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Nyigina language

{{Short description|Nyulnyulan language spoken in Australia}}

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

{{Infobox language

|name=Nyikina

|region=Lower Fitzroy River, Western Australia

|ethnicity=Nyigina

|speakers=61

|date=2016 census

|ref={{Cite web|url=http://stat.data.abs.gov.au/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ABS_C16_T09_SA|title=Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)|publisher=ABS|website=stat.data.abs.gov.au|language=en-au|access-date=2017-10-30}}

|familycolor=Australian

|fam1=Nyulnyulan

|fam2=Eastern

|script=Latin

|iso3=nyh

|glotto=nyig1240

|glottorefname=Nyigina

|aiatsis=K3

}}

Nyikina (also Nyigina, Njigina) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Western Australia, spoken by the Nyigina people.

Warrwa may have been a dialect.

Classification

R. M. W. Dixon (2002) regards Nyikina, Warrwa, Yawuru and Jukun as a single language.

Nyikina is placed in the Nyulnyulan family of non-Pama–Nyungan languages.

File:Traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal Tribes around Derby.pngThis map is indicative only.]]

Phonology

= Consonants =

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

! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" |Peripheral

!Laminal

! colspan="2" |Apical

Labial

!Velar

!Palatal

!Alveolar

!Retroflex

Plosive

|{{IPA link|b}}

|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

|{{IPA link|ɟ}}

|{{IPA link|d}}

|{{IPA link|ɖ}}

Nasal

|{{IPA link|m}}

|{{IPA link|ŋ}}

|{{IPA link|ɲ}}

|{{IPA link|n}}

|{{IPA link|ɳ}}

Lateral

|

|

|{{IPA link|ʎ}}

|{{IPA link|l}}

|{{IPA link|ɭ}}

Tap

|

|

|

|{{IPA link|ɾ}}

|

Approximant

| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|w}}

|{{IPA link|j}}

|

|{{IPA link|ɻ}}

  • Sounds /ɟ, ɡ/, when following /l/ or in intervocalic positions, can be heard as [j, ɣ].
  • /ɾ/ can also occasionally occur as a trill [r].{{Cite book |last=Stokes |first=Bronwyn |title=A Description of Nyigina, A Language of West Kimberley, Western Australia |publisher=Canberra: Australian National University |year=1982}}

= Vowels =

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

!

!Front

!Back

High

|{{IPA link|i}}

|{{IPA link|u}}

Low

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

class="wikitable"

!Phoneme

!Allophones

/i/

|{{IPAblink|i}}, {{IPAblink|ɪ}}

/a/

|{{IPAblink|ä}}, {{IPAblink|ɑ}}, {{IPAblink|ʌ}}, {{IPAblink|æ}}

/u/

|{{IPAblink|u}}, {{IPAblink|ʊ}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

  • {{cite journal |last=Capell |first=A. |year=1952–1953 |title=Notes on the Njigina and Warwa tribes, N.W. Australia |journal=Mankind |volume=4 |issue=9 |pages=351–360, 450–496 |doi=10.1111/j.1835-9310.1952.tb00261.x}}
  • {{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |author-link=R. M. W. Dixon |year=2002 |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780}}
  • {{cite book |last=Muecke |first=Stephen |editor1-first=J. |editor1-last=Ryan |others=Wallace-Crabbe, C |title=Imagining Australia: Literature and Culture in the New New World |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/imaginingaustral0000unse/page/123 |year=2004 |publisher=Harvard University Committee on Australian Studies |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-01573-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/imaginingaustral0000unse/page/123 123–135] |chapter=A Chance to Hear a Nyigina Song |chapter-url-access=registration }}
  • {{cite book |last=Stokes |first=B. |year=1982 |title=A description of Nyigina, a language of the West Kimberley, Western Australia |others=PhD dissertation |publisher=Australian National University}}

External links

  • [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787758/ The film "Mad Bastards" (2010) depicting Nyikina language and culture]

{{Australian Aboriginal languages}}

Category:Nyulnyulan languages

Category:Kimberley (Western Australia)

{{ia-lang-stub}}