Worrorra | |
---|---|
Western Worroran | |
Native to | Australia |
Region | Western Australia |
Ethnicity | Worrorra, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, Umiida, ?Maialnga |
Native speakers | 8 (2021 census) [1] |
Wororan
| |
Dialects |
|
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 languages | |
![]() 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.
It is one of a group of Worrorran languages, the other two being Wunambal and Ngarinyin.
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]
Elkin Umbagai was a translator between English and Worrorra. [6]
Bilabial | Inter- dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop | p | t̪ | t | ʈ | c | k |
Nasal | m | n̪ | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ |
Rhotic | ɾ ~ r | |||||
Lateral | l | ɭ | ʎ | |||
Approximant | w | ɻ | j |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Low | a |
Phoneme | Allophones [8] |
---|---|
/i/ | [ i ], [ ɪ ] |
/a/ | [ a ], [ ɒ ], [ æ ], [ ɛ̞ ], [ ɑ ], [ ɐ ] |
/u/ | [ u ], [ y ], [ ʊ ] |
/iː/ | [ iː ], [ ɪː ] |
/ɛː/ | [eɪ], [ ɛː ] ~ [ eː ] |
/ɑː/ | [ ɑˑɪ ], [ ɑ ] |
/ɔː/ | [oʊ], [ ɔː ] ~ [ ɒː ] |
/uː/ | [ uː ], [ ʊː ] |
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]