| Nukunu | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | South Australia |
| Ethnicity | Nukunu |
| Extinct | c. 2000 |
| Revival | 11-50 (2019)[1] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nnv |
| Glottolog | nugu1241 |
| AIATSIS[1] | L4 |
| ELP | Nukunu |
| 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. | |
Nukunu (orNugunu or many other names: see below) is amoribundAustralian Aboriginal language spoken byNukunu people onYorke Peninsula,South Australia. As of 2017, there is a revival and maintenance programme under way for the language.[2]
This language has been known by many names by neighbouring tribes and Australianists, including:
Nukunu is aPama–Nyungan language, closely related to neighboring languages in the Miru cluster[3] likeNarungga,Kaurna, andNgadjuri.
Nukunu has three different vowels with contrastive long and short lengths (a, i, u, a:, i:, u:).
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | iiː | uuː |
| Low | aaː | |
The Nukunu consonantal inventory is typical for aPama–Nyungan language, with six places of articulation for stops and nasals. There are threerhotics in the language.
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Velar | Dental | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | k | t̪ | c | t | ʈ |
| Voiced | (ɖ) | ||||||
| Nasal | m | ŋ | n̪ | ɲ | n | ɳ | |
| Lateral | l̪ | ʎ | l | ɭ | |||
| Tap | ɾ | ||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ɻ | ||||
A phonemic voicing contrast exists in Nukunu, but it has only been observed in the retroflex stop series. An example demonstrating such a contrast intervocalically iskurdi (phlegm, IPA ['kuɖi]) andkurti (quandong, IPA ['kuʈi]).
In contrast with otherThura–Yura languages, Nukunu did not partake in either the initial th- lenition before vowels or the lenition of initial k- before vowels.
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