Wik Mungkan language

Wik-Mungkan, or Wik-Mungknh, is a Paman language spoken on the northern part of Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, by around 1,000 Wik-Mungkan people, and related peoples including the Wikalkan, Wik-Ngathana, Wikngenchera language groups.^[3] Wik Mungkan is healthier than most other languages on the peninsula, and is developing and absorbing other Aboriginal languages very quickly.

Wik-Mungkan
Wik-Mungknh
Native to	Australia
Region	Cape York Peninsula, Queensland
Ethnicity	Wik-Mungkan, Mimungkum
Native speakers	952 (2021 census)[1]
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Paman North Cape York Wik Wik-Mungkan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wim
Glottolog	wikm1247
AIATSIS[2]	Y57
ELP	Wik-Mungkan

Dixon thought there was a Wik-Iiyanh dialect, but it turned out to be the same as the Wik-Iiyanh dialect of Kugu Nganhcara.^[2]

The English language has borrowed at least one word from Wik-Mungkan, that for the taipan, a species of venomous snake native to the region.^[4]

In 1962, Marie Godfrey and Barbara Sayers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) started linguistic and translation work in the Wik-Mungkan language in Aurukun. They began a dictionary file, and added to it over several years. Their work was continued and expanded by other SIL members, namely, Christine Kilham and Ann Eckert and was eventually published by SIL/AAB as the Dictionary and source book of the Wik-Mungkan language.^[5] The dictionary has been published online by AuSIL as the Wik Mungkan-English Interactive Dictionary.^[6]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Consonants

Where the orthography differs from the IPA representation, the orthography is in brackets.

	Peripheral		Laminal		Apical	Glottal
	Labial	Velar	Palatal	Dental	Alveolar
Plosive	p	k	c ⟨ch⟩	t̪ ⟨th⟩	t	ʔ ⟨'⟩
Nasal	m	ŋ ⟨ng⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩	n̪ ⟨nh⟩	n
Lateral					l
Rhotic					r
Approximant	w		j		ɹ[a]

1. /ɹ/ does not appear frequently, only in some words. The same symbol for /r/ is used.^[5]

External links

• Open Language Archives Community resources in and about the Wik-Mungkan language

References

1. "SBS Australian Census Explorer". Retrieved 9 January 2023.
2. Y57 Wik-Mungkan at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
3. "Wik-Mungkan". Ethnologue. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
4. Sutton, Peter (1995). Wik-Ngathan Dictionary.
5. Kilham, Christine (1986). Dictionary and sourcebook of the Wik-Mungkan language.
6. "Wik-Mungkan - Lexicon".