Login
Login

Marrgu language

{{Short description|Extinct language of Australia}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Marrgu

| altname = Yaako

| region = Croker Island, Northern Territory

| states = Australia

| ethnicity = Yaako

| extinct = 2003

| ref = e27

| familycolor = Australian

| fam1 = Marrku–Wurrugu?
Iwaidjan?

| iso3 = mhg

| aiatsis = N45

| glotto = marg1251

| glottorefname = Margu

| map = Marrgu language.png

| mapcaption = Marrgu language (purple arrow), among other non-Pama–Nyungan languages (grey)

| map2 = Marrgu language (closeup).png

| mapcaption2 = Closeup

}}

Marrgu (Marrku) is an extinct{{cite web|author1=Christopher Moseley|author2=Alexandre Nicolas|title=Atlas of the world's languages in danger|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026|website=UNESCO|page=209|date=2010|access-date=2024-12-20}} Aboriginal language of northern Australia. Additional names include Ajokoot, Croker Island, Raffles Bay, Terrutong (Terutong), Yaako (Jaako, Yako).

Classification

Marrgu had been assumed to be an Iwaidjan language like its neighbours. However, Evans (2006) has produced evidence that it was a language isolate, with possible connection to the extinct and poorly attested Wurrugu.

Phonology

=Consonant inventory=

class="wikitable"

|+|Marrgu consonantsEvans, Nicholas (1998). "Iwaidja mutation and its origins". In Anna Siewierska & Jae Jung Song. Case, Typology and Grammar: In honor of Barry J. Blake. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 115–149.

!rowspan=2|

!colspan=2| Peripheral

!colspan=2| Laminal

!colspan=2| Apical

Bilabial

! Velar

! Palatal

! Dental

! Alveolar

! Retroflex

style="text-align: center;"

!Plosive

| {{IPA|p}}

{{IPA|k}}{{IPA|c}}{{IPA|t̪}}{{IPA|t}}{{IPA|ʈ}}
style="text-align: center;"

!Nasal

| {{IPA|m}}

{{IPA|ŋ}}{{IPA|ɲ}}{{IPA|n̪}}{{IPA|n}}{{IPA|ɳ}}
style="text-align: center;"

!Approximant

| {{IPA|w}}

{{IPA|ɣ}}{{IPA|j}}{{IPA|ɻ}}
style="text-align: center;"

!Trill

| colspan=2|

{{IPA|r}}
style="text-align: center;"

!Flap

| colspan=2|

{{IPA|ɽ}}
style="text-align: center;"

!Lateral

| colspan=2|

({{IPA|ʎ}}){{IPA|l}}{{IPA|ɭ}}
style="text-align: center;"

!Lateral flap

| colspan=2|

{{IPA|ɺ}} {{angle bracket|ld}}{{IPA|𝼈}} {{angle bracket|rld}}

=Vowels=

Marrgu has the three-vowel ({{IPA|/a/, /i/, /u/}}) system typical of Iwaidjan languages (Evans 1998).

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
!Front

!Back

High

|{{IPA link|i}}

|{{IPA link|u}}

Low

|colspan=2|{{IPA link|a}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Australian Aboriginal languages}}

{{language families}}

Category:Marrku–Wurrugu languages

Category:Extinct languages of the Northern Territory