Gubbi Gubbi language

Gubbi Gubbi, also spelt Kabi Kabi, is a language of Queensland in Australia, formerly spoken by the Kabi Kabi people of South-east Queensland. The main dialect, Gubbi Gubbi, is extinct, but there are still 24 people with knowledge of the Butchulla dialect (also spelt Batjala, Batyala, Badjala, and variants), a language spoken by the Butchulla people of K'gari (Fraser Island).

Kabi
Kabi Kabi, Gubbi Gubbi
Region	Queensland
Ethnicity	Kabi Kabi (Kabi), Butchulla (incl. Ngulungbara)
Native speakers	24 of the Batjala dialect (2016 census)[1]
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Waka–Kabic Than Kabi
Dialects	Kabi Kabi (Dippil) Badjala (Batjala, Batyala, Butchulla)
Official status
Official language in	Aboriginal Shire of Cherbourg
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: gbw – Kabi-Kabi xby – Batyala
Glottolog	kabi1260
AIATSIS[2]	E29 Gubbi Gubbi, E30 Butchulla
ELP	Gubbi Gubbi
	Batyala[3]
Badjala is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Language status

The main dialect is extinct, but there were still 24 people with knowledge of the Batjala dialect (a language spoken by the Butchulla people of K'gari formerly known as Fraser Island) as of the 2016 Australian census.^[1]

Phonology

The following is in the Badjala/Butchulla dialect:

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex/ Palatal	Velar
Stop	plain	b	d̪	d	(ɟ)	ɡ
	tense	pː	d̪ː			kː
Nasal		m	n̪	n	(ɲ)	ŋ
Lateral				l
Rhotic				r	ɻ
Approximant		w			j

• /n̪/ is always heard as palatal [ɲ] when preceding /i/, and in word-final position.
• /d̪/ can be heard in free variation with palatal [ɟ].
• /b d̪ ɡ/ can have lenited allophones [β ð ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
• /ɻ/ has a lateral allophone of [ɭ] when preceding /b/.
• /ɡ/ is often slightly palatalised as [ɡʲ] before /i/.

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Mid	ɛ ɛː
Low	a aː

• /aː/ can sometimes be heard as [æː] before /l/.
• /u/ can be heard as [ɔ] when preceding an intervocalic /ɻ/.^[4]

Lexicon

According to Norman Tindale (1974), the word Kabi (['kabi]), means "no".^[2]

Wunya ngulum means "Welcome, everyone" in Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi.^[5]

References

1. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
2. E29 Gubbi Gubbi at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
3. Endangered Languages Project data for Batyala.
4. Bell, Jeanie P. (2003). A sketch grammar of the Badjala language of Gari (Fraser Island). The University of Melbourne.
5. "Say G'day in an Indigenous Language" (PDF). slq.qld.gov.au/. State Library of Queensland. 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2019.

External links

• Selected bibliography of material on Gubbi Gubbi / Kabi Kabi / Gabi Gabi language and people held in the AIATSIS Library
• Heritage of Kabi Kabi people - Sunshine Coast Tourism Information Centre
• Joyce Bonner digital story, State Library of Queensland. Digital story discussing the Badtjala dialect
• Eve Fesl digital story, State Library of Queensland. Digital story discussing the Gubbi Gubbi language