Wanyi language

Last updated

Wanyi
Waanji
Region Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia
Extinct Late 20th century.
Garrwan
  • Wanyi
Language codes
ISO 639-3 wny
Glottolog wany1247 [1]
AIATSIS [2] G23

Wanyi (also spelled Waanyi, Wanji, Waanji) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken by the Waanyi people of the lower gulf area of Northern Queensland, Australia.

Language death Process in which a language eventually loses its last native speaker

In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers. Other similar terms include linguicide, the death of a language from natural or political causes, and rarely glottophagy, the absorption or replacement of a minor language by a major language.

Australian Aboriginal languages language family

The Australian Aboriginal languages consist of around 290–363 languages belonging to an estimated 28 language families and isolates, spoken by Aboriginal Australians of mainland Australia and a few nearby islands. The relationships between these languages are not clear at present. Despite this uncertainty, the Indigenous Australian languages are collectively covered by the technical term "Australian languages", or the "Australian family".

The Waanyi people are an Indigenous Australian people south of the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Contents

Words and phrases from this language are used by novelist Alexis Wright in her 2013 novel, The Swan Book.

Alexis Wright is an Indigenous Australian writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel Carpentaria and the 2018 Stella Prize for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" Tilmouth.

The Swan Book is the third novel by the Indigenous Australian author Alexis Wright. It met with critical acclaim when it was published, and was short-listed for Australia's premier literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award.

Phonology

Phoneme inventory [3]

Bilabial Velar Apical Palatal Open [ disambiguation needed ]
Stopbkdj
Nasalmngnny
Laterallly
Taprr
Glidewry
Short Voweluia
Long Voweluuiiaa

Phonemic long vowels are rare. [3]

Related Research Articles

Mingginda or Minkin is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language, perhaps a language isolate, of northern Australia. It was spoken by the Mingin people in the area around Burketown, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in an area that contains the headwaters of the Leichhardt River.

Maningrida languages

Maningrida, also known as Burarran, is a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Australia. It includes four languages, none closely related:

Nyulnyulan languages

The Nyulnyulan languages are a small family of closely related Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Western Australia. Most languages in this family are extinct, with only 3 extant languages, all of which are almost extinct.

Worimi, or Gadjang is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is the traditional language of the Worimi people, whose descendants now speak English.

Yugambeh–Bundjalung languages language

Yugambeh–Bundjalung, also known as Bandjalangic is a branch of the Pama–Nyungan language family, that is spoken in northeastern New South Wales and South-East Queensland.

Jukun or Djugun is an Australian Aboriginal language of Western Australia. There are no longer any fluent speakers of Jukun, but some people may remember it to some degree. It is an Eastern Nyulnyulan language, closely related to Yawuru.

Thura-Yura languages

The Yura or Thura-Yura languages are a group of Australian Aboriginal languages surrounding Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent in South Australia, that comprise a genetic language family of the Pama–Nyungan family. The name Yura comes from the word for "person" in the northern languages; this is a lenited form of the thura found in other languages, hence Thura-Yura. Similar words for "person" are found in languages outside the group, however.

Dalabon language language

Dalabon is a Gunwinyguan language of Arnhem Land, Australia. It is a severely endangered language, with perhaps as few as three fluent speakers remaining as of 2018. Dalabon is also known as Dangbon, Ngalkbun, and Buwan.

Gurr-goni, also spelled Guragone, Gorogone, Gun-Guragone, Gunagoragone, Gungorogone, Gurrogone, Gutjertabia, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in Arnhem Land. There were about 60 speakers in 2011, all trilingual in Burarra or Gunwinggu.

Ndjébbana, also known as Djeebbana, Kunibidji, Gunavidji, Gunivugi, or Gombudj, is a Burarran language spoken by the Kunibidji people of North-central Arnhem Land, Australia.

Burarra is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Burarra people of Arnhem Land. It has several dialects.

Umpila is an Aboriginal Australian language, or dialect cluster, of the Cape York Peninsula. It is spoken by about 100 Aboriginals, many of them elderly.

Wagaya (Wakaya) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of Queensland. Yindjilandji (Indjilandji) may have been a separate language.

Nyiyaparli is a nearly extinct Pama–Nyungan language spoken by the Palyku (Bailko) and Niabali (Jana) people of Western Australia. There's a formal language register known as padupadu.

Garawan languages small Australian language family

The Garawan languages (Garrwan), or Yanyi, are a small language family of Australian Aboriginal languages currently spoken in northern Australia.

Melissa Anne Perry is an Australian lawyer and a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Perry was appointed to the Federal Court in September 2013.

The Ganggalida are an Indigenous Australian people who traditionally lived on the gulf coast west of sv:Moonlight Creek and the Mingginda. Many of their descendants now dwell in and around Mungubie (Burketown) in northern Queensland.

The Garrwa people, also known as Garawa, are an Indigenous Australian people living in the Northern Territory whose traditional lands extended from east of the McArthur River at Borroloola to Doomadgee and the Nicholson River in Queensland.

The Totj were an indigenous Australian people of far northern Queensland.

References

  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Wanyi". Glottolog 3.0 . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. Wanyi at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. 1 2 Breen, Gavan (2003)."Wanyi and Garrwa comparative data" in Evans, N., ed. "The Non-Pama-Nyungan Languages of Northern Australia: comparative studies of the continent’s most linguistically complex region". Studies in Language Change, 552. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pp.425-462