Nakkara language

Nakkara (Na-kara) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Nagara people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Nakkara
Region	Northern Territory
Ethnicity	Nagara people
Native speakers	55 (2021 census)[1]
Language family	Macro-Gunwinyguan Maningrida Nakkara
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nck
Glottolog	naka1260
AIATSIS[2]	N80
ELP	Nakara

It is also spelled Nakara or Nagara and also called Kokori.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant chart^[3]

	Bilabial	Apical		Laminal	Dorsal
		Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Stop	b	d	ɖ	ɟ	g
Nasal	m	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
Lateral		l	ɭ
Rhotic		r/ɾ	ɽ
Semivowel	w			j

Stops have both voiced and voiceless allophones, depending on their position in the word. Furthermore, a stop length variation is present, which is only contrastive in morpheme-medial positions. This can be interpreted as either gemination, or as evidence for the existence of two separate stop series, with a suprasegmental hypothesis being mostly ruled out.

The tapped and trilled allophones of /r/ are in free variation.^[3]

Vowels

Vowel chart^[3]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

References

1. "SBS Australian Census Explorer". Retrieved 12 October 2023.
2. N80 Nakkara at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
3. Eather, Bronwyn (1990). A grammar of Nakkara (Central Arnhem Land Coast) (PhD thesis). Australian National University. doi:10.25911/5D723D207FDA3. hdl:1885/132899.