Worrorran languages
| Worrorran | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | northern Australia |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | worr1236 |
 Worrorran languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey) | |
The Worrorran (Wororan) languages are a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Australia.
The Worrorran languages fall into three dialect clusters:
- (Northern) Wunambal
- (Eastern) Ungarinyin (Ngarinyin)
- (Western) Worrorra
Validity
There has been debate over whether the Worroorran languages are demonstrably related to one another, or constitute a geographical language group.
Dixon (2002) considers them to be language isolates with no demonstrable relationship other than that of a Sprachbund.
However, more recent literature differs from Dixon:
- Rumsey and McGregor (2009) demonstrate the cohesiveness of the family and its reconstructibility, and;
- Bowern (2011) accepts the Worroorran languages as a family.[1]
References
- ^ Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- McGregor and Rumsey (2009). Worrorran Revisited: The Case for Genetic Relations Among Languages of the Northern Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Pacific Linguistics.
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