Darwin Region languages
Darwin Region | |
---|---|
Geographic distribution | Darwin, Australia |
Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
Subdivisions | |
Glottolog | None lara1258 (Laragia) limi1242 (Limilngan) umbu1235 (Umbugarlic) |
Darwin Region languages (red), among other non-Pama–Nyungan languages (grey). | |
Closeup. From west to east they are: Laragiya, Limilngan, and Umbugarlic. |
The Darwin Region languages are a small family of poorly attested Australian Aboriginal languages of northern Australia proposed by linguist Mark Harvey. It unites the pair of Limilngan languages with two language isolates:[1]
- Laragiya (nearly extinct)
- Limilngan:
- Umbugarlic:
Ngurmbur and Bugurnidja are poorly attested extinct languages, which are joined with Umbugarla to form the Umbugarlic branch.
Tryon (2007) lists the following varieties of Umbugarla–Ngumbur:
- Ngunbudj (Gonbudj), Umbugarla, Bugunidja, Ngarduk, Ngumbur.
However, nothing is known of Ngunbudj or Ngarduk, which were extinct by WWII.
References
- ^ Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)