Gubbi Gubbi language

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kabi
Kabi Kabi
Region
Kabi Kabi (Kabi), Butchulla (incl. Ngulungbara)
Native speakers
24 of the Batjala dialect (2016 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Kabi Kabi (Dippil)
  • Badjala (Batjala, Batyala, Butchulla)
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
gbw – Kabi-Kabi
xby – Batyala
Glottologkabi1260
AIATSIS[2]E29 Gubbi Gubbi, E30 Butchulla
ELPGubbi Gubbi
 Batyala[3]
Badjala is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Gubbi Gubbi, also spelt Kabi Kabi, is a language of

K'gari
.

Words

According to Norman Tindale (1974), the word Kabi (['kabi]), means "no".[2]

"Wunya ngulum" means "Welcome, everyone" in Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi.[4]

Language status

The main dialect is extinct, but there were still 24 people with knowledge of the Batjala dialect (a language spoken by the

K'gari formerly known as Fraser Island) as of the 2016 Australian census.[1]

Phonology

The following is in the Badjala/Butchulla dialect:

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex/
Palatal
Velar
Stop
plain b
d
(ɟ) ɡ
tense
d̪ː
Nasal
m
n
(ɲ) ŋ
Lateral
l
Rhotic
r
ɻ
Approximant
w j
  • /n̪/ is always heard as palatal [ɲ] when preceding /i/, and in word-final position.
  • /d̪/ can be heard in free variation with palatal [ɟ].
  • /b d̪ ɡ/ can have lenited allophones [β ð ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
  • /ɻ/ has a lateral allophone of [ɭ] when preceding /b/.
  • /ɡ/ is often slightly palatalised as [ɡʲ] before /i/.

Vowels

Front Back
High
i u
Mid ɛ ɛː
Low
a

References

  1. ^ a b "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b E29 Gubbi Gubbi at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  3. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Batyala.
  4. ^ "Say G'day in an Indigenous Language" (PDF). slq.qld.gov.au/. State Library of Queensland. 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. ^ Bell, Jeanie P. (2003). A sketch grammar of the Badjala language of Gari (Fraser Island). The University of Melbourne.

External links