Kalkatungu language
| Kalkatungu | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Mount Isa area, Queensland, Australia | |||
| Extinct | (date unknown) | |||
| Language family |
Pama–Nyungan
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| 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.
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[edit] Classification
There may once have been a closely related language, Wakabunga.[1] Kalkatungu is sometimes grouped with Yalarnnga as the Kalkatungic (Galgadungic) branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. O'Grady et al,[1] however, classify it as the sole member of the "Kalkatungic group" of the Pama-Nyungan family, and Dixon (2002)[2] regards Kalkatungic as an areal group.
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | u uː |
| Low | a aː | |
[edit] 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 | ||
| Vibrant | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ɻ | |||
It is not clear if the vibrant is a trill or a tap.
[edit] Stress
Like in English, word stress is realised in terms of loudness. Sentence stress is also organised similar to English with the first syllable in the final word of a phonological phrase getting the main stress.(tonic stress) Moreover,if there are more than two words in a phrase, the first syllable of the first word receives more stress than the non-final words.
[edit] Kalkatungu sign language
Kendon (1988)shows in his work that Kalkatungu also had a developed sign form of their language.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ O'Grady G.N, Voegelen C.F, Voegelen F.M (1966) Languages of the Indo-Pacific, Fascicle six, Anthropological linguistics 8/2
- ^ Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780.
- ^ *Blake, B. J. (1979). A Kalkatungu grammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- ^ Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[edit] External links
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