Wambaya language

Wambaya
Wambaya
McArthur River
Native to	Australia
Region	Barkly Tableland, Northern Territory
Ethnicity	Wambaya, Gudanji, Binbinga
Native speakers	43 (2021 census); (24 Wambaya; 19 Gudanji)
Language family	Mirndi Ngurlun Wambaya; ;
Dialects	Wambaya; Gudanji; Binbinka;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; wmb – Wambaya; nji – Gudanji
Glottolog	wamb1258
AIATSIS	C19 Wambaya, C26 Gurdanji, N138 Binbinga
ELP	Wambaya
	Binbinka

Wambaya is a Non-Pama-Nyungan West Barkly Australian language of the Mirndi language group^[4] that is spoken in the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Territory, Australia.^[5] Wambaya and the other members of the West Barkly languages are somewhat unusual in that they are suffixing languages, unlike most Non-Pama-Nyungan languages which are prefixing.^[4]

The language was reported to have 12 speakers in 1981, and some reports indicate that the language went extinct as a first language.^[6] However, in the 2011 Australian census 56 people stated that they speak Wambaya at home.^[7] That number increased to 61 in the 2016 Census.^[8]

Rachel Nordlinger notes that the speech of the Wambaya, Gudanji and Binbinka people "are clearly dialects" of a single language, which she calls "McArthur", while Ngarnga is closely related but is "probably best considered a language of its own".^[9]

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Labial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Stop	b	ɡ	ɟ	d	ɖ
Nasal	m	ŋ	ɲ	n	ɳ
Lateral			ʎ	l	ɭ
Rhotic				ɾ ~ r	ɻ
Approximant	w		j

Sounds /ɡ, ŋ/ are heard as palatalized [ɡʲ, ŋʲ] when before front vowels.
/ɾ/ is heard as a trill [r] when in pre-consonantal position.

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	ɪ, iː	ʊ, uː
Low	a, aː

/a/ can be heard as [æ] when after palatal sounds /ɟ, ɲ/ and before /j/.
/ɪ/ is heard as [i] when before /j/.^[10]

References

^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.
^ C19 Wambaya at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)
^ Endangered Languages Project data for Binbinka.
^ ^a ^b Nordlinger, Rachel. (1998), A Grammar Of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia), p. 1.
^ Ethnologue
^ Bender, Emily M. (2008), Evaluating a Crosslinguistic Grammar Resource: A Case Study of Wambaya, p. 2
^ "2011 Census QuickStats: Tennant Creek".
^ "2016 Census: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples QuickStats - Tennant Creek". www.censusdata.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
^ Nordlinger, Rachel (1998). A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) (PDF). Pacific Linguistics. pp. 2–3.
^ Nordlinger, Rachel (1998). A Grammar Of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia). Pacific Linguistics. pp. 17–22.

External links

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[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.

[AIATSIS-2] C19 Wambaya at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)

[ELP2-3] Endangered Languages Project data for Binbinka.

[Nordlinger,_Rachel_1998_p._1-4] Nordlinger, Rachel. (1998), A Grammar Of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia), p. 1.

[ethnologue-5] Ethnologue

[emily_bender_2008-6] Bender, Emily M. (2008), Evaluating a Crosslinguistic Grammar Resource: A Case Study of Wambaya, p. 2

[7] "2011 Census QuickStats: Tennant Creek".

[8] "2016 Census: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples QuickStats - Tennant Creek". www.censusdata.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 9 May 2018.

[9] Nordlinger, Rachel (1998). A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) (PDF). Pacific Linguistics. pp. 2–3.

[10] Nordlinger, Rachel (1998). A Grammar Of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia). Pacific Linguistics. pp. 17–22.

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