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Pitta Pitta language

Pitta Pitta
RegionQueensland
EthnicityPitapita, Ringaringa, Rakkaia, Karanya, Kungkalenja, Maiawali
Native speakers
(3 cited 1979)[1]
likely extinct
Dialects
  • Pitta-Pitta
  • Ringu-Ringu
  • Rakaya
  • Ngulupulu/Karanja
  • Kunkalanja
  • Mayawarli (Maiawali)[2]
Pitha Pitha Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3pit – inclusive code
Individual code:
yxa – Mayawali (Maiawali)
Glottologpitt1247  Pitta Pitta
AIATSIS[3]G6 Pitta Pitta (other dialects listed from here)
ELPPitta-Pitta

Pitta Pitta (also known under several other spellings) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language. It was spoken around Boulia, Queensland.[4]

Status

In 1979, Barry J. Blake reported that Pitta Pitta was "virtually extinct", with only three speakers remaining – Ivy Nardoo of Boulia, Ted Marshall and Linda Craigie of Mount Isa.[1] It is now considered unlikely that any speakers remain.[5]

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i iː u uː
Low a aː

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive p k t̪ c t ʈ
Nasal m ŋ n̪ ɲ n ɳ
Lateral l̪ ʎ l ɭ
Tap/Trill ɾ r
Approximant w j ɻ

Vocabulary

Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981).[6]

English Pitta-Pitta
man karna
woman parratya
mother ngamari
father yapiri
head karti
eye miyi
nose milya
ear ngarra
mouth parla
tongue ṯarli
tooth mirlka
hand mara
breast kaputyu
stomach ngampa
urine purra
faeces kuna
thigh marla
foot ṯina
bone pirna
blood kimpa
dog piyawarli
snake kaṯi
kangaroo kulipila
possum ṯinapali
fish kupi
spider kupu
mosquito kuṉṯi
emu warrukatyi
eaglehawk kurriṯala
crow wakiri
sun warlka
moon tyangi
star tyinpi
stone tipu
water ngapu
camp ngurra
fire maka
smoke kuṯu
food yaṉṯurru
meat kaṯi
stand ṯarrka
sit ṉangka
see ṉatyi
go karnta
get marri
hit piṯi
I ngantya
you inpa
one ngururu
two parrkula

Pituri

The name pituri for the leaves chewed as a stimulant by traditional Aboriginal people has been claimed to be derived from the Pitta Pitta word pijiri.[7][8] though Walter Roth pointed out in 1897 that the word 'pituri', thus pronounced, was the term used by the neighbouring Yurlayurlanya people, and added that the Pitta Pitta people called it "tarembola".[9]

Sign language

The Pitta Pitta had well-developed a signed form of their language.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Barry J. Blake (1979). "Pitta-Pitta". In Robert M. W. Dixon & Barry J. Blake (ed.). Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol. 1. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 183–242. ISBN 90-272-0512-4.
  2. ^ RMW Dixon (2002), Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development, p xxxvii
  3. ^ G6 Pitta Pitta (other dialects listed from here) at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  4. ^ Crump, Des (17 August 2020). "Language of the Week: Week Twelve - Pitta Pitta". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Pitta Pitta: an extinct language of Australia". Ethnologue. SIL International. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  6. ^ Blake, Barry J. (1981). Australian Aboriginal languages: a general introduction. London: Angus & Robertson Publishers. ISBN 0-207-14044-8.
  7. ^ Philip A. Clarke (2007). "The power of plants". Aboriginal People and their Plants. Rosenberg Publishers. pp. 96–110. ISBN 978-1-877058-51-6.
  8. ^ Philip A. Clarke (2008). "Making plant names". Aboriginal Plant Collectors: Botanists and Australian Aboriginal People in the Nineteenth Century. Rosenberg Publishers. pp. 42–57. ISBN 978-1-877058-68-4.
  9. ^ Roth 1897, p. 51.
  10. ^ Adam Kendon (1988). Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36008-1.
  • Blake, Barry J. (1979). Pitta-Pitta. In R.M.W. Dixon and Barry Blake (eds.), Handbook of Australian Languages, Vol. 1. 183–244. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Roth, W. E. (1897). Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. Brisbane: Edmund Gregory, Government Printer.
  • Roth, Walter E. (1897). The expression of ideas by manual signs: a sign-language. (p. 273–301) Reprinted from Roth, W.E. Ethnological studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. London, Queensland Agent-Generals Information Office, 1897; 71–90; Information collected from the following tribes; Pitta-Pitta, Boinji, Ulaolinya, Wonkajera, Walookera, Undekerebina, Kalkadoon, Mitakoodi, Woonamurra, Goa. Reprinted (1978) in Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia. New York: Plenum Press, vol. 2.


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