| Lamalama | |
| Also Known As: | Mbarrumbathama, Mba Rumbathama |
| States: | Australia |
| Region: | Queensland |
| Ethnicity: | Lamalama |
| Speakers: | 3 |
| Date: | 2016 census |
| Ref: | [1] |
| Familycolor: | Australian |
| Fam1: | Pama–Nyungan |
| Fam2: | Paman |
| Fam3: | Lamalamic |
| Iso3: | lby |
| Glotto: | lamu1254 |
| Glottorefname: | Lamalama |
| Aiatsis: | Y136 |
The Lamalama language, also known by the clan name Mbarrumbathama (Austlang) or Mba Rumbathama, formerly known as Lamu-Lamu or Lama-Lama, is a Paman language of Queensland, Australia. Lamalama is one of four languages once spoken by the Lamalama people, the others being Morrobolam (Umbuygamu), Mbariman-Gudinhma, and Umpithamu.[2]
In January 2019, the ISO database changed its reference name to Lamalama, from Lamu-Lamu.[3], Glottolog calls it Lamalama,[4] while AIATSIS' Austlang database thesaurus heading is Mbarrumbathama language.[5]
Austlang says, quoting linguist Jean-Cristophe Verstraete (2018), that Lamalama, Rimanggudinhma (Mbariman-Gudhinma) and Morrobolam form a genetic subgroup of Paman known as Lamalamic, "defined by shared innovations in phonology and morphology". Within this subgroup, "Morrobolam and Lamalama form a phonologically innovative branch, while Rumanggudinhma forms a more conservative branch".[6]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Phoneme | Allophone | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | in unstressed syllables | |
| pronounced as /link/ | in stressed syllables | ||
| pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | when following labial consonants | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | in free variation with [a] | |
| pronounced as /link/ | in unstressed syllables | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | when in the context of palatal sounds | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | realized within the diphthong /ia/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | realized within the diphthong /ua/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | in unstressed positions |