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Alawa language

{{Short description|Australian Aboriginal language}}

{{About|the Australian language|the Cushitic language|Alawa language (Tanzania)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Alawa

|states=Australia

|region=Northern Territory; Arnhem Land, Roper River.

|ethnicity=Alawa

|speakers=5

|date=2021 census

|ref={{Cite web|url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021/|title=Cultural diversity: Census|author=Australian Bureau of Statistics|access-date=13 October 2022|date=2021}}

|familycolor=Australian

|fam1=Macro-Pama-Nyungan?

|fam2=Macro-Gunwinyguan

|fam3=Marran?

|iso3=alh

|aiatsis=N92

|glotto=alaw1244

|glottorefname=Alawa

|notice=IPA

}}

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.{{cite web|title=Ethnologue: Alawa|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=alh|work=Ethnologue}}

Phonology

=Consonants=

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.

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

|+Consonant phonemes

!rowspan="2"|

!colspan="2"| Alveolar

! Palatal

!colspan="2"| Peripheral

Alveolar

! Retroflex

! Alveo-palatal

! Velar

! Bilabial

Prenasalised Stop

| {{IPA|ⁿd}}

| {{IPA|ⁿɖ}}

| {{IPA|ⁿd̠ʲ}}

| {{IPA|ᵑɡ}}

| {{IPA|ᵐb}}

Devoiced Stop

| Voiceless alveolar stop

| Voiceless retroflex stop

| Voiceless palatal stop

| voiceless velar stop

| voiceless bilabial stop

Nasals

| Alveolar nasal

| Retroflex nasal

| Palatal nasal

| Velar nasal

| Bilabial nasal

Laterals

| Alveolar lateral approximant

| Retroflex lateral approximant

| palatal lateral

|

|

Vibrants

| alveolar trill

|

|

|

|

Glide

|colspan="2"| Alveolar approximant

| palatal approximant

|colspan="2"| labiovelar approximant

Note: there are no standardised IPA symbols for alveopalatal stops.

=Vowels=

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/.{{Cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Margaret C |url=https://archive.org/details/alawaphonologygr0000shar |title=Alawa Phonology and Grammar |publisher=Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies |year=1972 |location=Canberra |url-access=registration}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

|+Vowel phonemes

FrontCentralBack
High

| i || || u

Mid

| e || ||

Low

| || a ||

There are no rounding contrasts or length contrasts in this language.

Vocabulary

Capell (1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:Capell, Arthur. 1941–1942, 1942–1943. [https://glottolog.org/resource/reference/id/104191 Languages of Arnhem Land, North Australia]. Oceania 12: 364–392, 13: 24–51.

:

class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Alawa

manlilmi
womangirija
headguɽuguɽu
eyegulur
nosegujumur
mouthŋaːndal
tonguedjeːjälŋ
stomachgundjäl
bonegalawa
bloodŋulidji
kangaroogirimbọ
opossumgudjaɳi
emudjinaliri
crowwaŋgunaji
flywuɳɖil
sunmarawaɭbaɭ
moonaɖaŋari
firewubu
smokeguŋuŋu
waterŋọgọ

=See also=

  • {{Cite Q|Q109466390|publisher=Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:North Australian word lists}}

{{Pama–Nyungan languages}}

{{Australian Aboriginal languages}}

Category:Endangered indigenous Australian languages in the Northern Territory

Category:Mangarrayi–Maran languages