| Kunjen | |
|---|---|
| Uw | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Cape York Peninsula,Queensland |
| Ethnicity | Ngundjan (Ogh-Undjan),Uw Oykangand,Olkola |
Native speakers | 2 (2005)[1] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:kjn – Oykangandolk – Olkol |
| Glottolog | kunj1248 |
| AIATSIS[1] | Y83 Kunjen (cover term),Y188 Kokiny,Y237 Athina |
| ELP | |
 Kunjen is classified as Critically Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
| 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. | |
Kunjen, orUw, is aPaman language spoken on theCape York Peninsula ofQueensland, Australia, by theUw Oykangand,Olkola, and relatedAboriginal Australian peoples.[2] It is closely related toKuuk Thaayorre, and perhapsKuuk Yak.
Two of its dialects,Uw Olkola (Olgolo) andUw Oykangand (Koko Wanggara), are very close, beingmutually intelligible and sharing 97% of their corevocabulary.[3]Another two,Ogh-Undjan andKawarrangg, are also close, but somewhat more distant from the first pair.Kokinj (Kokiny) is a subdialect of Ogh-Undjan. A fifth variety,Athima, is poorly attested.
Below is a table showing the mutual intelligibility in vocabulary between the Kunjen dialects, based on a list of 100 basic words.[4]
| Uw Oykangand | 97% | 44% | 38% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uw Olkola | 43% | 38% | |
| Ogh-Undjan | 82% | ||
| Kawarrangg | |||
A smalldictionary of Kunjen has been compiled by Philip Hamilton.[5] A great majority of words begin with a vowel (>96%), similar to the situation in distantly-relatedArrernte. Exceptions includekinship terms and loanwords. Syllable onsets are thought to be present inall languages, so their absence in native lexicon is highly notable.
As in many otherAustralian languages, such asDyirbal, Kunjen also has arespect register, which is a polite way of speaking with a potentialmother-in-law and is calledOlkel-Ilmbanhthi. Most of the vocabulary is replaced, whileaffixes and function words are kept.[6]
Alka-nhdh
spear-INSTR
idu-rr
spear-PST
ay
I
Alka-nhdh idu-rr ay
spear-INSTR spear-PST I
"I speared it with a spear."
Udnga-nhdh
spear-INSTR
yanganyunyja-rr
spear-PST
ay
I
Udnga-nhdh yanganyunyja-rr ay
spear-INSTR spear-PST I
"I speared it with a spear."
Kunjen has 5vowels:
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
There is a lexicalvowel harmony constraint in Kunjen: Close and mid vowels do not co-occur in a word.
Kunjen has 27consonants:
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p⟨p⟩ | k⟨k⟩ | c⟨ch⟩ | t̪⟨th⟩ | t⟨t⟩ | |
| voiced | b⟨b⟩ | g⟨g⟩ | ɟ⟨j⟩ | d̪⟨dh⟩ | d⟨d⟩ | ||
| Nasal | plain | m⟨m⟩ | ŋ⟨ng⟩ | ɲ⟨ny⟩ | n̪⟨nh⟩ | n⟨n⟩ | |
| prestopped | ᵇm⟨bm⟩ | ᶢŋ⟨gng⟩ | ᶡɲ⟨jny⟩ | ᵈ̪n̪⟨dnh⟩ | ᵈn⟨dn⟩ | ||
| Fricative | f⟨f⟩ | ɣ⟨ɣ⟩ | ð⟨ð⟩ | ||||
| Trill | r⟨rr⟩ | ||||||
| Approximant | Central | w⟨w⟩ | j⟨y⟩ | ɻ⟨r⟩ | |||
| Lateral | ʎ⟨ly⟩ | l̪⟨lh⟩ | l⟨l⟩ | ||||
The Uw Olkola word for thefreshwater crocodile,ogakor, was used as the name of a tribe on thesecond season of the American reality television seriesSurvivor in 2001.[9]
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