Kugu Nganhcara

The Kugu Nganhcara are an Australian group of peoples living in the middle western part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia. Today they are primarily concentrated at Aurukan and the Edward river settlement.

Language

Kugu Nganhcara is a Wik-language complex consisting of 6 varieties or patrilects, Kugu Uwanh, Kugu Ugbanh, Kugu Yi'anh, Kugu Mi'inh, Kugu Miminh, and Wik Iyanh, where 'kugu' is a classifer for speech, and the following word the infinitive of the respective verbs for 'go'.[1] These closely related languages are called patrilects by Steve Johnson since the respective groups belong to a society composed of patrilineal clans joined by exogamous relationships.[2]

Ecology

The tribal neighbours of the Kugu Nganhcara are, to the south, the Thaayorre.[3]

Wik Iyanh

The Wik Iyanh speak a language that looks like sharing close affinities with Wik-Mungkan, due to the flow of morphological features borrowed from the latter, and in the past had been classified as being a subgroup of the latter. According to Steve Johnson, comparative analysis suggests to the contrary that it forms part of the Kugu Nganhcara society though not as closely inrtegrated as the other five clans.[4]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ Johnson 1991, p. 204.
  2. ↑ Johnson 1991, p. 205.
  3. ↑ Gaby 2005, p. 10.
  4. ↑ Johnson 1991, pp. 204–205, 209.

References

  • Gaby, Alice (2005). "Some participants are More Equal than Others and the Composition of Arguments in Kuuk Thaayorre Competition and Variation in Natural Languages: The Case for Case". In Amberber, Mengistu; de Hoop, Helen. Perspectives on Cognitive Science. Elsevier. pp. 9–39. ISBN 978-0-080-45977-6.
  • Johnson, Steve (1991). "Social Paramaters of linguistic change in asn unstratified Aborioginal society". In Baldi, Philip. Patterns of Change, Change of Patterns: Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 203–218. ISBN 978-3-110-13405-6.
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