Garig

About the language and its speakers

Garig which is also known as Garig-Ilgar (because Garig and Ilgar are mutually intelligible dialects) is spoken in the mainland of Cobourg Peninsula, around Port Essington, Northern Territory. This is a Pama–Nyungan language which belongs to the Iwaidjan familyEthnologue suggests that Garig is nearly extinct with only one speaker remaining as of 2003.

Phonology

Consonant inventory

	Bilabial	Apico-alveolar	Apico-retroflex	Lamino-dental	Lamino-alveolar	Velar
Stop	b	d	ɖ		ƫ	k
Nasal	m	n	ɳ		ɲ	ŋ
Approximant	w		ɺ		y	Ɣ
Tippen Sie auf			ɽ
Trill		r
Lateral		l	ɭ		(ly)
Flapped lateral	Ǐ (ld)	˘ɭ (rld)

Notes on the consonant inventory

• Unlike Marrgu which belongs to the Iwaidjan family, Ilgar does not have any Lamino Dentals.
• The consonant inventory given above is the one provided by Evans(1998). It is important to note that certain phonetic symbols that Evans uses might conflict with the standard IPA symbols.

For example :

Description	Symbol used by Evans	IPA symbol
Apico-retroflex approximant	ɹ	ɻ
Velar approximant	Ɣ	ɰ
Lamino-alveolar approximant	y	ɹ

Vowels

Evans(1998)briefly discusses vowels in his paper noting that Iwaidjan languages including Garig have a three vowel ( /a/, /i/, /u/) system typical of most Australian languages.

Further reading on Garig

Pym, Noreen (1977)"Garig Word List for two Month Survey." SIL-AAB: Unpublished MS.(with Bonnie Larrimore). 1979. Papers on Iwaidja phonology and grammar. Darwin: SIL-AAB. Series A, Volume 2

Pym, Noreen. (n.d.) Iwaidja word-list. Data file deposited in ASEDA archive. Whitehead, Oscar. 1991. Garig field notes, recorded from Nelson Mulurinj