Nyamal language

Last updated

Nyamal
Region Pilbara, Western Australia
Native speakers
20 (2005) to 34 Nyamal  (2006 census) [1]
Dialects
  • Nyamal
  • Widugari [2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 nly
Glottolog nyam1271
AIATSIS [1] A58  Nyamal, A60  Witukari
ELP Nyamal

Nyamal is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Nyamal people in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Contents

Phonology

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive pkt̪ɟtʈ
Nasal mŋn̪ɲnɳ
Rhotic ɾ ~ r
Lateral l̪ʎlɭ
Approximant wjɻ

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i iːu uː
Low a aː

Vowels /a,i,u/ often appear as [ə,ɪ,ʊ].

Kinship terms

Nyamal has a typologically rare system of kinship terms. The kinship terms in Nyamal identify the sex of the relative, the generation they belong to (relative to the speaker), as well as their moiety, but not the more specific relationship. For example, the father and the father's brother are identified with the same kinship term, mama. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 A58 Nyamal at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies   (see the info box for additional links)
  2. ↑ Witukari may be a generic name. Although the variety that data is available for shows it to be Nyamal, it may also refer to varieties of Nijadali.
  3. ↑ Burling, Robbins (1970). Man's many voices: Language in its cultural context. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. pp. 21–26. ISBN   0-03-081001-9.
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