• Source: Nyawaygi language

The Nyawaygi language, also spelt Nywaigi, Geugagi, Njawigi, Nyawigi or Nawagi, is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language that was spoken by the Nyawaygi people in North Queensland, on the east coast of Australia. The Nyawaygi language region includes the landscape within the Hinchinbrook Regional Council, Halifax Bay, and Rollingstone.
Nyawaygi has the smallest number of consonants, 12, of any Australian language. It has 7 conjugations, 3 open and 4 closed, the latter including monosyllabic roots, and, in this regard, conserved a feature of proto-Pama–Nyungan lost from contiguous languages.




Phonology






= Consonants

=

Unlike most Australian languages, [d] occurs as an allophone of /r/ when after a consonant. /r/ is heard as [r] in all other environments.
Palatal sounds /ɟ, ɲ/ can occasionally be heard as dental sounds [d̪, n̪].
/r/ can also occasionally be heard as a tap [ɾ].
/ɻ/ can be heard as a flap [ɽ] in word-final positions.




= Vowels

=




Vocabulary


Some words from the Nyawaygi language, as spelt and written by Nyawaygi authors include:

Alu 'head'
Angal 'boomerang'
Balgan 'stone'
Buramu 'butterfly'
Gabagan 'aunt'
Touca tula 'good day'
Wadi 'laugh'
Yunggul 'one'




Notes






External links


Nywaigi Language Recordings, State Library of Queensland

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Bahasa Nunggubuyu
• Nyawaygi language
• Dyirbalic languages
• NYT (disambiguation)
• List of language families
• List of Australian Aboriginal languages
• Dyirbal language
• Robert M. W. Dixon
• Warrongo language
• Woiwurrung–Taungurung language
• Nyawigi