Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Australian Aboriginal languages had been purely spoken languages, and had no writing system. On their arrival, Latin script became a standard for transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages, but the details of how the sounds were represented has varied over time and from writer to writer, sometimes resulting in a great many variant spellings of the same word or name.
At first, Australian languages were written following English orthography as it sounded to the writer. This meant that sounds which were distinguished in Australian languages but not in English were written identically, while at the same time sounds which were allophones in Australian languages but distinct in English were written differently.
Most Aboriginal words used in English follow these early conventions, and therefore do not usually give a good idea of how the word was pronounced in the original language.
| Language | Meaning | Early spellings | Modern spelling | Pronunciation (International Phonetic Alphabet) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guugu Yimithirr | “tongue” | unjar (1770) [1] ngandar (1901) [2] | nganhdhaar (1979) [3] | [ŋan̪d̪aːɻ] | Early spellings may miss the word-initial [ŋ], and fail to properly distinguish dental consonants. |
| Gamilaraay | “honey” | wuddul (1903) [4] | warrul (1993) [5] | [waɾul] | Early spellings may fail to distinguish between [ɾ] and [d], which are allophones in English but distinct in Australian languages. |
Writers with more linguistic knowledge sometimes employed symbols such as ⟨ ŋ ⟩ or ⟨ ġ ⟩ for /ŋ/, ⟨ ñ ⟩ for /ɲ/, macrons ⟨ˉ⟩ or circumflexes ⟨ˆ⟩ for long vowels, breves ⟨˘⟩ for short vowels, but these were often applied inconsistently.
Linguists working with Australian languages today purposely use unambiguous phonemic orthographies based on detailed phonological analysis of the language in question. In orthographies of this kind each spoken word can only be written one way, and each written word can only be read one way.
Usually, but not always, practical orthographies use just the letters of the basic Roman alphabet. This necessitates the use of digraphs for sounds that do not have a standard character. In some cases this can lead to ambiguities, for example where the single sound /ŋ/ and the consonant cluster /nɡ/ could both be written as ⟨ng⟩. These are commonly distinguished by writing the cluster ⟨n.g⟩ (inserting a full stop), ⟨n’g⟩ (inserting an apostrophe), or ⟨nk⟩.
Most Australian languages distinguish just three vowels, which are written ⟨i⟩, ⟨a⟩ and ⟨u⟩. Even though they may sound like ⟨e⟩ or ⟨o⟩ at times, they are not written ⟨e⟩ or ⟨o⟩, e.g. the Martuthunira word wirrirri "flame" is pronounced as [weɾeɾɪ]. Long vowels are represented by double letters, i.e. ⟨ii⟩/iː/, ⟨aa⟩/aː/, ⟨uu⟩/uː/.
The semivowels ⟨w⟩ and ⟨y⟩ are usually pronounced as in English. In some languages, ⟨w⟩ may not be pronounced next to ⟨u⟩, and ⟨y⟩ next to ⟨i⟩, but for various reasons a linguist may still choose to write them, so that e.g. Gamilaraay yinarr "woman" is actually pronounced [inar].
A handful of languages have a dental semivowel, which is written ⟨yh⟩ (see Place of articulation below).
Most Australian languages have two rhotics or r-like sounds: a retroflex approximant, as in American English, written ⟨r⟩; and a trill or flap (both of which are found in Spanish), written ⟨rr⟩.
In languages that have only one of the two r's, it is simply written ⟨r⟩.
The bilabial, velar and alveolar consonants are usually written the same as in English, i.e. ⟨p⟩/p/, ⟨b⟩/b/, ⟨m⟩/m/, ⟨k⟩/k/, ⟨g⟩/ɡ/, ⟨ng⟩/ŋ/, ⟨t⟩/t/, ⟨d⟩/d/, ⟨n⟩/n/, ⟨l⟩/l/. ⟨ng⟩ may also be written using the non-English letter ⟨ŋ⟩, called eng. Note that ⟨ŋ⟩ sounds like the ng in singer, not as in finger; the latter would be written ⟨ŋg⟩.
Palatal consonants are often represented by a digraph made of an alveolar consonant + ⟨j⟩ or ⟨y⟩, i.e. ⟨tj⟩/c ɟ ɲ ʎ/ can be written ⟨tj⟩/⟨ty⟩, ⟨dj⟩/⟨dy⟩, ⟨nj⟩/⟨ny⟩, and ⟨lj⟩/⟨ly⟩. ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩ are other possible ways of writing the palatal stops.
Dental consonants are represented by a digraph made of an alveolar consonant + ⟨h⟩, i.e. ⟨th⟩/t̪/, ⟨dh⟩/d̪/, ⟨nh⟩/n̪/, ⟨lh⟩/l̪/. Note that ⟨th⟩ is not a fricative as in Australian English, but a stop as in Irish English.
Retroflex consonants are usually represented by a digraph made of ⟨r⟩ + an alveolar consonant, i.e. ⟨rt⟩/ʈ/, ⟨rd⟩/ɖ/, ⟨rn⟩/ɳ/, ⟨rl⟩/ɭ/, as in Swedish. In some varieties, such as Pitjantjatjara, a digraph is not used and instead the alveolar consonant is underlined to indicate that it is retroflex thus: ⟨ṯ⟩, ⟨ṉ⟩ and ⟨ḻ⟩.
A handful of languages have palato-velar consonants, between palatal and velar. For Yanyuwa, these are written ⟨yk⟩/ɡ̟/, ⟨nyk⟩/ⁿɡ̟/ (a prenasalised stop—see Prenasalisation below), ⟨nyng⟩/ŋ̟/. [6]
Most Australian languages do not distinguish between voiced and voiceless stops, so that e.g. t and d both occur as variants of the same sound. Both the voiced and voiceless allophone will usually be written the same way, but whether to use the voiceless symbol or the voiced symbol varies depending on which occurs more frequently in the language. Some languages have been written using the voiced symbols by one linguist and the voiceless symbols by another. Moreover, some linguists choose to use voiceless symbols for some consonants in a language and voiced symbols for others.
Some languages do distinguish between voiced and voiceless stops, however.
Some languages have prenasalized consonants, a stop preceded by a nasal sound which is considered one consonant. In Yanyuwa these are written ⟨mb⟩/ᵐb/, ⟨ngk⟩/ᵑɡ/, ⟨nj⟩/ᶮɟ/, ⟨nth⟩/ⁿd̪/, ⟨nd⟩/ⁿd/, ⟨rnd⟩/ᶯɖ/. [6]
Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa. Examples familiar to English-speakers are the Tut-tut or Tsk! Tsk! used to express disapproval or pity, the tchick! used to spur on a horse, and the clip-clop! sound children make with their tongue to imitate a horse trotting.
Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German ; or the side of the tongue against the molars, in the case of Welsh. This turbulent airflow is called frication.
A lateral is a consonant in which the airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but it is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth. An example of a lateral consonant is the English L, as in Larry.
In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majority of consonants are oral consonants. Examples of nasals in English are, and, in words such as nose, bring and mouth. Nasal occlusives are nearly universal in human languages. There are also other kinds of nasal consonants in some languages.
Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used in the orthography of a language to write either a single phoneme, or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined.
A trigraph is a group of three characters used to represent a single sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters combined.
When used as a diacritic mark, the term dot is usually reserved for the interpunct, or to the glyphs 'combining dot above' ( ◌̇ ) and 'combining dot below' ( ◌̣ ) which may be combined with some letters of the extended Latin alphabets in use in Central European languages and Vietnamese.
In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the active articulator and passive articulator. Standard Spanish ⟨rr⟩ as in perro, for example, is an alveolar trill.
In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.
Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airstream is controlled by moving the glottis downward in addition to expelling air from the lungs. Therefore, unlike the purely glottalic ejective consonants, implosives can be modified by phonation. Contrastive implosives are found in approximately 13% of the world's languages.
The Warlpiri language is spoken by about 3,000 of the Warlpiri people in Australia's Northern Territory. It is one of the Ngarrkic languages of the large Pama–Nyungan family and is one of the largest Aboriginal languages in Australia in terms of number of speakers. One of the most well-known terms for The Dreaming, Jukurrpa, derives from Warlpiri.
General Chinese is a diaphonemic orthography invented by Yuen Ren Chao to represent the pronunciations of all major varieties of Chinese simultaneously. It is "the most complete genuine Chinese diasystem yet published". It can also be used for the Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese pronunciations of Chinese characters, and challenges the claim that Chinese characters are required for interdialectal communication in written Chinese.
Martuthunira is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language, that was the traditional language of the Martuthunira people of Western Australia.
Nh is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of N and H. Together with ilh and the interpunct, it is a typical feature of Occitan, a language illustrated by medieval troubadours. It is the same sound as the spanish Ñ.
Unlike many languages, Icelandic has only very minor dialectal differences in sounds. The language has both monophthongs and diphthongs, and many consonants can be voiced or unvoiced.
Various letters have been used to write the click consonants of southern Africa. The precursors of the current IPA letters, ⟨ǀ ǁ ǃ ǂ⟩, were created by Karl Richard Lepsius and used by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd, who added ⟨ʘ⟩.