Kungarakany language

The Kungarakany language, also spelt Kungarakan, Gunerakan, Gungaragan, Gungarakanj, and Kangarraga, is an extinct Australian language spoken in the Northern Territory. Mukngirru was likely a dialect. It became extinct after the last speaker, Madeline England, died in 1989. It is currently undergoing a revival through an AIATSIS language grant and through the efforts of many dedicated people who have contributed their time, expertise and knowledge to revive this once thought extinct language.

Kungarakany
Gungaragany
Koongurrukuñ
Native to	Australia
Region	Northern Territory
Ethnicity	Kungarakan people
Extinct	1989, with the death of Madeline England
Language family	Macro-Gunwinyguan? Kungarakany
Dialects	Gungarakanj ? Mukngirru
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ggk
Glottolog	kung1259
AIATSIS[1]	N14
ELP	Kungarakany
Kungarakany (at left of colored area)

The revitalisation of the Kungarakany language has been possible through a partnership between the Batchelor Institute Indigenous Tertiary Education and the Kungarakan Culture and Education Association. This phoenix language has risen from the ashes by the efforts and contributions of many, including the historical voice recordings of George Abluk, Madeleine England and Valentine Bynoe McGinness/McGuinness, and the comprehensive lexicon Ngun Koongurrkun by Senior Elder Ida Koormundum Bishop.

Koormundum persevered over 30 years to restore and revive the language, motivated by a promise to her mother Margaret Edwards (McGuinness) to record the language of Kungarakany country. This would not have been possible without the support of her relatives, tribal Elders such as, Uncles John (Jack McGinness), Valentine McGinness and Joseph Daniel McGinness, George Abluk, Magdeline England, Roger Yates, Jimmy Tupnook and Edith Cowan University’s Toby Metcalfe and her mentor, her mother.

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Labial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	p/b	k/ɡ	c/ɟ	t/d	ʈ/ɖ
Nasal	m	ŋ	ɲ	n	ɳ
Rhotic				ɾ
Lateral				l	ɭ
Approximant	w		j		ɻ

• /ɾ/ can also be heard as a trill [r] within vowel positions.
• A glottal [h] is also said to occur as lightly aspirated, in word-final position, after vowels /e, o, u/.^[2]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Phoneme	Allophone
/i/	[i], [ɪ]
/e/	[e], [ɛ], [ə]
/a/	[ä], [æ], [ɑ], [ɔ]
/o/	[o], [ɔ], [ʊ], [ø]
/u/	[u], [ʊ]

References

1. N14 Kungarakany at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
2. Bishop, Ida M. (Koormundum) (2000). Nguñ Koongurrukuñ: Speak Koongurrukun. Perth, W.A.