Iwaidjan languages
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| Iwaidjan | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Cobourg Peninsula region, Northern Territory |
| Genetic classification: |
Uncertain. |
| Subdivisions: |
Wurrugu/Marrgu
Iwaidjic languages
Amurdak
|
The Iwaidjan or Yiwaidjan languages are a small family of non-Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land.
Contents |
[edit] The Iwaidjan languages
| proto-Iwaidjan |
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Garig and Ilgar are two almost identical dialects.[1] Manangkari may be a dialect of Maung.[2]
[edit] Status
Iwaidja is spoken by about 150 people in the community of Minjilang on Croker Island,[3] alongside English, Kunwinjku and Maung.[citation needed] Maung is primarily spoken in the community of Warruwi on Goulburn Island, and it too has about 150 speakers.[3] Both languages are still being learnt by children.[3]
All the other Iwaidjan languages are close to extinction. In 1998, Amurdak had three remaining speakers, Garig and Ilgar three speakers between them, Marrgu one speaker, and Wurrugu one rememberer.[3]
[edit] Phonology
The Iwaidjan languages have similar phoneme inventories. Exceptions are noted below the tables.
[edit] Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Low | a | |
In addition to these, Maung also has /e/ and /o/, mostly in loanwords from Kunwinjku and Kunparlang.[4]
[edit] Consonants
| Bilabial | Apico- Alveolar |
Apico- Retroflex |
Lamino- Alveolar |
Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | b | d | ɖ | c | k |
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ |
| Approximant | w | ɻ | j | ɰ | |
| Tap | ɽ | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ɭ | ʎ | ||
| Flapped lateral | ɺ | ɺ̡[5] |
To these Marrgu adds a lamino-dental stop and nasal, /d̪ n̪/, while Maung lacks the two flapped laterals,[4] which are quite unusual among Australian languages. Also unusual is the velar approximant /ɰ/, which is an areal feature shared with Tiwi and Gunbarlang.[6]
[edit] Relationships with other languages
The vocabularies of all the Iwaidjan languages contain loanwords from Macassarese and Malay,[7] both Malayo-Polynesian languages from Indonesia. Iwaidja and Maung have also borrowed heavily from Kunwijku,[7] another Australian language of the Gunwingguan family.
While the Iwaidjan languages share a number of features with other non-Pama-Nyungan language families, it is uncertain which they are closest related to.[citation needed] Ross has proposed that they form part of an Arnhem Land family.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Evans, Nicholas (1998). "Iwaidja mutation and its origins", in Anna Siewierska & Jae Jung Song: Case, Typology and Grammar: In honor of Barry J. Blake. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 115–149.
