Daly languages

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The Daly languages are a group of non-Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal languages spoken within the vicinity of the Daly River in the Northern Territory. They are believed by some linguists to form a genetic language family.

In the lexicostatistic classification of O'Grady, Voegelin and Vogelin (1966), the Daly languages were put in four distinct families. Darrel Tryon (1968, 1974) combined these into a single family, with the exception of Murrinh-patha.

Ian Green (unpublished but cited in Dixon 2002) found that all the languages could not be proved to be related by the comparative method. R. M. W. Dixon (2002) divides the Daly languages up into 2 or 3 small families (the status of Southern Daly is uncertain), with 2 isolates.

Patjtjamalh (Wadjiginy)

Kandjerramalh (dialect)

Western Daly subgroup

Emmi/Merranunggu

Menhthe (dialect)

Marrithiyel

Marri Ammu, Marritjevin, Marridan, Marramanindjdji (dialects)

Marri Ngarr

Magati-ge (dialect)

Malak-Malak

Southern Daly subgroup (uncertain)

Eastern Dalay subgroup

Matngele
Kamu

[edit] References

Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O'Grady, G. N.; Voegelin, C. F.; Voegelin, F. M. (1966). "Languages of the world: Indo-Pacific Fascicle 6". Anthropological Linguistics 8 (2).
Tryon, D. T. (1968). "The Daly River languages: a survey". Papers in Australian Linguistics 3: 21–36.
Tryon, D. T. (1974). Daly family languages, Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.