- Adnyamathanha language
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Adnyamathana Spoken in South Australia Native speakers 20 (1990) Language family Language codes ISO 639-3 adt This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. Adnyamathanha (many other names; see below) is a moribund Australian Aboriginal language. It is the traditional language of the Adnyamathanha people.
The name of the witchetty grub comes from Adnyamathanha.
Contents
Names
This language has been known by many names and variants of names, including:
- Adnyamathanha, Adynyamathanha, Adjnjamathanha, Atʸnʸamat̪an̪a, Adnjamathanha, Adnyamathana, Anyamathana, Ad'n'amadana, Anjimatana, Anjiwatana, Unyamootha
- Wailpi, Wailbi, Waljbi, Wipie, the name of a dialect
- Archualda
- Benbakanjamata
- Binbarnja
- Gadjnjamada, Kanjimata, Keydnjmarda
- Jandali
- Mardala
- Nimalda
- Nuralda
- Umbertana
Classification
R. M. W. Dixon classifies Adnyamathanha and Guyani as a single language, Adjnjamathanha/Guyani. Ethnologue treats them as separate, and so they each have their own ISO 639-3 codes.
Phonology
Vowels
Front Back High i iː u uː Low a aː Consonants
Peripheral Laminal Apical Labial Velar Palatal Dental Alveolar Retroflex Glottal Stop Voiceless p k c t̪ t ʈ (ʔ) Voiced (ɖ) Fricative Voiced (v) Nasal m ŋ ɲ n̪ n ɳ Lateral ʎ l̪ l ɭ Flap ɾ ɽ Trill r Approximant w j ɻ [v] may be an allophone of /p/.
History
While the closely related Guyani retains word-initial stops, Adnyamathanha has undergone systematic lenition of stops in this position. Former *p has become [v], former *t̪ and probably also *c have become /j/, and former *k has disappeared entirely.
Grammar
Adnyamathanha has a complex system of personal pronouns. There are 10 different ways of saying ‘you and me’ (first person dual), depending on the relationship between the speaker and the person addressed.
References
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47378-0, ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1. http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780.
- Schebeck, B. (1974). Texts on the social system of the Atʸnʸamat̪an̪a people, with grammatical notes. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
External links
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