Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages: Difference between revisions

[[File:Page from gurre kamilaroi or Kamilaroi Sayings.png|300px|thumb|A page from an 1856 book illustrating the letters of the alphabet for [[Gamilaraay language|Gamilaraay]] at that time. Note the use of the letter [[Eng (letter)|eng]] (ŋ) and [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]]s (¯ˉ).]]

At first, most Australian languages were written following [[English orthography]] (or in a few cases, [[German orthography]]), as it sounded to the writer. This meant that sounds which were distinguished in Australian languages but not in English were written identically, while at the same time sounds which were [[allophone]]s in Australian languages but distinct in English were written differently.

|+'''Transcriptions of Australian languages through time'''

| wuddul (1903)<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mathews |first=R. H. |authorlink=R. H. Mathews |date=Jul–Dec 1903 |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|publisher=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 33|jstor=2842812|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449596 }}</ref>

Writers with more linguistic knowledge sometimes employed symbols such as '''{{angbr|[[eng (letter)|ŋ]]'''}} or '''{{angbr|[[ġ]]'''}} for {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, '''{{angbr|[[ñ]]'''}} for {{IPA|/ɲ/}}, [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]]s (¯){{angbr|ˉ}} or [[circumflex]]es (^){{angbr|ˆ}} for long vowels, [[breve]]s ({{angbr|˘)}} for short vowels, but these were often applied inconsistently.

Usually, but not always, practical orthographies use just the letters of the basic Roman alphabet. This necessitates the use of [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] for sounds that do not have a standard character. In some cases this can lead to ambiguities, for example where the single sound {{IPA|/ŋ/}} and the consonant cluster {{IPA|/nɡ/}} could both be written as '''{{angbr|ng'''}}. These are commonly distinguished by writing the cluster '''{{angbr|n.g'''}} (inserting a [[full stop]]), '''{{angbr|n’g'''}} (inserting an [[apostrophe]]), or '''{{angbr|nk'''}}.

Most Australian languages distinguish just three vowels, which are written '''{{angbr|i'''}}, '''{{angbr|a'''}} and '''{{angbr|u'''}}. Even though they may sound like ''{{angbr|e''}} or ''{{angbr|o''}} at times, they are not written '''{{angbr|e'''}} or '''{{angbr|o'''}}, e.g. the [[Martuthunira language|Martuthunira]] word '''wirrirri''' "flame" is roughly pronounced ''werrerree''as {{IPA|[weɾeɾɪ]}}. [[Vowel length|Long vowels]] are represented by double letters, i.e. '''{{angbr|ii'''}} {{IPA|/iː/}}, '''{{angbr|aa'''}} {{IPA|/aː/}}, '''{{angbr|uu'''}} {{IPA|/uː/}}.

The [[semivowel]]s '''{{angbr|w'''}} and '''{{angbr|y'''}} are usually pronounced as in English. In some languages, '''{{angbr|w'''}} may not be pronounced next to '''{{angbr|u'''}}, and '''{{angbr|y'''}} next to '''{{angbr|i'''}}, but for various reasons a linguist may still choose to write them, so that e.g. [[Gamilaraay language|Gamilaraay]] '''yinarr''' "[[woman]]" is actually pronounced ''inarr'' {{IPA|[inar]}}.

A handful of languages have a dental semivowel, which is written '''{{angbr|yh'''}} (see Place of articulation below).

Most Australian languages have two [[rhotic consonant|rhotics]] or ''r''-like sounds: a [[retroflex approximant]], as in [[American English]], written '''{{angbr|r'''}}; and a [[trill consonant|trill]] or [[flap consonant|flap]] (both of which are found in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]), written '''{{angbr|rr'''}}.

In languages that have only one of the two r's, it's is simply written '''{{angbr|r'''}}.

The [[bilabial consonant|bilabial]], [[velar consonant|velar]] and [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] consonants are usually written the same as in English, i.e. '''{{angbr|p'''}} {{IPA|/p/}}, '''{{angbr|b'''}} {{IPA|/b/}}, '''{{angbr|m'''}} {{IPA|/m/}}, '''{{angbr|k'''}} {{IPA|/k/}}, '''{{angbr|g'''}} {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, '''{{angbr|ng'''}} {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, '''{{angbr|t'''}} {{IPA|/t/}}, '''{{angbr|d'''}} {{IPA|/d/}}, '''{{angbr|n'''}} {{IPA|/n/}}, '''{{angbr|l'''}} {{IPA|/l/}}. '''Ng'''{{angbr|ng}} may also be written using the non-English letter '''{{angbr|ŋ'''}}, called [[Eng (letter)|eng]]. Note that '''ng'''{{angbr|ŋ}} sounds like the ''ng'' in ''singer'', not as in ''finger;'' the latter would be written '''ngg'''{{angbr|ŋg}}.

[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] consonants are often represented by a digraph made of an alveolar consonant + '''{{angbr|j'''}} or '''{{angbr|y'''}}, i.e. '''tj''' {{IPA|/c ɟ ɲ ʎ/}} can be written '''{{angbr|tj'''}}/'''{{angbr|ty'''}}, '''{{angbr|dj'''}}/'''{{angbr|dy'''}}, '''{{angbr|nj'''}}/'''{{angbr|ny'''}}, and '''{{angbr|lj'''}}/'''{{angbr|ly'''}}. '''C'''{{angbr|c}} and '''{{angbr|j'''}} are other possible ways of writing the palatal stops.

[[Dental consonant|Dental]] consonants are represented by a digraph made of an alveolar consonant + '''{{angbr|h'''}}, i.e. '''{{angbr|th'''}} {{IPA|/t̪/}}, '''{{angbr|dh'''}} {{IPA|/d̪/}}, '''{{angbr|nh'''}} {{IPA|/n̪/}}, '''{{angbr|lh'''}} {{IPA|/l̪/}}. Note that '''{{angbr|th'''}} is not a [[voiceless dental fricative|fricative]] as in [[Australian English]], but a [[voiceless dental stop|stop]] as in [[Irish English]].

[[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]] consonants are usually represented by a digraph made of '''{{angbr|r'''}} + an alveolar consonant, i.e. '''{{angbr|rt'''}} {{IPA|/ʈ/}}, '''{{angbr|rd'''}} {{IPA|/ɖ/}}, '''{{angbr|rn'''}} {{IPA|/ɳ/}}, '''{{angbr|rl'''}} {{IPA|/ɭ/}}, as in [[Swedish_phonologySwedish phonology#Sonorants|Swedish]]. In some varieties, such as [[Pitjantjatjara dialect|Pitjantjatjara]], a digraph is not used and instead the alveolar consonant is underlined to indicate that it is retroflex thus: '''{{angbr|ṯ'''}}, '''{{angbr|ṉ'''}} and '''{{angbr|ḻ'''}}.

A handful of languages have [[palato-velar consonant|palato-velar]] consonants, between palatal and velar. For [[Yanyuwa language|Yanyuwa]], these are written '''{{angbr|yk'''}} {{IPA|/ɡ̟/}}, '''{{angbr|nyk'''}} {{IPA|/ⁿɡ̟/}} (a prenasalised stop—see Prenasalisation below), '''{{angbr|nyng'''}} {{IPA|/ŋ̟/}}.<ref name="yanyuwa">{{cite book |last=Bradley |first=John |authorlink=John Bradley (anthropologist) |author2=Kirton, Jean |year=1992 |title=Yanyuwa Wuka: language from Yanyuwa country |others=unpublished |url=http://eprint.uq.edu.au/archive/00000072/ |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051222014008/http://eprint.uq.edu.au/archive/00000072/ |archivedate=2005-12-22 }}</ref>

Most Australian languages do not distinguisheddistinguish between [[voiced consonant|voiced]] and [[voiceless consonant|voiceless]] [[plosive consonant|stop]]s, so that e.g. ''t'' and ''d'' both occur as variants of the same sound. Both the voiced and voiceless allophone will usually be written the same way, but whether to use the voiceless symbol or the voiced symbol varies depending on which occurs more frequently in the language. Some languages have been written using the voiced symbols by one linguist and the voiceless symbols by another. Moreover, some linguists choose to use voiceless symbols for some consonants in a language and voiced symbols for others.

Some languages have [[prenasalized consonant]]s, a stop preceded by a nasal sound which is considered one consonant. In [[Yanyuwa language|Yanyuwa]] these are written '''{{angbr|mb'''}} {{IPA|/ᵐb/}}, '''{{angbr|ngk'''}} {{IPA|/ᵑɡ/}}, '''{{angbr|nj'''}} {{IPA|/ᶮɟ/}}, '''{{angbr|nth'''}} {{IPA|/ⁿd̪/}}, '''{{angbr|nd'''}} {{IPA|/ⁿd/}}, '''{{angbr|rnd'''}} {{IPA|/ᶯɖ/}}.<ref name="yanyuwa" />