Endangered Australian Aboriginal language
Wadjiginy |
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Wogait |
Patjtjamalh |
Native to | Australia |
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Region | Daly River |
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Ethnicity | Wadjiginy |
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Native speakers | 5 (2005)[1] |
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Language family | |
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Language codes |
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ISO 639-3 | wdj |
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Glottolog | wadj1254 |
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AIATSIS[1] | N31 |
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ELP | Batjamalh |
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Linguasphere | 28-fbb-a |
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Wadjiginy, also known as Wagaydy (Wogait) and Batjamalh, is an Australian Aboriginal language. Apart from being closely related to Kandjerramalh, it is not known to be related to any other language, though it has borrowed grammatical and lexical material from neighboring Northern Daly languages.[1]
Wadjiginy was spoken in the Northern Territory.
Wadjiginy (Wadyiginy, Wagaydy, Wogaity) is the name of the people; this native language is Patjtjamalh (Batjamalh, Batytyamalh).[1]
Phonology
Consonants
- Voiceless stop sounds may also fluctuate to voiced sounds when in word-initial, intervocalic, post-nasal, and post-liquid positions.
- /k, p/ can also be heard as fricatives [ɣ], [β] when in intervocalic and post-liquid positions.
- /w/ can be heard as a bilabial approximant [β̞] when before front vowels /i, ɛ, ø/.
Vowels
- /ø/ can also be realized as a higher [y] sound as well as [ø].[2]
Phoneme | Allophones |
/i/ | [i], [ɨ̞], [ɪ] |
/ʊ/ | [ʊ], [o] |
/ɛ/ | [ɛ], [ɜ] |
/ø/ | [ø], [y] |
/a/ | [a], [ä], [ɑ] |
Vocabulary
Capell (1940) lists the following basic vocabulary items:[3]
gloss | Woːgaidj |
man | ŋanan |
woman | ŋoalaŋ |
head | bödja |
eye | miba |
nose | widja |
mouth | ŋaːg |
tongue | ŋaːɖal |
stomach | bɛnman |
bone | big |
blood | gavin |
kangaroo | mudj |
opossum | dadjädaid |
crow | wagwag |
fly | mul |
sun | qeig |
moon | qaɽa |
fire | vin |
smoke | wingar |
water | wiːg |
damn | šgààÿp |
References
- ^ a b c d N31 Wadjiginy at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- ^ Ford, Lysbeth J. (1990). The phonology and morphology of Bachamal (Wogait). Canberra: Australian National University.
- ^ Capell, Arthur (1940). "The Classification of Languages in North and North-west Australia". Oceania. 10 (3): 241–272. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1940.tb00292.x. ISSN 1834-4461.
External links
- Batjamalh at the Dalylanguages.org website.