Worrorra language

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Worrorra
Western Worroran
Native to Australia
Region Western Australia
Ethnicity Worrorra, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, Umiida, ?Maialnga
Native speakers
8 (2021 census) [1]
Wororan
  • (Western)
    • Worrorra
Dialects
  • Worrorra
  • Unggumi
  • Yawidjibara
  • Windjarumi
  • Unggarrangu
  • Umiida [2]
  • Maialnga?
Worora Kinship Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
wro   Worrorra
xgu   Unggumi
xud   Umiida
xun   Unggarranggu
jbw   Yawijibaya
Glottolog west2435
AIATSIS [3] K17  Worrorra, K14  Unggumi, K49  Umiida, K55  Unggarrangu, K53  Yawijibaya
ELP Worrorra
Worrorran map.svg
Worrorran languages
Worrorran languages.png
Worrorran languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey)

Worrorra, also written Worora and other variants, and also known as Western Worrorran, is a moribund Australian Aboriginal language of northern Western Australia. It encompasses a number of dialects, which are spoken by a group of people known as the Worrorra people.

Contents

It is one of a group of Worrorran languages, the other two being Wunambal and Ngarinyin.

Dialects

Worrorra is a dialect cluster; Bowern (2011) recognises five languages: Worrorra proper, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, and Umiida. [4] McGregor and Rumsey (2009) include the above dialects and also include Winyjarrumi (Winjarumi), describing Worrorra as a non-Pama-Nyungan language of the Worrorran group of languages known properly as western Worrorran. [3]

An alleged Maialnga language was a reported clan name of Worrorra proper that could not be confirmed with speakers. [5]

Notable people

Elkin Umbagai was a translator between English and Worrorra. [6]

Phonology

Worrorra consonant phonemes [7] [8]
Bilabial Inter-
dental
Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Stop p t ʈ c k
Nasal m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Rhotic ɾ ~ r
Lateral l ɭ ʎ
Approximant w ɻ j
Worrorra vowel inventory [7]
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a
PhonemeAllophones [8]
/i/[ i ], [ ɪ ]
/a/[ a ], [ ɒ ], [ æ ], [ ɛ̞ ], [ ɑ ], [ ɐ ]
/u/[ u ], [ y ], [ ʊ ]
/iː/[ ], [ ɪː ]
/ɛː/[eɪ], [ ɛː ] ~ [ ]
/ɑː/[ ɑˑɪ ], [ ɑ ]
/ɔː/[oʊ], [ ɔː ] ~ [ ɒː ]
/uː/[ ], [ ʊː ]

Sign language

The Worora have (or at one point had) a signed form of their language, used for speaking to kin in certain taboo relationships, [9] but it is not clear from records that it was particularly well developed compared to other Australian Aboriginal sign languages. [10]

References

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census" . Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  2. Clendon (1994, 2000), Love (2000), cited in Dixon 2002
  3. 1 2 K17 Worrorra at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies   (see the info box for additional links)
  4. Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia? Archived 2012-08-15 at the Wayback Machine ", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected Archived 2012-07-03 at the Wayback Machine February 6, 2012)
  5. Tindale, Norman B. (Norman Barnett); Jones, Rhys (1974), Aboriginal tribes of Australia : their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits, and proper names, University of California Press ; Canberra : Australian National University Press, ISBN   978-0-520-02005-4
  6. Valda J. Blundell and Mary Anne Jebb. "Umbagai, Elkin (1921–1980)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  7. 1 2 Capell, Arthur; Coate, Howard H. J. (1984). Comparative studies in Northern Kimberley languages . Pacific Linguistics Series C. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. ISBN   0-85883-314-X.
  8. 1 2 3 Clendon, Mark (2014). Worrorra: A language of the north-west Kimberley coast. Adelaide: University of Adelaide. pp. 24–39.
  9. Love, J.R.B. (1941). Worora kinship gestures, Reprinted in Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia. New York: Plenum Press, 1978, vol. 2, pp. 403–405.
  10. Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Further reading