Kaytetye language

Kaytetye
Native to Australia
Region central Northern Territory
Ethnicity Kaytetye people
Native speakers
 122 (2016 census)[1]
Akitiri Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gbb
Glottolog kayt1238[2]
AIATSIS[3] C13

Kaytetye (Kaititj) is an Australian Aboriginal language of central Northern Territory. The language is considered to be threatened; The language is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users.[4]


The Kaytetye have (or had) a well-developed sign language.

Phonology

Kaytetye is phonologically unusual in a number of ways. Words start with vowels and end with schwa; full CV(C) syllables only occur within a word, as in the word arrkwentyarte 'three' (schwa is spelled ⟨e⟩, unless initial, in which case it is not written and often not pronounced). Stress falls on the first full syllable. There are only two productive vowels, but numerous consonants, including pre-stopped and pre-palatalized consonants.[5]

Consonants

Consonants occur plain and labialized.

Peripheral Coronal
Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Dental Prepalatalized Alveolar Retroflex
Stop p pʷ k kʷ c cʷ t̪ t̪ʷ ʲt ʲtʷ t tʷ ʈ ʈʷ
Nasal m mʷ ŋ ŋʷ ɲ ɲʷ n̪ n̪ʷ ʲn ʲnʷ n nʷ ɳ ɳʷ
Prestopped nasal ᵖm ᵖmʷ ᵏŋ ᵏŋʷ ᶜɲ ᶜɲʷ ᵗn̪ ᵗn̪ʷ ʲᵗn ʲᵗnʷ ᵗn ᵗnʷ ᵗɳ ᵗɳʷ
Lateral Approximant ʎ ʎʷ l̪ l̪ʷ ʲl ʲlʷ l lʷ ɭ ɭʷ
Approximant ɰ w j jʷ ɻ ɻʷ
Tap ɾ ɾʷ

[w] is phonemically /ɰʷ/. In the orthography, /ɰ/ is written ⟨h⟩.

Vowels

Front Central Back
High (i) ɨ ~ ə
Mid
Low a

/i/ is marginal.

Two-vowel systems are unusual, but occur in closely related Arrernte as well as in some Northwest Caucasian languages. It seems that the vowel system derives from an earlier one with the typical Australian /i a u/, but that *u lost its roundedness to neighboring consonants, resulting in the labialized series of consonants, while *i lost its frontness (palatal-ness) to other consonants as well, resulting in some cases in the prepalatalized series.

Grammar

Kin terms are obligatorily possessed, though with grammatically singular pronouns. There's a dyadic suffix as well:[5]

Kaytetye kin inflections
Elder brotherMother
1 alkere-ye
my/our brother		arrwengke
my/our mother
2 ngk-alkere
your brother		ngk-arrwengke
your mother
3 kw-alkere
his/her/their brother		kw-arrwengke
his/her/their mother
dyadic alkere-nhenge
elder and younger brother		arrwengke-nhenge
mother and child

Dual and plural pronouns distinguish clusivity as well as moiety (or 'section') and generation. That is, for a male speaker, different pronouns are used for I and my sibling, grandparent, grandchild (even generation, same moiety), I and my father, I and my brother's child (odd generation, same moiety), and I and my mother, spouse, sister's child (opposite moiety). This results in twelve pronouns for 'we':[5]

Kaytetye pronouns for 'we'
Number & personEven generation
(same moiety)		Odd generation
(same moiety)		Opposite moiety
Dual inclusive aylemeaylakeaylanthe
Dual exclusive ayleneaylenakeaylenanthe
Plural inclusive aynangkeaynakeaynanthe
Plural exclusive aynenangkeaynenakeaynenanthe

That is, root ay-, dual suffix -la or plural -na, exclusive infix ⟨en⟩, an irregular nasal for even generation, and a suffix for same moiety -ke or opposite moiety -nthe.

Verbs include incorporated former verbs of motion that indicate direction and relative timing of someone, usually the subject of the verb. There are differences depending on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive:[5]

Kaytetye 'associated motion' stems
Timeangke 'talk'Glosskwathe 'drink'Gloss
Prior motion
(go/come and X)		 angke-ye-ne-talk after goingkwathe-ye-ne-drink after going
angke-ye-tnye-talk after comingkwathe-ye-tnye-drink after coming
angke-ya-lpe-talk after returningkwathe-ya-lpe-drink after returning
angke-ya-yte-talk after someone arriveskwathe-ya-yte-drink after someone arrives
Subsequent motion
(X and go/come)		 angke-rra-yte-talk before leavingkwathe-la-yte-drink before leaving
angke-rra-lpe-talk before returningkwathe-la-lpe-drink before returning
Concurrent motion
(X while going/coming)		 angke-yerna-lpe-talk while comingkwathe-yerna-lpe-drink while coming
angke-rra-pe-talk while going alongkwathe-rra-pe-yne-drink while going along
angke-rra-ngke-rre-nye-talk continuously while going alongkwathe-la-the-la-rre-drink continuously while going along
angke-lpa-ngke-talk once when on the waykwathe-lpa-the-drink once when on the way
Prior and subsequent angke-nya-yne-go and talk and come backkwathe-nya-yne-go and drink and come back

References

  1. ↑ "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Kaytetye". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Kaytetye at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  4. ↑ https://www.ethnologue.com/cloud/gbb
  5. 1 2 3 4 Koch, 2006. "Kaytetye". In the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed.


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