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Prior to the arrival of Europeans,Australian Aboriginal languages had been purely spoken languages, and had nowriting system. On their arrival, Latin script became a standard fortranscription of Australian Aboriginal languages, but the details of how the sounds were represented has varied over time and from writer to writer, sometimes resulting in a great many variant spellings of the same word or name.
At first, most Australian languages were written followingEnglish orthography (or in a few cases,German orthography), as it sounded to the writer. This meant that sounds which were distinguished in Australian languages but not in English were written identically, while at the same time sounds which wereallophones in Australian languages but distinct in English were written differently.
MostAboriginal words used in English follow these early conventions, and therefore do not usually give a good idea of how the word was pronounced in the original language.
| Language | Meaning | Early spellings | Modern spelling | Pronunciation (International Phonetic Alphabet) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guugu Yimithirr | “tongue” | unjar (1770)[1] ngandar (1901)[2] | nganhdhaar (1979)[3] | [ŋan̪d̪aːɻ] | Early spellings may miss the word-initial[ŋ], and fail to properly distinguish dental consonants. |
| Gamilaraay | “honey” | wuddul (1903)[4] | warrul (1993)[5] | [waɾul] | Early spellings may fail to distinguish between[ɾ] and[d], which are allophones in English but distinct in Australian languages. |
Writers with more linguistic knowledge sometimes employed symbols such as⟨ŋ⟩ or⟨ġ⟩ for/ŋ/,⟨ñ⟩ for/ɲ/,macrons⟨ˉ⟩ orcircumflexes⟨ˆ⟩ for long vowels,breves⟨˘⟩ for short vowels, but these were often applied inconsistently.
Linguists working with Australian languages today purposely use unambiguousphonemic orthographies based on detailedphonological analysis of the language in question. In orthographies of this kind each spoken word can only be written one way, and each written word can only be read one way.
Usually, but not always, practical orthographies use just the letters of the basic Roman alphabet. This necessitates the use ofdigraphs for sounds that do not have a standard character. In some cases this can lead to ambiguities, for example where the single sound/ŋ/ and the consonant cluster/nɡ/ could both be written as⟨ng⟩. These are commonly distinguished by writing the cluster⟨n.g⟩ (inserting afull stop),⟨n’g⟩ (inserting anapostrophe), or⟨nk⟩.
Most Australian languages distinguish just three vowels, which are written⟨i⟩,⟨a⟩ and⟨u⟩. Even though they may sound like⟨e⟩ or⟨o⟩ at times, they are not written⟨e⟩ or⟨o⟩, e.g. theMartuthunira wordwirrirri "flame" is pronounced as[weɾeɾɪ].Long vowels are represented by double letters, i.e.⟨ii⟩/iː/,⟨aa⟩/aː/,⟨uu⟩/uː/.
Thesemivowels⟨w⟩ and⟨y⟩ are usually pronounced as in English. In some languages,⟨w⟩ may not be pronounced next to⟨u⟩, and⟨y⟩ next to⟨i⟩, but for various reasons a linguist may still choose to write them, so that e.g.Gamilaraayyinarr "woman" is actually pronounced[inar].
A handful of languages have a dental semivowel, which is written⟨yh⟩ (see Place of articulation below).
Most Australian languages have tworhotics orr-like sounds: aretroflex approximant, as inAmerican English, written⟨r⟩; and atrill orflap (both of which are found inSpanish), written⟨rr⟩.
In languages that have only one of the two r's, it is simply written⟨r⟩.
Thebilabial,velar andalveolar consonants are usually written the same as in English, i.e.⟨p⟩/p/,⟨b⟩/b/,⟨m⟩/m/,⟨k⟩/k/,⟨g⟩/ɡ/,⟨ng⟩/ŋ/,⟨t⟩/t/,⟨d⟩/d/,⟨n⟩/n/,⟨l⟩/l/.⟨ng⟩ may also be written using the non-English letter⟨ŋ⟩, calledeng. Note that⟨ŋ⟩ sounds like theng insinger, not as infinger; the latter would be written⟨ŋg⟩.
Palatal consonants are often represented by a digraph made of an alveolar consonant +⟨j⟩ or⟨y⟩, i.e./cɟɲʎ/ can be written⟨tj⟩/⟨ty⟩,⟨dj⟩/⟨dy⟩,⟨nj⟩/⟨ny⟩, and⟨lj⟩/⟨ly⟩.⟨c⟩ and⟨j⟩ are other possible ways of writing the palatal stops.
Dental consonants are represented by a digraph made of an alveolar consonant +⟨h⟩, i.e.⟨th⟩/t̪/,⟨dh⟩/d̪/,⟨nh⟩/n̪/,⟨lh⟩/l̪/. Note that⟨th⟩ is not africative as inAustralian English, but astop as inIrish English.
Retroflex consonants are usually represented by a digraph made of⟨r⟩ + an alveolar consonant, i.e.⟨rt⟩/ʈ/,⟨rd⟩/ɖ/,⟨rn⟩/ɳ/,⟨rl⟩/ɭ/, as inSwedish. In some varieties, such asPitjantjatjara, a digraph is not used and instead the alveolar consonant is underlined to indicate that it is retroflex thus:⟨ṯ⟩,⟨ṉ⟩ and⟨ḻ⟩.
A handful of languages havepalato-velar consonants, between palatal and velar. ForYanyuwa, these are written⟨yk⟩/ɡ̟/,⟨nyk⟩/ⁿɡ̟/ (a prenasalised stop—see Prenasalisation below),⟨nyng⟩/ŋ̟/.[6]
Most Australian languages do not distinguish betweenvoiced andvoicelessstops, so that e.g.t andd both occur as variants of the same sound. Both the voiced and voiceless allophone will usually be written the same way, but whether to use the voiceless symbol or the voiced symbol varies depending on which occurs more frequently in the language. Some languages have been written using the voiced symbols by one linguist and the voiceless symbols by another. Moreover, some linguists choose to use voiceless symbols for some consonants in a language and voiced symbols for others.
Some languages do distinguish between voiced and voiceless stops, however.
Some languages haveprenasalized consonants, a stop preceded by a nasal sound which is considered one consonant. InYanyuwa these are written⟨mb⟩/ᵐb/,⟨ngk⟩/ᵑɡ/,⟨nj⟩/ᶮɟ/,⟨nth⟩/ⁿd̪/,⟨nd⟩/ⁿd/,⟨rnd⟩/ᶯɖ/.[6]