Gunbarlang language: Difference between revisions

Gunbarlang
Gunbarlang
Warlang
Native to	Australia
Region	Arnhem Land
Ethnicity	Gambalang
Extinct	by 2016
Language family	Arnhem Gunwinyguan Gunwinggic Gunbarlang; ; ;
Dialects	Djimbilirri; Gurrigurri; Gumunggurdu; Marrabanggu; Marranumbu; Gunguluwala;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wlg
Glottolog	kunb1251
AIATSIS	N69
ELP	Kunbarlang

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 20:21, 21 April 2024

Gunbarlang, or Kunbarlang, is an Australian Aboriginal language in northern Australia with multiple dialects. Other names are Gungalang and Warlang. Speakers are multilingual in Kunwinjku and Mawng. Most of the Gunbarlang people now speak Kunwinjku.^[4]

The language is part of a language revival project, as a critically endangered language.

Classification

Gunbarlang has been proposed to be included into the marne group of Gunwinyguan family,^[5] making its closest relatives the Central Gunwinyguan languages Bininj Kunwok and Dalabon. The label marne refers to the phonological shape of the benefactive applicative affix common to all three languages (as opposed to the bak languages to the east, e.g. Rembarrnga, Ngandi and Wubuy/Nunggubuyu).^[6]

Geographic distribution

Some Gunbarlang speakers live in Warruwi on South Goulburn Island and Maningrida. Historically, it was also spoken in Gunbalanya.^[7]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	ʈ	c	k	ʔ
Plosive	tense	pː	tː	ʈː	cː	kː
Nasal		m	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
Lateral			l	ɭ
Rhotic			ɾ	ɻ
Approximant		w			j

/ɾ/ can also be heard as a trill [r].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Grammar

Gunbarlang is a polysynthetic language with complex verb morphology. It includes polypersonal agreement, incorporation, and a number of derivational affixes. Word order in a (transitive) clause is SVO or SOV.^[8]^[9]

Morphosyntax

Morphology is primarily agglutinating. Verbal morphology (rather than case marking or syntax) encodes a significant part of grammatical relations.

Verbal

The verb includes obligatory agreement with its core arguments in the form of bound pronouns. The subject/agent prefix precedes the object prefix. Subject prefixes form four mood series: positive indicative, "non-performative", future/intentional, and potential.^[10]

The verb features derivational affixes, such as benefactive, directional, and TAM.

Nominal

Case in not marked on nouns and free pronouns, but bound pronouns follow nominative-accusative alignment.^[11]

Gunbarlang distinguishes five noun classes on demonstratives (M, F, plants, body-parts, and inanimate), but only four on other constituents (collapsing the latter two).^[12]^[13]

Language revival

As of 2020^[update], Kunbarlang is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".^[14]

Notes

^ ABS. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
^ Dixon 2002, p. xl
^ N69 Gunbarlang at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
^ Gunbarlang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Evans, N. (2003). Bininj Gun-Wok: A Pan-Dialectal Grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune. ANU. p. 33. hdl:1885/53188.
^ Alpher, B., Evans, N. & Harvey, M. 2003. "Proto Gunwinyguan verb suffixes." In Nicholas Evans (ed.), The non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia: Comparative Studies of the continent's most linguistically complex region, 305-352. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
^ Harris 1969
^ Coleman 1982
^ Kapitonov 2019
^ Dixon 2002, p. 338
^ Dixon 2002, p. 350
^ Coleman 1982
^ Dixon 2002, p. 478
^ "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

References

Coleman, C. (1982). A Grammar of Gunbalang with Special Reference to Grammatical Relations.
Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press.
Harris, Joy Kinslow (1969). "Preliminary grammar of Gunbalang". In Joy Kinslow Harris; Stephen A. Wurm; Donald C. Laycock (eds.). Papers in Australian linguistics no. 4 (PDF). Pacific Linguistics, Series A 17. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 1–49. doi:10.15144/PL-A17. hdl:1885/144554.
Kapitonov, I. (2019). A Grammar of Kunbarlang (PDF) (PhD thesis). The University of Melbourne. hdl:11343/225743.
Kapitonov, Ivan (2021). A grammar of Kunbarlang. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

[1] ABS. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2017.

[2] Dixon 2002, p. xl

[AIATSIS-3] N69 Gunbarlang at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

[e18-4] Gunbarlang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[5] Evans, N. (2003). Bininj Gun-Wok: A Pan-Dialectal Grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune. ANU. p. 33. hdl:1885/53188.

[Alpher,_Evans_&_Harvey_2003-6] Alpher, B., Evans, N. & Harvey, M. 2003. "Proto Gunwinyguan verb suffixes." In Nicholas Evans (ed.), The non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia: Comparative Studies of the continent's most linguistically complex region, 305-352. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.

[7] Harris 1969

[8] Coleman 1982

[9] Kapitonov 2019

[10] Dixon 2002, p. 338

[11] Dixon 2002, p. 350

[12] Coleman 1982

[13] Dixon 2002, p. 478

[14] "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 ==Geographic distribution==
 Some Gunbarlang speakers live in [[Warruwi]] on [[Goulburn Islands|South Goulburn Island]] and [[Maningrida, Northern Territory|Maningrida]]. Historically, it was also spoken in [[Gunbalanya, Northern Territory|Gunbalanya]].<ref>{{harvnb|Harris|1969}}</ref>
+== Phonology ==
+=== Consonants ===
+{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
+! colspan="2" |
+![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
+![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
+![[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
+![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
+![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
+![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
+|-
+! rowspan="2" |[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
+!<small>voiceless</small>
+|p
+|t
+|ʈ
+|c
+|k
+|ʔ
+|-
+!<small>tense</small>
+|pː
+|tː
+|ʈː
+|cː
+|kː
+|
+|-
+! colspan="2" |[[Nasal vowel|Nasal]]
+|m
+|n
+| colspan="1" |ɳ
+|ɲ
+|ŋ
+|
+|-
+! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
+| colspan="1" |
+|l
+| colspan="1" |ɭ
+| colspan="1" |
+| colspan="1" |
+|
+|-
+! colspan="2" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
+| colspan="1" |
+|ɾ
+| colspan="1" |ɻ
+| colspan="1" |
+| colspan="1" |
+|
+|-
+! colspan="2" |[[Approximant]]
+|w
+| colspan="1" |
+| colspan="1" |
+|j
+|
+|
+|}
+/ɾ/ can also be heard as a trill [r].
+=== Vowels ===
+{| class="IPA wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
+!
+![[Front vowel|Front]]
+![[Central vowel|Central]]
+![[Back vowel|Back]]
+|- style="text-align: center;"
+![[High vowel|High]]
+|i
+|
+|u
+|-
+![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
+|e
+|
+|o
+|- style="text-align: center;"
+![[Low vowel|Low]]
+|
+|a
+|
+|}
 ==Grammar==
@@ Line 63: / Line 149: @@
 * {{Cite book |title=Papers in Australian linguistics no. 4 |last=Harris |first=Joy Kinslow |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |year=1969 |editor-last=Joy Kinslow Harris |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series A 17 |location=Canberra |pages=1–49 |chapter=Preliminary grammar of Gunbalang |editor-last2=Stephen A. Wurm |editor-last3=Donald C. Laycock |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/144554/1/PL-A17.pdf |doi=10.15144/PL-A17 |hdl=1885/144554 |hdl-access=free }}
 * {{Cite thesis |last=Kapitonov |first=I. |title=A Grammar of Kunbarlang |date=2019 |degree=PhD |publisher=The University of Melbourne |url=https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/225743/main.pdf |hdl=11343/225743 |hdl-access=free }}
+* {{Cite book |last=Kapitonov |first=Ivan |title=A grammar of Kunbarlang |publisher=Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter |year=2021}}
 {{Pama–Nyungan languages|Macro}}