Alawa (Galawa) is a moribund Indigenous Australian language spoken by the Alawa people of the Northern Territory. In 1991, there were reportedly 18 remaining speakers and 4 semi-speakers.[3]
Alawa | |
---|---|
Native to | Australia |
Region | Northern Territory; Arnhem Land, Roper River. |
Ethnicity | Alawa |
Native speakers | 5 (2021 census)[1] |
Language family | Macro-Pama-Nyungan?
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | alh |
Glottolog | alaw1244 |
AIATSIS[2] | N92 |
ELP | Alawa |
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Alawa has a typical consonant inventory for an Indigenous Australian language, with five contrastive places of articulation, multiple lateral consonants, and no voicing contrast among the stops.[4]
Alveolar | Palatal | Peripheral | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveo-palatal | Velar | Bilabial | |
Prenasalised Stop | ⁿd | ⁿɖ | ⁿd̠ʲ | ᵑɡ | ᵐb |
Devoiced Stop | t | ʈ | t̠ʲ | k | p |
Nasals | n | ɳ | n̠ʲ | ŋ | m |
Laterals | l | ɭ | l̠ʲ | ||
Vibrants | r | ||||
Glide | ɹ | j | w |
Note: there are no standardised IPA symbols for alveopalatal stops.
The vowel system of Alawa is made up of four vowel phonemes: the high front vowel /i/, the high back vowel /u/, the mid front vowel /e/, and the low central vowel /a/.[4]
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | u | |
Mid | e | ||
Low | a |
There are no rounding contrasts or length contrasts in this language.[4]
Capell (1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:[5]
gloss | Alawa |
---|---|
man | lilmi |
woman | girija |
head | guɽuguɽu |
eye | gulur |
nose | gujumur |
mouth | ŋaːndal |
tongue | djeːjälŋ |
stomach | gundjäl |
bone | galawa |
blood | ŋulidji |
kangaroo | girimbọ |
opossum | gudjaɳi |
emu | djinaliri |
crow | waŋgunaji |
fly | wuɳɖil |
sun | marawaɭbaɭ |
moon | aɖaŋari |
fire | wubu |
smoke | guŋuŋu |
water | ŋọgọ |
Australian Aboriginal and Tasmanian languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pama–Nyungan subgroups |
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Tangkic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Garrwan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Macro-Gunwinyguan ? |
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Iwaidjan |
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Marrku–Wurrugu ? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Darwin Region ? |
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Daly River Sprachbund |
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Mirndi |
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Jarrakan |
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Bunuban |
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Worrorran | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nyulnyulan |
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isolates | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tasmanian family-level groups |
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