| Iwaidjan | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Cobourg Peninsula region,Northern Territory |
| Linguistic classification | Arnhem Land?
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | iwai1246 |
 Iwaidjan languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey) | |
.png) Closeup. Amurdag is the southern section (tan), Wurrugu the tip of the peninsula (green), the rest Iwaidjic (purple). On the grey island just offshore isMarrgu, once thought to be Iwaidjan. | |
TheIwaidjan orYiwaidjan languages are a smallfamily ofnon-Pama–NyunganAustralian Aboriginal languages spoken in theCobourg Peninsula region of WesternArnhem Land.
In 1997Nicholas Evans proposed anArnhem Land family that includes the Iwaidjan languages, though their inclusion is not accepted in Bowern (2011).[1]
Garig and Ilgar are two almost identical dialects.[2] Manangkari may be a dialect of Maung.[3]
Dixon (2002) considers Warrkbi demonstrated, but Iwaidjic (Warrkbi-Maung) and Iwaidjan to be speculative. He predicts that working out the histories of the languages will be a "profound challenge", regardless of whether they are a genealogical family or a language area.
Marrgu andWurrugu, previously lumped in with Iwaidjan, have little in common with it and may turn out to be a separate family.
As of 1998, Iwaidja was spoken by about 150 people in the community ofMinjilang onCroker Island,[4][5] alongsideEnglish,Kunwinjku and Maung.[citation needed] Maung is primarily spoken in the community ofWarruwi onGoulburn Island, and it too has about 150 speakers.[4] Both languages are still being learnt by children.[4] More recent assessments of the status of Iwaidja and Maung are that both have around 200 speakers and are spoken daily by a full age range of people.[6]
All the other Iwaidjan languages are close toextinction. In 1998[update], Amurdak had three remaining speakers and Garig and Ilgar three speakers between them.[4] However, some of these languages have younger people who, while not fluent, can aid in translating old recordings in an attempt to archive or revive the language.[6]
The Iwaidjan languages have similarphoneme inventories. Exceptions are noted below the tables.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Low | a | |
In addition to these, Maung also has/e/ and/o/, mostly inloanwords fromKunwinjku andKunbarlang.[7]
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Plosive | p | k | c | t | ʈ |
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n | ɳ |
| Approximant | w | ɰ | j | ɻ | |
| Trill | r | ||||
| Tap | ɽ | ||||
| Lateralapproximant | ʎ | l | ɭ | ||
| Lateral flap | ɺ | 𝼈 | |||
Maung lacks the twoflappedlaterals,[7] which are quite unusual among Australian languages. Also unusual is thevelarapproximant/ɰ/, which is an areal feature shared withTiwi andKunbarlang.[8]
The vocabularies of all the Iwaidjan languages containloanwords fromMacassarese andMalay,[9] bothMalayo-Polynesian languages fromIndonesia. Iwaidja and Maung have also borrowed heavily fromKunwijku,[9] another Australian language of theGunwingguan family.
While the Iwaidjan languages share a number of features with other non-Pama–Nyungan language families, it is uncertain which they are closest related to.[citation needed] Ross has proposed that they form part of anArnhem Land family.
Capell (1940)[10] lists the following basic vocabulary items (with Amarag words from Capell 1942[11])
The following basic vocabulary terms are collated from Capell (1940),[10] Capell (1942),[11] and Evans (2000):[12]
| gloss | Maung | Iwaidja | Amarag |
|---|---|---|---|
| man | arargbi | waːrgbi | awuɭaɭu |
| woman | waramuŋbig | woraidjba | wuraidbaru |
| head | wandji | bagal | iwulja |
| eye | won | jaɽ | waliwu |
| nose | mulu | mul | wiːl |
| mouth | ilagbiridj | ɽagbiridj | wiiŋara |
| tongue | ŋaɽalg | garalg | wiŋaril |
| stomach | gɔːrag | galal | aɖigu |
| bone | ijaɣig | gilir | igada |
| blood | maniŋog | maniŋul | maniŋul |
| kangaroo | aijaŋ | jilbuwi | malaijuwar |
| opossum | wundäru | muŋarg | waŋguwu |
| emu | waramundubu | ganguɽg | |
| crow | gɔragag | gumbulag | gubula |
| fly | molg | moɭg | mulgulg |
| sun | mowan | muwar | mänjidj |
| moon | gorana | guɽana | gurana |
| fire | juŋgu | gudjäli | gudjäli |
| smoke | wuŋain | guŋain | guŋaṉ |
| water | wobaidj | wobaidj | aɖawud |
*Blake, Nelson Muluriny;Glenn Mitchell Wightman; Lorraine Lesley Victoria Williams (1997),Iwaidja ethnobotany: Aboriginal plant knowledge from Gurig National Park, northern Australia,Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory,Wikidata Q109466416
