| Martuthunira | |
|---|---|
| Region | Western Australia |
| Ethnicity | Mardudunera |
| Extinct | 6 August 1995 with the death ofAlgy Paterson. |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | vma |
| Glottolog | mart1255 |
| AIATSIS[1] | W35 |
| ELP | Martuthunira |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Martuthunira is anextinctAustralian Aboriginal language, that was the traditional language of theMartuthunira people ofWestern Australia.
The last fluent speaker of Martuthunira,Algy Paterson, died on 6 August 1995. From 1980 he worked with the linguistAlan Dench to preserve Martuthunira in writing, and it is from their work that most of our knowledge of Martuthunira today comes.
The nameMartuthunira, pronounced[maɽʊðʊneɻa] by native speakers, means "those who live around theFortescue River". It has many spelling variants, including:Maratunia,Mardadhunira,Mardathon,Mardathoni,Mardathoonera,Mardatuna,Mardatunera,Mardudhoonera,Mardudhunera,Mardudhunira,Mardudjungara,Marduduna,Mardudunera,Marduthunira,Mardutunera,Mardutunira,Marduyunira,Martuthinya, andMartuyhunira.
Martuthunira is classified as a member of theNgayarta branch of thePama–Nyungan languages. UnderCarl Georg von Brandenstein's 1967 classification, Martuthunira was classed as a Coastal Ngayarda language, but the separation of the Ngayarda languages into Coastal and Inland groups is no longer considered valid.
Martuthunira has a fairly standard Australianphonology.R. M. W. Dixon uses it as a prototypical example in his 2002 bookAustralian Languages: Their nature and development.
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Plosive | p | k | c | t̪ | t | ʈ |
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n̪ | n | ɳ |
| Lateral | ʎ ~ᶡʎ | l̪ ~ᵈ̪l̪ | l ~ᵈl | ɭ ~𐞋ɭ | ||
| Rhotic | r | ɻ | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j | ||||
The laterals—but perhaps uniquely not the nasals—are allophonicallyprestopped.[2]
The laminal stop/c/ has a voicedallophone[ɟ] between vowels.
Between vowels, the dental stop/t̪/ can become[d̪],[ð],[ð̞],[ɻ],[j],[w], or even simply a syllable break. In some words one particular realization is always used, in others there isfree variation.
The alveolar stop/t/ has a voiced allophone[d] after a nasal. It occurs between vowels only in a handful of words, probably allloanwords, where it has a longer period of closure than the other stops[tː].
The retroflex stop/ʈ/ has a voiced allophone[ɖ] after a nasal, and a flapped allophone[ɽ] between vowels.
Besides the voiced allophones mentioned above, stops are usually voiceless andunaspirated.
The laterals haveprestopped allophones[ᶜʎᵗ̪l̪ᵗlʈɭ] when they occur in asyllable coda.
The alveolar rhotic/r/ is a tap[ɾ] between vowels, and a usually voiceless trill[r̥] finally.
The palatal semivowel/j/ may be dropped initially before/i/, but the equivalent dropping of/w/ before initial/u/ is rare.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | u uː |
| Low | a aː | |
/i/ is usually realised as[ɪ], though it may be realised as[i] near palatal consonants and as[e] near/r/,/n/ or/l/.
/iː/ is realised as[ɪː] in morpheme-initial syllables,[eː] elsewhere.
/u/ is usually realised as[u] in stressed syllables, and[ʊ] in unstressed syllables./u/ is fronted to varying degrees when near laminal consonants, being most fronted[ʉ] when preceded by a dental consonant. It has an unrounded allophone[ɨ] when followed by/ɻ/.
/uː/ is usually[ʊː], but is lowered to[ɔː] when preceded by a dental consonant.
/a/ is usually[ɐ] when stressed,[ə] when unstressed. Following a laminal consonant, more so after dentals than palatals, it is fronted towards[ɛ]. When preceded by/w/ and followed by a velar consonant, it is realised as[ɒ].
/aː/ is usually simply[ɐː].
All Martuthunira words begin with one of the following consonants, from most to least frequent:/pkmwŋct̪jɲn̪/. This consists of only peripheral and laminal stops, nasals, and semivowels. Words may end in a vowel, or one of/nrlɲɳʎɭ/.
Unlike most Australian languages, which exhibitergativity, Martuthunira and the otherNgayarta languages have anaccusative alignment. That is, thesubjects oftransitive verbs are treated the same as the subjects ofintransitive verbs, while theobjects are treated differently.
The Martuthuniranominative case is unmarked (zero). Theaccusative case, which descends from a suffix that originally marked thedative case, takes the form/-ŋu/ onproper nominals;/-ku/ oncommon nominals ending in a nasal (/ɲnɳ/);/-ju/ on common nominals ending in a lateral or a rhotic (/ʎlɭr/); and vowel lengthening for common nominals ending in vowels. The accusative case is identical to thegenitive case, except for common nominals ending in vowels, where the genitive suffix is/-wu/.
Martuthunira exhibitscase stacking, where nouns take multiplecase suffixes foragreement. For example:
Ngayu
I
nhawulha
saw
ngurnu
that
tharnta-a
euro-ACC
Ngayu nhawulha ngurnu tharnta-a mirtily-marta-a thara-ngka-marta-a.
I saw that euro-ACC joey-PROP-ACC pouch-LOC-PROP-ACC
I saw thateuro with a joey in its pouch.