Wemba Wemba language

The Wemba Wemba language is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language once spoken along the tributaries of the Murrumbidgee River.

Wemba-Wemba
Eastern Central Murray
RegionVictoria
EthnicityWemba-Wemba, Nari-Nari, Barapa Barapa, Wergaia, Wotjobaluk, Marditjali, ?Jardwadjali
Extinct(date missing)[1]
Dialects
  • Nari Nari
  • Baraba Baraba
  • Wergaia (incl. Wotjobaluk)
  • ? Jardwadjali
Language codes
ISO 639-3xww – inclusive code
Individual codes:
rnr – Nari-Nari
rbp – Baraba-Baraba
weg – Wergaia
xwt – Wotjobaluk
Glottologwest2443  incl. Madhi–Ladji–Wadi[2]
AIATSIS[3]D1

Nari Nari, a dialect of Wemba Wemba, is as of 2020 part of a language revival project. Other dialects are Baraba Baraba and Wergaia.

Jardwadjali (with dialects Jagwadjali, Nundadjali, Mardidjali) may be Wemba-Wemba,[4] or may be closer to the Madhi–Ladji–Wadi varieties.

Sounds

Consonants
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Stop p k t̪ c t ʈ
Nasal m ŋ ɲ n ɳ
Lateral l ɭ
Rhotic r ɽ
Approximant w j

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close ɪ, i ʊ, u
Mid ɛ, e ə ɔ, o
Open a

Voiced consonant sounds only occur within prenasalized stops. Prenasal consonants include: /mb/ /nd/ /ndy/ /ng/ and /rnd/. In phonetic form they are pronounced as [mb] [nd] [ɲɟ] [ŋɡ] and [ɳɖ].[5]

Influence on English

At least four botanical terms in Australian English are thought to have been introduced into local speech from Wemba-Wemba:

Language revival

As of 2020, the Nari Nari dialect[8] is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".[9]

References
  1. "D1: Wemba Wemba". Austlang. AIATSIS. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Western Victoria [Kulin]". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. D1 Wemba-Wemba at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  4. R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development: v. 1 (Cambridge Language Surveys). Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1
  5. Hercus, Luise A. (1992). Wembawemba Dictionary.
  6. Clarke 2008, p. 52.
  7. Oxford Dictionary of English, p 2,054.
  8. "D9: Nari Nari". Austlang. AIATSIS. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  9. "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Retrieved 14 January 2020.


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