| Ngalakan | |
|---|---|
| Ngalakgan | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Northern Territory |
| Ethnicity | Ngalakgan |
| Extinct | 2004 |
Arnhem
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nig |
| Glottolog | ngal1293 |
| AIATSIS[1] | N77 |
| ELP | Ngalakgan |
| 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. | |
Ngalakan (Ngalakgan) is anAustralian Aboriginal language of theNgalakgan people. It has not been fully acquired by children since the 1930s.[1] It is one of the NorthernNon-Pama–Nyungan languages formerly spoken in the Roper river region of theNorthern Territory. It is most closely related toRembarrnga.
Ngalakan has a typical Australian consonant inventory, with many coronal places of articulation (seeCoronals in Indigenous Australian languages), including nasals at every stop place, and four liquids, but no fricatives. Baker (1999, 2008) analyses the language as having both geminate and singleton realizations of every plosive consonant. Merlan (1983), however, argues that there is afortis–lenis contrast, and thus two series of plosives rather than the one shown here. Lenis/short plosives have weak contact and intermittent voicing, while fortis/long plosives have full closure, a more powerful release burst, and no voicing. Similar contrasts are found in otherGunwinyguan languages, such asBininj Kunwok,[2]Jawoyn,Dalabon,Rembarrnga,Ngandi,[3] as well as in the neighboringYolngu languages.
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n | ɳ | |
| Stop | p | k | c | t | ʈ | ʔ |
| Tap | ɾ | |||||
| Lateral | l | ɭ | ||||
| Approximant | w | j | ɻ | |||
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | |
Ngalakgan is syntactically free, with pragmatically determined word order.
There isfree word order, with no syntactically governed positions for subject, object, verb etc. in a sentence. All this information is encoded in the morphology, which results in highly complex word structures. Interpreting these complex words correctly is crucial in determining what the speaker is trying to say.
Unlike mostpolysynthetic languages, Ngalakgan is almost entirelyagglutinating.Compounding is a productive process in Ngalakan which applies to all major lexical categories: noun+adjective, noun+verb adverb+verb. Suffixation for argument (ergative, genitive, dative), local semantic roles (locative, allative, ablative, perlative) and number occurs.[4]
