Nyigina language explained

Nyikina
Region:	Lower Fitzroy River, Western Australia
Ethnicity:	Nyigina
Speakers:	61
Date:	2016 census
Ref:	^[1]
Familycolor:	Australian
Fam1:	Nyulnyulan
Fam2:	Eastern
Script:	Latin
Iso3:	nyh
Glotto:	nyig1240
Glottorefname:	Nyigina
Aiatsis:	K3

Nyikina (also Nyigina, Njigina) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Western Australia, spoken by the Nyigina people.

Warrwa may have been a dialect.

Classification

R. M. W. Dixon (2002) regards Nyikina, Warrwa, Yawuru and Jukun as a single language.

Nyikina is placed in the Nyulnyulan family of non-Pama–Nyungan languages.

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Labial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	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/
Lateral			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Tap				pronounced as /link/
Approximant	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/

• 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].^[2]

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Low	pronounced as /link/

Phoneme	Allophones
/i/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
/a/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
/u/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/

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 . 10.1111/j.1835-9310.1952.tb00261.x.
• Book: Dixon, R. M. W. . R. M. W. Dixon . 2002 . Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development . Cambridge University Press .
• Book: Muecke, Stephen . J. . Ryan . Wallace-Crabbe, C . Imagining Australia: Literature and Culture in the New New World . https://archive.org/details/imaginingaustral0000unse/page/123 . 2004 . Harvard University Committee on Australian Studies . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 978-0-674-01573-9 . 123–135 . A Chance to Hear a Nyigina Song . registration .
• Book: 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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+). ABS. stat.data.abs.gov.au. en-au. 2017-10-30.
2. Book: Stokes, Bronwyn . A Description of Nyigina, A Language of West Kimberley, Western Australia . Canberra: Australian National University . 1982.