Ngadjunmaya
Native toAustralia
RegionGoldfields-Esperance; Eyre’s Sand Patch, Goddard Creek to Port Malcolm, to Fraser Range, to Naretha and Point Culver, at Mount Andres, Russell Range, Balladonia, and Norseman
EthnicityNgadjunmaia, ?Murunitja
Native speakers
"very few speakers" (2008);[1] "probably recently extinct" (2007)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nju
Glottologngad1258
AIATSIS[1]A3

Ngadjunmaya correctly known as Ngadjumaya is a Pama–Nyungan language of Western Australia that is located in the Goldfields-Esperance region.

Murunitja was apparently a dialect of either Ngadjumaya or of Mirning.

Phonology

Vowels

Three vowels with length are present:

Front Back
High i   iː u   uː
Low a   aː
  • /i/ can also be heard as [e] before a velar /k/, and as [ɛ ~ æ] before palatal sounds /ʎ, j/.
  • /a/ can also be heard as [ɔ] when following sounds /w, j/, and as [o] when following /k/.
  • /u/ can also be heard as fronted [ʏ] when preceding /j/.

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive p k t̪ c t ʈ
Nasal m ŋ n̪ ɲ n ɳ
Lateral l̪ ʎ l ɭ
Rhotic r ɽ
Approximant w j
  • /ɽ/ can be heard as either a tap [ɽ] or a glide [ɻ].
  • /r/ can be heard as either a trill [r] or a tap [ɾ].
  • /k/ can also have a voiced allophone of [ɣ] when in word-medial positions.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 A3 Ngadjunmaya at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  2. ↑ Ngadjunmaya at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ↑ von Brandenstein, C. G. (1980). Ngadjumaja: An Aboriginal Language of South-East Western Australia. Innsbruck: AMOE.


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