Worrorra language

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Worrorra
Worrorran languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey)
RegionWestern Australia
EthnicityWorrorra, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, Umiida
Native speakers
8 (2021 census)[1]
Wororan
  • (Western)
    • Worrorra
Dialects
  • Worrorra
  • Unggumi
  • Yawidjibara
  • Windjarumi
  • Unggarrangu
  • Umiida[2]
Worora Kinship Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
wro – Worrorra
xgu – Unggumi
xud – Umiida
xun – Unggarranggu
jbw – Yawijibaya
Glottologwest2435
AIATSIS[3]K17 Worrorra, K14 Unggumi, K49 Umiida, K55 Unggarrangu, K53 Yawijibaya
ELP
Worrorran languages

Worrorra, also written Worora and other variants, and also known as Western Worrorran, is a moribund Australian Aboriginal language of northern Western Australia. It encompasses a number of dialects, which are spoken by a group of people known as the Worrorra people.

It is one of a group of Worrorran languages, the other two being Wunambal and Ngarinyin.

Dialects of (western) Worrorra

Worrorra is a dialect cluster; Bowern (2011) recognises five languages: Worrorra proper, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, and Umiida.[4] McGregor and Rumsey (2009) include the above dialects and also include Winyjarrumi (Winjarumi), describing Worrorra as a non-Pama-Nyungan language of the Worrorran group of languages known properly as western Worrorran.[3]

Umiida, Unggarrangu, Unggumi, and Yawijibaya peoples are described in separate articles.

An alleged Maialnga language was a reported clan name of Worrorra proper that could not be confirmed with speakers.[5]

Notable people

Elkin Umbagai was a translator between English and Worrorra.[6]

Phonology

Worrorra consonant phonemes[7][8]
Bilabial Inter-
dental
Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Stop p t ʈ c k
Nasal m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Rhotic ɾ~r
Lateral l ɭ ʎ
Approximant w ɻ j
  • A nasal occurring before a stop consonant, is then realised as a prenasalized voiced stop sound (ex. [ŋɡ]).
  • /r/ can be heard as a trill or a flap, and is typically only voiced when preceding a sonorant, voiced phoneme, or lateral consonant. Elsewhere, it is voiceless as [], or can be heard in free variation.
  • /j/ can also be heard as a fricative sound [ç] in word-initial positions.
Worrorra vowel inventory[7]
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a
  • Long vowel sounds are noted as follows: /iː, ɛː, uː, ɔː, ɑː/.
  • In between consonant clusters, an epenthetic vowel sound [ʉ̆] ~ [ɨ̆] occurs when breaking them up. Sometimes it can also be heard as a central vowel sound [ɨ].[8]
Phoneme Allophones[8]
/i/ [i], [ɪ]
/a/ [a], [ɒ], [æ], [ɛ̞], [ɑ], [ɐ]
/u/ [u], [y], [ʊ]
/iː/ [], [ɪː]
/ɛː/ [eɪ], [ɛː] ~ []
/ɑː/ [ɑˑɪ], [ɑ]
/ɔː/ [oʊ], [ɔː] ~ [ɒː]
/uː/ [], [ʊː]

Sign language

The Worora have (or at one point had) a signed form of their language, used for speaking to kin in certain taboo relationships,[9] but it is not clear from records that it was particularly well developed compared to other Australian Aboriginal sign languages.[10]

References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  2. ^ Clendon (1994, 2000), Love (2000), cited in Dixon 2002
  3. ^ a b K17 Worrorra at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  4. ^ Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia? Archived 2012-08-15 at the Wayback Machine", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected Archived 2012-07-03 at the Wayback Machine February 6, 2012)
  5. ^ Tindale, Norman B. (Norman Barnett); Jones, Rhys (1974), Aboriginal tribes of Australia : their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits, and proper names, University of California Press ; Canberra : Australian National University Press, ISBN 978-0-520-02005-4
  6. ^ Valda J. Blundell and Mary Anne Jebb. "Umbagai, Elkin (1921–1980)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  7. ^ a b Capell, Arthur; Coate, Howard H. J. (1984). Comparative studies in Northern Kimberley languages. Pacific Linguistics Series C. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0-85883-314-X.
  8. ^ a b c Clendon, Mark (2014). Worrorra: A language of the north-west Kimberley coast. Adelaide: University of Adelaide. pp. 24–39.
  9. ^ Love, J.R.B. (1941). Worora kinship gestures, Reprinted in Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia. New York: Plenum Press, 1978, vol. 2, pp. 403–405.
  10. ^ Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Further reading