Nunggubuyu also calledWubuy is anon-Pama Nyungan language[1] characterized by head marking with an intricate verb prefix morphology, bound pronominal forms for subject and object and prefixed noun classes.[2] Together withAnindilyagwa it shares the distinction of being one of the most grammatically complicatedAustralian languages.[3][a] It has at least 28 loanwords fromMakassarese language.[5] Its affiliation with other native Australian languages is disputed. Some speak of a Nunggubuyu–Ngandi language family,[2] or of it belonging to a larger Gunwingguan language family.[6]
The first dictionary of the language was written by the missionary Earl Hughes, who lived among the Nunggubuy for 17 years and spoke the language fluently.[4] Intensive follow-up work, resulting in two major monographs, was undertaken byJeffrey Heath in the 1970s.
The Nunggubuyu's traditional lands extended over some 2,700 square miles (7,000 km2) southwards from Cape Barrow and Harris Creek to the coastal area opposite Edward Island, and their western boundaries were formed by the Rose andWalker Rivers.[7]
The Nunggubuyu had very important cultural and economic ties with theWarndarang, extinct now as a distinct language group though descendants of several clans of the latter were absorbed by the Nunggubuyu.[8][9]
As elsewhere in Australia,kinship and descent are dominant concerns of Nunggubuyu society. However they do not share the very frequent system of sections and subsections that determine affinal relations in many Australian tribes, but rather interpersonal genealogical relationships undergird the social structure. This feature, anomalous for the area, is one the Nunggubuyu share with Papuan and Melanasian peoples, such as theMarind-Anim people.[10]
There are two moieties: theMandayung (with myths that tend to associate it with continuity and dispute resolution) and theMandaridja, whose myths suggest experimentation and change. They mirror in some respects thedua/yiridja moiety structures of theYolngu of northeast Arnhem Land.[citation needed] For this reason Mandaridja people absorb into their totemic systems things that are of foreign provenance, such as ships, planes and tractors. There are twomytho-ritual complexes divided among these respective moieties. The Mandayung are the proprietors of theGunabibi (Kunapipi) cult, while the Mandaridja control the "Ru:1" cult.[11]
^'The Nunggubuyu language, . may be an example of cultural complexity that approaches the limit of what the human mind is capable of learning, a complexity that may have arisen from millennia old relative isolation,'[4]
