Enindhilyagwa | ||||
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Spoken in | Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory, Australia | |||
Native speakers | >1,000 (2001) | |||
Language family | ||||
Language codes | ||||
ISO 639-3 | aoi | |||
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Enindhilyagwa (several other names; see below) is an Australian language isolate spoken by the Warnindhilyagwa people on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia. A 2001 Australian government study identified more than one thousand speakers of the language,[1] although there are reports of as many as three thousand. In 2008, it was cited in a study on whether humans had an innate ability to count without having words for numbers. While the Enindhilyagwa language traditionally had terms for numbers up to twenty, these are no longer known to younger speakers.[2][3]
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Names
Spellings of the name include:
- Andiljangwa
- Andilyaugwa
- Anindilyakwa (used by Ethnologue)
- Aninhdhilyagwa (used by R. M. W. Dixon's Australian Languages)
- Enindiljaugwa
- Enindhilyagwa
- Wanindilyaugwa
It also known as Groote Eylandt, after its location. Another name is Ingura or Yingguru.
Classification
Although sometimes grouped with the Gunwinyguan languages (in a branch with Ngandi and Nunggubuyu in the classification of Ethnologue), Enindhilyagwa has not been shown to be related to other Australian languages, and recent attempts by Nicholas Evans at reducing the number of language families in Australia have left it as an isolate.
Phonology
Vowels
The analysis of Enindhilyagwa's vowels is open to interpretation. Stokes[4] analyses it as having four phonemic vowels, /i e a u/. Leeding[5] analyses it as having just two, /ɨ a/.
Consonants
Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||||
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Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
Unrounded | Rounded | ||||||
Stop | p | k | kʷ | c | t̪ | t | ʈ |
Nasal | m | ŋ | ŋʷ | ɲ | n̪ | n | ɳ |
Lateral | ʎ | l̪ | (ɭ) | ||||
Rhotic | r | ɻ | |||||
Semivowel | w | j |
Phonotactics
All Enindhilyagwa words end in a vowel. Clusters of up to three consonants can occur within words.
Grammar
Noun classes
Enindhilyagwa has five noun classes, or genders, each marked by a prefix:
- Human male
- Non-human male
- Female (human or non-human)
- Inanimate "lustrous", with the prefix a-.
- Inanimate "non-lustrous", with the prefix mwa-.
For bound pronouns, instead of "human male" and "non-human male" classes there is a single "male" class.
All native nouns carry a class prefix, but some loanwords may lack them.
Numerals
According to Stokes[6] the language traditionally had numerals up to twenty but since the introduction of English, English words are now used almost exclusively for numbers above five.
Example
This song is a translation of the church song "This is the day", sung by the local churchgoers in the community of Angurugu. The spelling and translation requires confirmation.
Anindilyakwa | Approximate translation |
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Mema mamawurra
Ngumanekburrakama God Narriyekiyerra, Akuwerikilyelyingmajungwuna Narriyekiyerra Akuwerikilyelyingmajungwuna |
This day
Made by God We will rejoice and be glad in it This is the day made by God We will rejoice in it |
References
- ^ http://www.deh.gov.au/soe/techpapers/languages/indicator3d.html[dead link]
- ^ UCL Media Relations, "Aboriginal kids can count without numbers"
- ^ The Science Show, Genetic anomaly could explain severe difficulty with arithmetic, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- ^ Stokes, J. (1981). "Anindilyakwa phonology from phoneme to syllable". In Waters, B.. Australian phonologies: collected papers. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics, Australian Aborigines Branch. pp. 138–81.
- ^ Leeding, V. J. (1989). Anindilyakwa phonology and morphology. PhD dissertation. University of Sydney.
- ^ Stokes, J. (1982). "A description of the mathematical concepts of Groote Eylandt Aborigines". In Hargrave, S.. Work Papers of SIL-AAB: Language and Culture. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics, Australian Aborigines Branch. pp. 33–152.
- Leeding, V. J. (1996). "Body parts and possession in Anindilyakwa". In Chappell, H. and McGregor, W.. The grammar of inalienability: a typological perspective on body part terms and the part-whole relation. Berlin: Mounton de Gruyter. pp. 193–249.
External links
- Enindhilyagwa language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- Entries for Enindhilyagwa from Rosetta Project, stored in the Internet Archive
- State of Indigenous Languages in Australia (2001). Department of the Environment and Heritage.
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