Marrgu language

Last updated
Marrgu
Yaako
Native to Australia
Region Croker Island, Northern Territory
Ethnicity Yaako
Extinct 1 speaker reported in 2000; [1] 2 reported to partly understand it in 2008 [2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mhg
Glottolog marg1251
AIATSIS [2] N45
ELP Marrgu
Marrgu language.png
Marrgu language (purple arrow), among other non-Pama–Nyungan languages (grey)
Marrgu language (closeup).png
Closeup

Marrgu (Marrku) is a recently extinct Aboriginal language of northern Australia. Additional names include Ajokoot, Croker Island, Raffles Bay , Terrutong (Terutong), Yaako (Jaako, Yako). [1]

Contents

Classification

Marrgu had been assumed to be an Iwaidjan language like its neighbours. However, Evans (2006) has produced evidence that it was a language isolate, [2] with possible connection to the extinct and poorly attested Wurrugu. This connection however is merely theoretical.

Phonology

Consonant inventory

Marrgu consonants [3]
Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Dental Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive pkctʈ
Nasal mŋɲnɳ
Approximant wɣjɻ
Trill r
Flap ɽ
Lateral (ʎ)lɭ
Lateral flap ɺ ld𝼈 rld

Vowels

Marrgu had the three-vowel (/a/, /i/, /u/) system typical of Iwaidjan languages (Evans 1998).

Front Back
High i u
Low a

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References

  1. 1 2 Marrgu language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 N45 Marrgu at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. 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. pp. 115–149.