The Iwaidjan or Yiwaidjan languages are a small family of non-Pama–Nyungan Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land.
| Iwaidjan | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Cobourg Peninsula region, Northern Territory |
| Linguistic classification | Arnhem Land?
|
| Subdivisions |
|
| Glottolog | iwai1246 |
 Iwaidjan languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey) | |
.png) Closeup. Amurdag is the southern section (tan), Wurrugu the tip of the peninsula (green), the rest Iwaidjic (purple). On the grey island just offshore is Marrgu, once thought to be Iwaidjan. | |
In 1997 Nicholas Evans proposed an Arnhem Land family that includes the Iwaidjan languages, though their inclusion is not accepted in Bowern (2011).[1]
The Iwaidjan languages
Garig and Ilgar are two almost identical dialects.[2] Manangkari may be a dialect of Maung.[3]
Dixon (2002) considers Warrkbi demonstrated, but Iwaidjic (Warrkbi-Maung) and Iwaidjan to be speculative. He predicts that working out the histories of the languages will be a "profound challenge", regardless of whether they are a genealogical family or a language area.
Marrgu and Wurrugu, previously lumped in with Iwaidjan, have little in common with it and may turn out to be a separate family.
Status
As of 1998, Iwaidja was spoken by about 150 people in the community of Minjilang on Croker Island,[4][5] alongside English, Kunwinjku and Maung.[citation needed] Maung is primarily spoken in the community of Warruwi on Goulburn Island, and it too has about 150 speakers.[4] Both languages are still being learnt by children.[4] More recent assessments of the status of Iwaidja and Maung are that both have around 200 speakers and are spoken daily by a full age range of people.[6]
All the other Iwaidjan languages are close to extinction. In 1998[update], Amurdak had three remaining speakers and Garig and Ilgar three speakers between them.[4] However, some of these languages have younger people who, while not fluent, can aid in translating old recordings in an attempt to archive or revive the language.[6]
Phonology
The Iwaidjan languages have similar phoneme inventories. Exceptions are noted below the tables.
Vowels
In addition to these, Maung also has /e/ and /o/, mostly in loanwords from Kunwinjku and Kunbarlang.[7]
Consonants
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Plosive | p | k | c | t | ʈ |
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n | ɳ |
| Approximant | w | ɰ | j | ɻ | |
| Trill | r | ||||
| Tap | ɽ | ||||
| Lateral approximant | ʎ | l | ɭ | ||
| Lateral flap | ɺ | 𝼈 | |||
Maung lacks the two flapped laterals,[7] which are quite unusual among Australian languages. Also unusual is the velar approximant /ɰ/, which is an areal feature shared with Tiwi and Kunbarlang.[8]
Relationships with other languages
The vocabularies of all the Iwaidjan languages contain loanwords from Macassarese and Malay,[9] both Malayo-Polynesian languages from Indonesia. Iwaidja and Maung have also borrowed heavily from Kunwijku,[9] another Australian language of the Gunwingguan family.
While the Iwaidjan languages share a number of features with other non-Pama–Nyungan language families, it is uncertain which they are closest related to.[citation needed] Ross has proposed that they form part of an Arnhem Land family.
Vocabulary
Capell (1940)[10] lists the following basic vocabulary items (with Amarag words from Capell 1942[11])
The following basic vocabulary terms are collated from Capell (1940),[10] Capell (1942),[11] and Evans (2000):[12]
| gloss | Maung | Iwaidja | Amarag |
|---|---|---|---|
| man | arargbi | waːrgbi | awuɭaɭu |
| woman | waramuŋbig | woraidjba | wuraidbaru |
| head | wandji | bagal | iwulja |
| eye | won | jaɽ | waliwu |
| nose | mulu | mul | wiːl |
| mouth | ilagbiridj | ɽagbiridj | wiiŋara |
| tongue | ŋaɽalg | garalg | wiŋaril |
| stomach | gɔːrag | galal | aɖigu |
| bone | ijaɣig | gilir | igada |
| blood | maniŋog | maniŋul | maniŋul |
| kangaroo | aijaŋ | jilbuwi | malaijuwar |
| opossum | wundäru | muŋarg | waŋguwu |
| emu | waramundubu | ganguɽg | |
| crow | gɔragag | gumbulag | gubula |
| fly | molg | moɭg | mulgulg |
| sun | mowan | muwar | mänjidj |
| moon | gorana | guɽana | gurana |
| fire | juŋgu | gudjäli | gudjäli |
| smoke | wuŋain | guŋain | guŋaṉ |
| water | wobaidj | wobaidj | aɖawud |
Notes
References
External links
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