Panyjima language

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Panyjima
Spoken in: Australia 
Region: Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Total speakers: 50
Language family: Australian
 Pama-Nyungan
  Southwest
   Panyjima
    Panyjima
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: aus
ISO/FDIS 639-3: pnw

Panyjima is an indigenous language spoken in the Hamersley Ranges, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is one of the Ngayarda languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama-Nyungan family.

Like many Australian Aboriginal Languages, Panyjima is an endangered language. Younger generations have English as a first language and make little distinction between Panyjima and its closely related neighbouring languages.

Contents

[edit] Linguistic Features

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Phoneme Inventory

Consonant Phonemes after Dench (1991)
bilabial apico-alveolar apico-post-alveolar lamino-dental lamino-palatal dorso-velar
stop p t rt th j k
nasal m n rn nh ny ng
lateral l rl lh ly
rhotic rr r
glide w y

[edit] References

  • Dench, A. (1991) Panyjima. In R.M.W. Dixon and Barry J. Blake (eds) The Handbook of Australian Languages Volume 4, 125-244 Melbourne: Oxford University Press Australia. ISBN 0-19-553097-7.