Malak-Malak language

Malak-Malak
Yunggor
Region Northern Territory
Native speakers
 33 Malak-Malak  (2006 census)[1]
5 Tyeraity (2005)[1]
Northern Daly (language isolate)
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
mpb – Malak-Malak
woa – Tyaraity
Glottolog nort1547[2]
AIATSIS[1] N22 Malak Malak, N10 Kuwema (Tyaraity)

Malak-Malak (also spelt Mullukmulluk, Malagmalag) or Ngolokwangga (Ngolak-Wonga, Ngolok-Wanggar, Nguluwongga) is an Australian Aboriginal language. The Tyaraity (Tyeraty, Kuwema) variety is distinct. Malak-Malak is nearly extinct, with children growing up speaking Kriol instead.

Classification

Malak-Malak has sometimes been classified in a Northern Daly family along with an "Anson Bay" group of Wagaydy (Patjtjamalh, Wadjiginy, Kandjerramalh) and the unattested Giyug. Green concluded that Wagaydy and Malak-Malak were two separate families.[3] Later researchers have linked them, and this is reflected in Bowern (2011).[4] However, the Wagaydy people are recent arrivals in the area, and their language may only similar due to borrowing.[5] AIATSIS and Glottolog treats Wagaydy as an isolate and Giyug as unclassifiable.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Back
Close i ʊ
Close-mid e
Open-mid ɛ
Open a

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Stop p k c t
Nasal m ŋ ɲ n
Lateral ʎ l
Rhotic r ɻ
Semivowel w j

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Malak Malak at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Northern Daly". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. ↑ Green, I. "The Genetic Status of Murrinh-patha" in Evans, N., ed. "The Non-Pama-Nyungan Languages of Northern Australia: comparative studies of the continent’s most linguistically complex region". Studies in Language Change, 552. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, 2003.
  4. ↑ Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)
  5. ↑ Patjtjamalh at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies