Pitta Pitta language

Pitta Pitta
Region	Queensland
Ethnicity	Pitapita, Ringaringa, Rakkaia, Karanya, Kungkalenja, Maiawali
Native speakers	(3 cited 1979) [1] likely extinct
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Karnic Palku Pitta Pitta
Dialects	Pitta-Pitta Ringu-Ringu Rakaya Ngulupulu/Karanja Kunkalanja Mayawarli (Maiawali) [2]
Signed forms	Pitha Pitha Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pit – inclusive code Individual code: yxa  – Mayawali (Maiawali)
Glottolog	pitt1247   Pitta Pitta
AIATSIS [3]	G6  Pitta Pitta (other dialects listed from here)
ELP	Pitta-Pitta

Pitta Pitta (also known under several other spellings) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language. It was spoken around Boulia, Queensland. ^[4]

Status

In 1979, Barry J. Blake reported that Pitta Pitta was "virtually extinct", with only three speakers remaining – Ivy Nardoo of Boulia, Ted Marshall and Linda Craigie of Mount Isa. ^[1] It is now considered unlikely that any speakers remain. ^[5]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Low		a aː

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
Tap/Trill					ɾ	r
Approximant	w			j			ɻ

Vocabulary

Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981). ^[6]

English	Pitta-Pitta
man	karna
woman	parratya
mother	ngamari
father	yapiri
head	karti
eye	miyi
nose	milya
ear	ngarra
mouth	parla
tongue	ṯarli
tooth	mirlka
hand	mara
breast	kaputyu
stomach	ngampa
urine	purra
faeces	kuna
thigh	marla
foot	ṯina
bone	pirna
blood	kimpa
dog	piyawarli
snake	kaṯi
kangaroo	kulipila
possum	ṯinapali
fish	kupi
spider	kupu
mosquito	kuṉṯi
emu	warrukatyi
eaglehawk	kurriṯala
crow	wakiri
sun	warlka
moon	tyangi
star	tyinpi
stone	tipu
water	ngapu
camp	ngurra
fire	maka
smoke	kuṯu
food	yaṉṯurru
meat	kaṯi
stand	ṯarrka
sit	ṉangka
see	ṉatyi
go	karnta
get	marri
hit	piṯi
I	ngantya
you	inpa
one	ngururu
two	parrkula

Pituri

The name pituri for the leaves chewed as a stimulant by traditional Aboriginal people has been claimed to be derived from the Pitta Pitta word pijiri. ^{[7] [8]} though Walter Roth pointed out in 1897 that the word 'pituri', thus pronounced, was the term used by the neighbouring Yurlayurlanya people, and added that the Pitta Pitta people called it "tarembola". ^[9]

Sign language

The Pitta Pitta had well-developed a signed form of their language. ^[10]

References

1. Barry J. Blake (1979). "Pitta-Pitta". In Robert M. W. Dixon & Barry J. Blake (ed.). Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol. 1. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 183–242. ISBN   90-272-0512-4.
2. RMW Dixon (2002), Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development, p xxxvii
3. G6 Pitta Pitta (other dialects listed from here) at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
4. Crump, Des (17 August 2020). "Language of the Week: Week Twelve - Pitta Pitta". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
5. "Pitta Pitta: an extinct language of Australia". Ethnologue . SIL International . Retrieved 28 July 2011.
6. Blake, Barry J. (1981). Australian Aboriginal languages: a general introduction. London: Angus & Robertson Publishers. ISBN   0-207-14044-8.
7. Philip A. Clarke (2007). "The power of plants". Aboriginal People and their Plants. Rosenberg Publishers. pp. 96–110. ISBN   978-1-877058-51-6.
8. Philip A. Clarke (2008). "Making plant names". Aboriginal Plant Collectors: Botanists and Australian Aboriginal People in the Nineteenth Century. Rosenberg Publishers. pp. 42–57. ISBN   978-1-877058-68-4.
9. Roth 1897, p. 51.
10. Adam Kendon (1988). Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-36008-1.

Further reading

• Blake, Barry J. (1979). Pitta-Pitta. In R.M.W. Dixon and Barry Blake (eds.), Handbook of Australian Languages, Vol. 1. 183–244. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Roth, W. E. (1897). Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. Brisbane: Edmund Gregory, Government Printer.
• Roth, Walter E. (1897). The expression of ideas by manual signs: a sign-language. (p. 273–301) Reprinted from Roth, W.E. Ethnological studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. London, Queensland Agent-Generals Information Office, 1897; 71–90; Information collected from the following tribes; Pitta-Pitta, Boinji, Ulaolinya, Wonkajera, Walookera, Undekerebina, Kalkadoon, Mitakoodi, Woonamurra, Goa. Reprinted (1978) in Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia. New York: Plenum Press, vol. 2.

External links

• Bibliography of Pitta Pitta people and language resources, at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies