Kalkatungu language

Kalkatungu
Spoken in Mount Isa area, Queensland, Australia
Extinct ?
Language family
Pama–Nyungan?
  • Galgadungic?
    • Kalkatungu
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ktg
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Kalkatungu (also written Kalkutungu, Galgadungu, Kalkutung, Kalkadoon, Galgaduun) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken around the area of Mount Isa, Queensland.

Contents

Classification

Kalkatungu is usually grouped with Yalarnnga as the Kalkatungic or Galgadungic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. R. M. W. Dixon (2002), however, regards Kalkatungic as simply an areal group.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Back
High i iː u uː
Low a aː

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Dental Alveolar Retroflex
Stop p k c t̪ t ʈ
Nasal m ŋ ɲ n̪ n ɳ
Lateral ʎ l̪ l ɭ
Rhotic r ɻ
Semivowel w j

Sign

The Kalkatungu had a developed sign form of their language.[1]

References

  1. ^ Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

External links