Social:Jarrakan languages

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Short description: Language family of northern Australia
Jarrakan
Djeragan
Geographic
distribution
from Halls Creek to Wyndham and Kununurra along the Ord River in the eastern Kimberley region
Linguistic classificationOne of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions
  • Kija
  • Miriwoongic
Glottologjarr1235[1]
Jarrakan languages.png
Jarrakan languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey)

The Jarrakan (formerly Djeragan) languages are a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Australia. The name is derived from the word jarrak, which means "language" in Kija.

The three main Jarrakan languages are:

  • Jarrakan
    • Kija (about 160 speakers)
    • Miriwoongic
      • Miriwoong (about 150 speakers)
      • Gajirrawoong (3 or 4 speakers)

These are divided into two groups: Kijic, consisting of only Kija, and Miriwoongic, consisting of Miriwoong and Gajirrawoong; Dixon (2002) considers the latter to be a single language.

Doolboong may also have been a Jarrakan language, but this uncertain as it is extinct and essentially unattested.

Vocabulary

Capell (1940) lists the following basic vocabulary items:[2]

English Gidja Guluwarin Miriwun Gadjerong
man djiːlin djiɣilin djawalaŋ djɔːmaŋ
woman ŋaːlil ŋaːlil gawilaŋ gabilaŋ
head guŋgulïn dumun gaminduŋ guɽunjuŋ
eye muːlu mɔːla mɔːl moːl
nose manil njiganïn njumbur njumbur
mouth ḏuwundïn ḏuwundïn ḏalala ḏabandaṉ
tongue ḏalalan ḏalalan ḏalala ḏalalaŋ
stomach djaːm daɽwun galdjän raːriːŋ
bone gwïdji daːlïn jaːriŋ jaːriŋ
blood gjauəlïn gjauldji garŋan guŋulu
kangaroo djiːriṉ djiriṉ djiːriŋ djiːriŋ
opossum laŋguṉ naŋguṉ guman guman
emu wanjäbal madjugul madjuguŋ
crow waŋgaɳa wɔŋgaral waŋgariŋ waŋgadiŋ
fly buɳul wurŋäl ŋurin ŋurin
sun baːndil baːndil gaŋiriṉ baːndiṉ
moon gaɳgiṉ gaɳgiṉ gangiŋ gaɳgiŋ
fire maɳiṉ gidjauəlïn gadjaːwilaŋ maːnuŋ
smoke wangiṉ dulubgari ḏuŋgi ḏuŋgiṉ
water guːɭiṉ goːliṉ gäluŋ gaːbuŋ

References

  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Jarrakan". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/jarr1235. 
  2. Capell, Arthur. 1940. The Classification of Languages in North and North-West Australia. Oceania 10(3): 241-272, 404-433. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1940.tb00292.x
  • McGregor, William (2004). The Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia. London, New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 40.