Gamilaraay language

Gamilaraay
Darling tributaries
Region Central northern New South Wales
Ethnicity Gamilaraay
Extinct "recently extinct" as of 2007[1]
Revival 37 speak mixed Gamilaraay–English (2006 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Gamilaraay
  • Yuwaalaraay
  • Yuwaaliyaay (Euahlayi)
  • Gunjbaraay
  • Gawambaraay
  • Wirray Wirray (Wiriwiri)[2]
  • Walaraay[3]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kld
Glottolog gami1243[4]
AIATSIS[5] D23

A map of the tribes of New South Wales, published in 1892. Gamilaraay is marked I.

The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi (see below for other spellings) language is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in south-east Australia. It was the traditional language of the Gamilaraay, but is now endangered—according to Ethnologue, there were only 35 speakers left in 2006, all mixing Gamilaraay and English.[6] However, there are thousands of people of mixed descent both within the native populations as well as immigrant populations, who identify themselves as Gamilaraay. The Gamilaraay language is also taught in some Australian schools.

Name

The name Gamilaraay means gamil-having, gamil being the word for "no". Other dialects and languages are similarly named after their respective words for "no". (Compare the division between langues d'oïl and langues d'oc in France, distinguished by their respective words for "yes".) "yaama" means "hello".

Spellings of the name, pronounced [ɡ̊aˌmilaˈɻaːj] in the language itself, include:

Geographic distribution

Dialects

History

Traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal tribes around Sydney, New South Wales.[8]

Southern Aboriginal guides led the surveyor John Howe to the upper Hunter River above present-day Singleton in 1819. They told him that the country there was "Coomery Roy [=Gamilaraay] and more further a great way", meaning to the north-west, over the Liverpool Ranges (see O'Rourke 1997: 29). This is probably the first record of the name.

A basic wordlist collected by Thomas Mitchell in February, 1832 is the earliest written record of Gamilaraay.

The Presbyterian missionary William Ridley studied the language from 1852 to 1856.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Back
High i ⟨i⟩, iː ⟨ii⟩ u ⟨u⟩, uː ⟨uu⟩
Low a ⟨a⟩, aː ⟨aa⟩

/wa/ is realized as [wo].

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Stop b ɡ ɟ ⟨dy⟩ d̪ ⟨dh⟩ d
Nasal m ŋ ⟨ng⟩ ɲ ⟨ny⟩ n̪ ⟨nh⟩ n
Lateral l
Rhotic r ⟨rr⟩ ɻ ⟨r⟩
Semivowel w j ⟨y⟩

Initially, /wu/ and /ji/ may be simplified to [u] and [i].

Stress

All long vowels in a word get equal stress. If there are no long vowels, stress falls on the first syllable.

Secondary stress falls on short vowels which are two syllables to the right or to the left of a stressed syllable.

Gamilaraay words in English

Several loanwords have entered Australian English from Gamilaraay, including:

Common nouns
Anglicised form Gamilaraay Meaning
bindi-eye, bindii, bindies bindayaa The burrs of several plant species (Emex australis, Tribulus terrestris, and Soliva sessilis) that stick in one's feet.
brolga burralga A bird species, Grus rubicunda.
possibly budgerigar gidjirrigaa A bird species, Melopsittacus undulatus.
galah gilaa A bird species, Eolophus roseicapilla
Proper nouns
Anglicised form Gamilaraay Meaning
Kamilaroi gamilaraay The Gamilaraay people or language.
Placenames
Anglicised form Gamilaraay Meaning
Boggabri bagaaybaraay having creeks
Boggabilla bagaaybila full of creeks
Collarenebri galariinbaraay having acacia blossoms
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References

  1. 1 2 Gamilaraay at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. 1 2 There is quite some confusion over the names Wirray Wirray, Wiriyarray, and Wirraayarray. See AIATSIS:Wirray Wirray
  3. ↑ Dixon, Robert M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. xxxiv.
  4. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Gamilaraay". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  5. ↑ Gamilaraay at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  6. ↑ "Gamilaraay". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  7. ↑ For more information on the Euahlayi dialect and tribe, see The Euahlayi Tribe. A Study of Aboriginal Life in Australia by K. Langloh Parker.
  8. ↑ This map is indicative only.

Bibliography

Further reading


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