Nyawaygi language
Extinct Australian Aboriginal language
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The Nyawaygi language, also spelt Nywaigi, Geugagi, Njawigi, Nyawigi or Nawagi, is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language that was spoken by the Nyawaygi people in North Queensland, on the east coast of Australia. The Nyawaygi language region includes the landscape within the Hinchinbrook Regional Council, Halifax Bay, and Rollingstone.[3][4]
Nyawaygi has the smallest number of consonants, 12, of any Australian language. It has 7 conjugations,[clarification needed] 3 open and 4 closed, the latter including monosyllabic roots, and, in this regard, conserved a feature of proto-Pama–Nyungan lost from contiguous languages.[5]
Phonology
Consonants
- Unlike most Australian languages, [d] occurs as an allophone of /r/ when after a consonant. /r/ is heard as [r] in all other environments.
- Palatals /ɟ, ɲ/ can occasionally be heard as dental [d̪, n̪].[in which environment?]
- /r/ can also occasionally be heard as a tap [ɾ].
- /ɻ/ becomes a flap [ɽ] in word-final positions.[5]
Vowels
Vocabulary
Some words from the Nyawaygi language, as spelt and written by Nyawaygi authors include:[3]
- Alu 'head'
- Angal 'boomerang'
- Balgan 'stone'
- Buramu 'butterfly'
- Gabagan 'aunt'
- Touca tula 'good day'
- Wadi 'laugh'
- Yunggul 'one'
