Mirndi languages

Mirndi languages
Mirndi
Geographic
distribution:
Northern Territory, Australia
Linguistic classification: Mirndi
Subdivisions:
Australian languages.png
  Yirram (between yellow, red, orange, & green)
  Barkly (at SE of inset)

The Mirndi or Mindi languages are an Australian language family spoken in the Northern Territory of Australia. The family consists of two sub-groups, the Yirram languages and the Barkly languages some 200 km farther to the southeast, separated by the Ngumpin languages.[1][2] The primary difference between the two sub-groups is that while the Yirram languages are all prefixing like other non-Pama–Nyungan languages, the Barkly languages are all suffixing like most Pama–Nyungan languages.[3]

The name of the family is derived from the dual inclusive pronoun "we" which is shared by all the languages in the family in the form of either "mind-" or "mirnd-".[1]

Contents

Classification

The family has been generally accepted after being first established by Neil Chadwick in the early 1980s. The genetic relationship is primarily based upon morphology and not lexical comparison,[3] with the strongest evidence being found among the pronouns. However, "there are very few other systematic similarities in other areas of grammar[, which] throw some doubts on the Mirndi classification, making it less secure than generally accepted."[4]

Mirndi 
 Yirram 

Nungali



Jaminjung



 Barkly 

Jingulu




Ngarnka



Wambaya





An additional language may be added, Ngaliwurru. However, it is unsure whether it is a language on its own, or merely a dialect of the Jaminjung language.[2][5][6][7][8] The same is true for Gudanji and Binbinka, although these are generally considered dialects of the Wambaya language. These three dialects are collectively referred to as the McArthur River languages.[3][7][9]

Vocabulary

Due to the close contact been the Yirram languages and the Barkly languages, and the Ngumpin languages and other languages as well, many of the cognates that the Yirram and Barkly languages share may in fact be loanwords, especially of Ngumpin origin.[1] For instance, while the Barkly language Jingulu only shares 9% of its vocabulary with its Yirram relative, the Ngaliwurru dialect of the Jaminjung language, it shares 28% with the nearby Ngumpin language Mudburra.[3]

Within the Barkly branch, the Jingulu language shares 29% and 28% of its vocabulary with its closest relatives, the Wambaya language and the Ngarnka language, respectively. The Ngarnka language shares 60% of its vocabulary with the Wambaya language, while the Wambaya language shares 69% and 78% with its dialects, Binbinka and Gudanji, respectively. Finally, these two dialects share 88% of their vocabulary.[9]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Schultze-Berndt 2000, p. 8
  2. ^ a b McConvell, Patrick (2009), "'Where the spear sticks up' – The variety of locatives in placenames in the Victoria River District, Northern Territory", in Koch, Harold; Hercus, Luise, Aboriginal Placenames: Naming and re-naming the Australian landscape, ANU E-Press, pp. 359–402, ISBN 978-1921666087 
  3. ^ a b c d Green, Ian (1995). "The death of 'prefixing': contact induced typological change in northern Australia". Berkeley Linguistics Society 21: 414–425. 
  4. ^ Bowern, Claire; Koch, Harold (2004), Australian languages: Classification and the comparative method, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 14–15, ISBN 978-1-58811-512-6 
  5. ^ Pensalfini, Robert J. (2001), "On the Typological and Genetic Affiliation of Jingulu", in Simpson, Jane; Nash, David; Laughren, Mary et al., Forty years on Ken Hale and Australian languages, Pacific Linguistics, pp. 385–399 
  6. ^ Schultze-Berndt 2000, p. 7
  7. ^ a b Harvey, Mark; Nordlinger, Rachel; Green, Ian (2006). "From Prefixes to Suffixes: Typological Change in Northern Australia". Diachronica 23 (2): 289–311. 
  8. ^ Schultz-Berndt, Eva F. (2002), "Constructions in Language Description", Functions of Language 9 (2): 267–308 
  9. ^ a b Pensalfini, Robert J. (1997), Jingulu Grammar, Dictionary, and Texts, Massachusetts, United States: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, p. 19 

General

  • Schultze-Berndt, Eva F. (2000), Simple and Complex Verbs in Jaminjung – A Study of event categorisation in an Australian language 

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Yirram languages — Yirram Geographic distribution: Victoria River, Australia Linguistic classification: Mirndi Yirram Subdivisions: Nungali Jaminjung …   Wikipedia

  • West Barkly languages — Infobox Language family name=West Barkly altname=Jaminjungan familycolor=Australian region= northern Australia fam1= Mirndi script=Latin alphabetThe West Barkly languages are a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern… …   Wikipedia

  • Mayan languages — Maya language redirects here. For other uses, see Maya language (disambiguation). Mayan Geographic distribution: Mesoamerica: Southern Mexico; …   Wikipedia

  • Oto-Manguean languages — Oto Manguean Geographic distribution: Currently Mexico; previously Mesoamerica and Central America Linguistic classification: Not positively related to any other language families. Subdivisions: Oto Pamean Chinantecan Tl …   Wikipedia

  • Austro-Asiatic languages — Austro Asiatic Mon–Khmer Geographic distribution: South and Southeast Asia Linguistic classification: One of the world s major language families Proto language: Proto Mon–Khmer …   Wikipedia

  • Dravidian languages — For other uses, see Dravidian (disambiguation). Dravidian Geographic distribution: South Asia Linguistic classification: Dravidian Proto language: Proto Dravidian Subdivisions: Northern Cen …   Wikipedia

  • Indo-European languages — Indo European redirects here. For other uses, see Indo European (disambiguation). See also: List of Indo European languages Indo European Geographic distribution: Before the 16th century, Europe, and South, Central and Southwest Asia; today… …   Wikipedia

  • Sino-Tibetan languages — Sino Tibetan Geographic distribution: East Asia Linguistic classification: One of the world s major language families. Subdivisions: Sinitic Tibeto Burman ISO 639 …   Wikipedia

  • Indigenous Australian languages — The Indigenous Australian languages comprise several language families and isolates native to Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding Tasmania. The relationships between these languages are not clear at present, although… …   Wikipedia

  • Uto-Aztecan languages — Uto Aztecan Geographic distribution: Western United States, Mexico Linguistic classification: Uto Aztecan Proto language: Proto Uto Aztecan Subdivisions: Hopi …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”