Mbabaram language

Mbabaram language
Mbabaram
Spoken in Queensland
Extinct 1972 with the death of Albert Bennett.
Language family
Pama–Nyungan
  • Paman
    • Southern Paman
      • Mbabaram
Language codes
ISO 639-3 vmb

Mbabaram is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of north Queensland. It was the traditional language of the Mbabaram tribe. Known speakers were Albert Bennett, Alick Chalk, Jimmy Taylor and Mick Burns. Recordings of Bennett and Chalk are held in the Audiovisual Archive of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. R. M. W. Dixon described his hunt for a native speaker of Mbabaram in his book Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker. Most of what is known of the language is from Dixon's field research with Bennett.

Contents

Classification

Until R. M. W. Dixon's work on the language, "Barbaram" (as it was then known) was thought to be too different from other Australian languages to be part of the Australian phylum. Dixon revealed it to have descended from a more typical form, that was obscured by subsequent changes. Dixon (2002) himself, however, still regards genetic relationships between Mbabaram and other languages as unproven.

Albert Bennett identified Agwamin as the language most similar subjectively to Mbabaram.

Geographic distribution

Mbabaram was spoken by the Mbabaram tribe in Queensland, southwest of Cairns (17°20′S 145°0′E / 17.333°S 145°E / -17.333; 145).

Nearby tribal dialects were Agwamin, Djangun (Kuku-Yalanji), Muluridji (Kuku-Yalanji), Djabugay, Yidiny, Ngadjan (Dyirbal), Mamu (Dyirbal), Jirrbal (Dyirbal), Girramay (Dyirbal), and Warungu. While these were often mutually intelligible, to varying degrees, with the speech of the adjacent tribes, none were even partially intelligible with Mbabaram. The Mbabaram would often learn the languages of other tribes rather than vice versa, because Mbabaram was found difficult.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i ɨ u
Low-mid ɛ ɔ
Low a

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Dental Alveolar Retroflex
Stop b ɡ ɡʷ ɟ d dʷ
Nasal m ŋ ɲ n nʷ
Lateral l
Rhotic r ɻ
Semivowel w j

Phonological history

Vowels

Mbabaram would have originally had simply three vowels, /i a u/, like most Australian languages, but several changes occurred to add /ɛ ɨ ɔ/ to the system:

  • [ɔ] developed from original */a/ in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with */ɡ/, */ŋ/, or */wu/.
  • [ɛ] developed from original */a/ in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with */ɟ/. (It may have also occurred with /ɲ/ or /ji/, but no examples are known.)
  • [ɨ] developed from original */i/ in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with */ɡ/, */ŋ/, or */w/.
  • [ɨ] also developed from original */u/ in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with */ɟ/, */ɲ/, or */j/.

The first consonant of each word was then dropped, leaving the distribution of /ɔ ɛ ɨ/ unpredictable.

Word for "dog"

Mbabaram is famous in linguistic circles for a striking coincidence in its vocabulary. When Dixon finally managed to meet Bennett, he began his study of the language by eliciting a few basic nouns; among the first of these was the word for "dog". Bennett supplied the Mbabaram translation, dog. Dixon suspected that Bennett hadn't understood the question, or that Bennett's knowledge of Mbabaram had been tainted by decades of using English. But it turned out that the Mbabaram word for "dog" really is dog, pronounced almost identically to the English word (compare true cognates such as Yidiny gudaga, Dyirbal guda, Djabugay gurraa and Guugu Yimidhirr gudaa, for example[1][2]). The similarity is a complete coincidence: there is no discernible relationship between English and Mbabaram. This and other false cognates are often cited as a caution against deciding that languages are related based on a small number of comparisons.

References

  1. ^ Black, Paul (2004). "The failure of the evidence of shared innovations in Cape York peninsula". In Bowern, Claire; Koch, Harold James. Australian languages: classification and the comparative method. Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series 4, Current issues in linguistic theory. 249. John Benjamins. p. 264. ISBN 9781588115126. http://books.google.com/?id=rmvmCvs9zQcC&pg=PA264&lpg=PA264&dq=Yidiny+dog. Retrieved 2010-1-8. 
  2. ^ dog in Wiktionary

Bibliography

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mbabaram — noun an extinct ergative Australian aboriginal language of the Southern Pama branch of the large Pama Nyungan family of languages …   Wiktionary

  • Mbabaram — ISO 639 3 Code : vmb ISO 639 2/B Code : ISO 639 2/T Code : ISO 639 1 Code : Scope : Individual Language Type : Living …   Names of Languages ISO 639-3

  • Extinct language — An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers.[1], or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but… …   Wikipedia

  • Dog — For other uses, see Dog (disambiguation). Domestic dog Temporal range: 0.015–0 Ma …   Wikipedia

  • False cognate — False cognates are pairs of words in the same or different languages that are similar in form and meaning but have different roots. That is, they appear to be or are sometimes considered cognates when in fact they are not. Note that even false… …   Wikipedia

  • Initial dropping — is a sound change whereby the first consonants of words are dropped. Additionally, stress may shift from the first to the second syllable, and the first vowel may be shortened, reduced, or dropped, which can mean the loss of the entire first… …   Wikipedia

  • Cognate — For other uses, see Cognate (disambiguation). In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus (blood relative).[1] Cognates within the same language are called doublets …   Wikipedia

  • List of Indigenous Australian group names — contains names and collective designations which have been applied, either formerly or in the past, to group of Indigenous Australians Note: It is very important to be aware that the term tribe is really not very useful in indigenous Australia.… …   Wikipedia

  • vmb — ISO 639 3 Code of Language ISO 639 2/B Code : ISO 639 2/T Code : ISO 639 1 Code : Scope : Individual Language Type : Living Language Name : Mbabaram …   Names of Languages ISO 639-3

  • Paman languages — Infobox Language family name=Paman region=Cape York, Queensland familycolor=Australian fam1=Pama Nyungan child1=Northern child2=Western child3=Northeastern child4=Lamalamic child5=Coastal child6=Central child7=Norman child8=Flinders… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

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