Template:Short description Template:About Template:Distinguish Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other
The Wilson River language, also known as "Modern" Wankumara (Wangkumara/ Wanggumara), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Karnic family. It was spoken by several peoples along the Wilson River in Queensland. Of these, the Wanggumara (Wangkumara) and Galali may have migrated from the Bulloo River and abandoned their language when they arrived.
SpeakersEdit
In 1981, the language was still spoken by four members of the Wangkumara community around Cooper Creek, the Thomson River, and the Warry Warry Creek, the town of Eromanga and the Nuccundra.<ref>Template:Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography</ref> It appears to have gone extinct by 2005.<ref name=AIATSIS/>
VarietiesEdit
Dixon (2002) considers Punthamara to be a dialect of Wangkumara, Bowern (2001) as very close. Bowern says that Ngandangara also appears to have been "very close", although data is too poor for a proper classification.<ref name=Bowern>Template:Cite book</ref> Karenggapa is either a dialect or an alternative name.<ref name="aiatsis2014">Template:AIATSIS</ref> (McDonald & Wurm 1979) note that Wilson River Galali, what they call "Waŋkumara (Gaḷali)", is very close to modern Waŋkumara and Bundamara.
Breen (1967) states that the (Karnic) speech of the groups along the Wilson River are essentially identical. These include Bundhamara, Gungadudji, 'Modern' Wanggumara and Ngandangura. For instance, that Gungadidji is 'almost identical to Punthamara and modern Wangkumara'. Nonetheless, these language varieties have been assigned individual ISO codes.
Mambangura (the language of the Thereila) may have belonged as well. At least, the Yandruwandha term Palpakunu covered it as well as the other Wilson River dialects.
A language labelled "Wonkomarra" in Myles (1886) is a different language from modern Wangkumara, and may be a variety of Kalali.
FeaturesEdit
Wangkumara is notable for being a language with a tripartite verbal alignment.Template:Citation needed Wurm's Wankamara (Galali) is entirely suffixing and morphologically fairly simple having the following word classes: nominal (noun and pronoun), verb, particle, and interjection. The word order is random and free. The phonemes consist of three vowels and 26 consonants.
PhonologyEdit
ConsonantsEdit
- /d̪/ can have an allophone of [ð] when after /l̪/.
- Sounds /b, ɟ, ɡ/ can be lenited as fricatives [β, ʒ, ɣ] when in intervocalic positions or after lateral sounds.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
VowelsEdit
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Low | Template:IPA link |
The vowel sounds are a three-vowel system. Vowel length is not evenly distributed, but is mostly heard phonetically when preceding voiced consonants. Allophones may also occur.<ref name=":0" />