Nyigina language

Nyikina
Region	Lower Nyigina
Native speakers	61 (2016 census)[1]
Language family	Nyulnyulan Eastern Nyikina
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nyh
Glottolog	nyig1240
AIATSIS[2]	K3
ELP	Nyikina

Nyikina (also Nyigina, Njigina) is an

.

Warrwa may have been a dialect.

Classification

as a single language.

Nyikina is placed in the

.

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Labial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	b	ɡ	ɟ	d	ɖ
Nasal	m	ŋ	ɲ	n	ɳ
Lateral			ʎ	l	ɭ
Tap				ɾ
Approximant	w		j		ɻ

• Sounds /ɟ, ɡ/, when following /l/ or in intervocalic positions, can be heard as [j, ɣ].
• /ɾ/ can also occasionally occur as a trill [r].^[4]

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low	a

Phoneme	Allophones
/i/	[i], [ɪ]
/a/	[ä], [ɑ], [ʌ], [æ]
/u/	[u], [ʊ]

See also

• Belinda Dann
• Loongkoonan
• Butcher Joe Nangan

References

• Capell, A. (1952–1953). "Notes on the Njigina and Warwa tribes, N.W. Australia". Mankind. 4 (9): 351–360, 450–496.
  doi:10.1111/j.1835-9310.1952.tb00261.x
  .
• Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development
  . Cambridge University Press.
• Muecke, Stephen (2004). "A Chance to Hear a Nyigina Song". In Ryan, J. (ed.). Imagining Australia: Literature and Culture in the New New World. Wallace-Crabbe, C. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Committee on Australian Studies. pp. 123–135.
  ISBN 978-0-674-01573-9
  .
• Stokes, B. (1982). A description of Nyigina, a language of the West Kimberley, Western Australia. PhD dissertation. Australian National University.

External links

• The film "Mad Bastards" (2010) depicting Nyikina language and culture