed.). The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent. Vol. 2. Melbourne: J. Ferres. pp. 346–349.
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