Bunuba language
| Bunuba | |
|---|---|
| Region | Western Australia |
| Ethnicity | Bunuba |
Native speakers | 40 (2005) to 110 (2006 census)[1] |
Bunuban
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bck |
| Glottolog | buna1275 |
| AIATSIS[1] | K5 |
| ELP | Bunuba |
Bunuba (Bunaba, Punuba, Punapa) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by some 160 older Bunuba adults, most of whom live in Junjuwa, an Aboriginal community in Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia. Bunuba is not related to the Pama-Nyungan language family that spans the majority of Australia, though it is a relative of Guniyandi.[2]
Due to the growing concern of their language becoming extinct, the elders make an effort by passing on stories to their younger people around the campfires at night. This is a way the Bunuba elders prevent the extinction of their language, passing it down through generations.[3]
Phonology
Bunuba has only three basic vowel phonemes: /i, a, u/. /a/ is the only vowel demonstrating contrastive vowel length. There are no other vowel phonemes.[4]
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Stop | p | k | t̪ | t | ʈ | |
| Nasal | m | ŋ | n̪ | n | ɳ | |
| Trill | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | ɭ | ||||
| Approximant | j | ɻ | ||||
References
- ^ a b K5 Bunuba at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- ^ Knight, Emily (2008). "7. Hyperpolysemy in Bunuba, a Polysynthetic Language of the Kimberley, Western Australia". In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Cross-Linguistic Semantics. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 206. ISBN 9789027205698.
- ^ Language: Bunuba, Australia, retrieved 29 June 2019
- ^ Dixon, R.M.W.; Blake, Barry J., eds. (31 December 1983). Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol. 1. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi:10.1075/z.hal3. ISBN 9789027220059.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)
 | This Australian Aboriginal languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |