Mpakwithi dialect

Mpakwithi
Spoken in	Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia
Native speakers	?  (date missing)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Paman North Cape York Northern Anguthimri Mpakwithi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
linguist List	0gw-mpa

Mpakwithi is a moribund Australian Aboriginal dialect of Queensland.

Classification

Mpakwithi is generally regarded as a dialect of the Anguthimri language, which is part of the Northern Paman family.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i iː ĩ y	u uː
Close-mid	e eː ẽ (ø)	o
Open-mid	æ æː æ̃
Low	a aː ã

/ø/ is found in only one word.

Mpakwithi has the most vowels of any Australian language, with 16–17. It also is the only Australian language to have nasal vowels.

Consonants

While other Anguthimri dialects and Northern Paman languages have three fricatives, /β ð ɣ/, Mpakwithi has a fourth, /ʒ/. Its origin is uncertain. This is an extremely rare sound in Australian languages.

References

• Crowley, T. (1981). "The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri". In Dixon, R. M. W. and Blake, B. J.. Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol 2. Canberra and Amsterdam: Australian National University Press and John Benjamins. pp. 146–194. 
• Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780.