Uradhi language

Urradhi is the south-western dialect of the Urradhi group of Paman languages on Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, and is possibly extinct. It is spoken by the Urradhi people, and is made of urra "this" and the proprietive dhi "having". The south-eastern dialect f the same language, Wudhadhi, is made of the same elements, wudha being "this" (note that dh is a voiced dental fricative similar to th in mother). These are part of a group of closely related and highly mutually intelligible dialects, these being Angkamuthi to the north of Urradhi, Atampaya inland from these, Utudhanamu inland north from Atampaya, Yantaykenu further north, being the language of the Bamaga area, Yadhaykenu on the east coast north of Wudhadhi, and Yaraytyana further north again. This group has no common language name, though Urradhi is commonly used as a cover name. It is unknown when it went extinct.^[1]

The Urradhi dialects are closely related to the Gudang language (Pantyinamu/Yatay/Gudang/Kartalaiga and other clan names), formerly spoken on the tip of Cape York (see Djagaraga).

Phonology

Vowels

Uradhi has four vowels:

Consonants

Uradhi has 18 consonants:

References

Notes

General

Crowley, T. (1983). "Uradhi". Handbook of Australian languages. 3. pp. 306–428. 

Hale, Kenneth L. (1976). "Phonological developments in a Northern Paman language: Uradhi". Languages of Cape York. pp. 41–49.