Amurdak language facts for kids

Amurdak, also rendered Amurdag, Amurdak, Amurag, Amarag and Wureidbug, is an Aboriginal Australian language historically spoken in an area around the eastern coast of Van Diemen Gulf, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is a recently extinct language, the last recorded fluent speaker left being in 2021.

Status

According to a report by the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, it is an endangered language. The last living speaker, Charlie Mungulda, worked with Australian linguists Nick Evans, Robert Handelsmann and others, over several decades to record his language.

The Amurdak language and Charlie Mungulda were featured in Language Matters with Bob Holman, a 2015 PBS documentary about endangered languages.

According to the 2016 Australian census, there were no speakers of Amurdak in 2016; however, as of March 2021^[update] Mungulda's death has not been reported, and he co-authored a paper published in May 2020.

Phonology

Consonants

Evans but not Mailhammer identifies a palatal lateral /ʎ/ in Amurdag.

Vowels

Mailhammer (2009) does not provide a vowel inventory but Evans (1998) briefly discusses vowels in his paper, noting that Iwaidjan languages including Amurdak have a three vowel (/a/, /i/, /u/) system.