Gunbarlang language
| Gunbarlang | |
|---|---|
| Warlang | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Arnhem Land |
| Extinct | by 2016[1] |
Arnhem
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wlg |
| Glottolog | kunb1251 |
| AIATSIS[3] | N69 |
| ELP | Kunbarlang |
Gunbarlang (Kunbarlang) is an Australian Aboriginal language in northern Australia with multiple dialects. Other names are Gungalang and Warlang. Speakers are multilingual in Gunwinygu and Mawng. Most of the ethnic group now speaks Gunwinygu.[4]
Classification
Gunbarlang is tentatively included into the Marne group of Gunwinyguan family.[5]
Geographic distribution
Some Gunbarlang speakers live in Warruwi on South Goulburn Island and Maningrida. Historically, it was also spoken in Oenpelli.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8]
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.[9]
Gunbarlang distinguishes five noun classes on demonstratives (M, F, plants, body-parts, and inanimate), but only four on other constituents (collapsing the latter two).[10][11]
References
- ^ ABS. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
- ^ Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. 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.
- ^ Harris, J. K. (1969). Preliminary grammar of Gunbalang.
- ^ 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. p. 338.
- ^ Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. 350.
- ^ 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. p. 478.
 | This Australian Aboriginal languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This Northern Territory, Australia article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |