Umbugarla_language

Umbugarla language

Umbugarla language

Australian language isolate

Umbugarla or Mbukarla is a possible Australian language isolate once spoken by three people in Arnhem Land, northern Australia, in 1981, and is now extinct.

Quick Facts Region, Extinct ...

Phonology

Consonants

More information Peripheral, Laminal ...
  • /ɡ/ can be heard as either stops [k] or [ʔ] when in word-final or word-medial position, and as a fricative [ɣ] when in intervocalic position.
  • /ɽ/ can also be heard as an alveolar tap [ɾ] when in intervocalic position.

Vowels

More information Front, Back ...
  • Vowels can be lengthened when in open syllables or in word-final position.[2]
More information Phoneme, Allophones ...

Classification

Umbugarla was once considered a language isolate (together with Ngurmbur as a dialect), but Mark Harvey has made a case for it being part of a family of Darwin Region languages.[3]

References

  1. [1]
    N43 Umbugarla at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  2. [2]
    Davies, Jennifer (1989). Umbugarla: A Sketch Grammar. University of Melbourne.
  3. [3]
    Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)
Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Umbugarla word list


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