Gamilaraay language

language
name=Gamilaraay
region=Central northern New South Wales
speakers=3 (1997)
familycolor=Australian
fam1=Pama-Nyungan
fam2=Central NSW
fam3=Wiradhuric
script=Latin alphabet
iso2=aus
iso3=kld

The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi (see below for other spellings) language is a Pama-Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in South East Australia. It was the traditional language of the Kamilaroi people, but is now moribund—according to Ethnologue, there were only 3 speakers left in 1997. However, there are thousands of people of mixed descent both within the native populations as well as immigrant populations, who identify themselves as Kamilaroi. Kamilaroi is also taught in some Australian schools.

Classification

*Pama-Nyungan
**Central New South Wales group
***Wiradhuric
****Gamilaraay
****Wiradhuri
****Ngiyambaa

Name

The name "Gamilaraay" means "gamil"-having, "gamil" being the word for "no". Other dialects and languages are similarly named after their respective words for "no". (Compare the division between "Langues d'oïl" and "Langue d'oc" in France, distinguished by their respective words for "yes".)

Spellings of the name, pronounced IPA| [ɡ̊aˌmilaˈɻaːj] ( [http://www.yuwaalaraay.org/Guwaabal/heargy.html listen] ) in the language itself , include:
*Camilaroi
*Kamalarai
*Kamilaroi
*Gamilaraay
*Gamilaroi

Geographic distribution

Dialects

*Yuwaalaraay
*Yuwaaliyaay (Euahlayi)
*Gunjbaraay
*Gawambaraay
*Wirayaraay (Wiriwiri)
*Walaraay

History

Southern Aboriginal guides led the surveyor John Howe to the upper Hunter River above present-day Singleton in 1819. They told him that the country there was "Coomery Roy [=Gamilaraay] and more further a great way", meaning to the north-west, over the Liverpool Range (see O'Rourke 1997: 29). This is probably the first record of the name.

A basic wordlist collected by Major Thomas Mitchell in February, 1832 is the earliest written record of Gamilaraay.

The Presbyterian missionary William Ridley studied the language from 1852 to 1856.

Phonology

Vowel

References

*cite book|last=Austin|first=Peter|authorlink=Peter Austin|title=A Reference Dictionary of Gamilaraay, northern New South Wales|publisher=La Trobe University|year=1993|url=http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AborigPages/LANG/GAMDICT/GAMDICT.HTMAsh, Anna et al. Gamilaraay, Yuwaaaraay and Yuwaalayaay Dictionary. Alice Springs: IAD Press 2003.
*cite book|last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |authorlink=R. M. W. Dixon |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|id=ISBN-10: 0521473780, ISBN-13: 9780521473781|url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780
*cite journal|last=Mathews |first=R. H. |authorlink=R. H. Mathews |year=1903 |month=Jul.–Dec. |title=Languages of the Kamilaroi and Other Aboriginal Tribes of New South Wales |journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=33 |pages=259–283 |doi=10.2307/2842812
*cite journal|last=O'Rourke |first=Michael. |title=The Kamilaroi Lands. Canberra, 1997.
*cite journal|last=Ridley |first=William |authorlink=William Ridley (Presbyterian missionary) |year=1856 |title=On the Kamilaroi Tribe of Australians and Their Dialect |journal=Journal of the Ethnological Society of London |volume=4 |pages=285–293 |doi=10.2307/3014109

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kld Ethnologue report for Gamilaaray]
* [http://www.hrelp.org/aboutus/staff/peter_austin/AustinGamil.pdf The Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) Language, northern New South Wales — A Brief History of Research] (PDF)
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/languages/kld Gutenberg Project Browse By Language: Gamilaraay]
* [http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AborigPages/LANG/GAMDICT/GAMDICT.HTM# Online dictionary]