Jaminjung language

Jaminjung
Spoken in Australia
Region Victoria River, Australia
Native speakers 30  (1991)
50–150 per Schultze-Berndt[1]
Language family
Mirndi
Language codes
ISO 639-3 djd
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Jaminjung is Australian language spoken around the Victoria River in the Northern Territory of Australia. There seems to be a steady increase in the number of speakers of the language with very few people speaking the language in 1967, about 30 speakers in 1991, and between 50 to 150 speakers in 2000.[1][2]

Contents

Phonology

Vowels

Jaminjung has 4 vowels:[3]

Front Central Back
Close i /i/ u /u/
Close-mid e /e/
Open a /a/

Vowel length is not distinctive. Also, it should be noted that the close-mid vowel /e/ only appears in a small number of words, and is probably a loan from surrounding languages.[3]

Consonants

Jaminjung has 18 consonants:[3]

Bilabial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Plosive p /p/ t /t/ th /t̪/ rt /ʈ/ j /c/ k /k/
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ rn /ɳ/ ny /ɲ/ ng /ŋ/
Trill rr /r/
Approximant w /w/ r /ɻ/ y /j/
l /l/ rl /ɭ/ ly /ʎ/

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Schultze-Berndt 2000, pp. 13–14
  2. ^ Ethnologue
  3. ^ a b c Schultze-Berndt 2000, p. 41

General