Bininj Kunwok facts for kids

Bininj Kunwok is an Aboriginal language spoken in Australia. It is actually a group of six different ways of speaking, called dialects. These dialects are Kunwinjku, Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi, Manyallaluk Mayali, Kundedjnjenghmi, and two types of Kune.

Kunwinjku is the most common dialect. Sometimes, people use the name Kunwinjku to refer to the whole group of dialects. The people who speak Bininj Kunwok are called the Bininj people. They mostly live in a place called western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

There are over 2,000 people who speak Bininj Kunwok fluently. They live in an area that stretches from Kakadu National Park in the west to the Arafura Sea in the north. It also goes to the Blyth River in the east and the Katherine region in the south.

What are the Bininj Kunwok Dialects?

Bininj Kunwok is a group of related dialects. Experts say there are six main ones. These dialects are Kunwinjku, Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi, Manyallaluk Mayali, Kundedjnjenghmi, and two kinds of Kune (Kune Dulerayek and Kune Narayek).

These dialects are very similar in their sounds, grammar, and words. People who speak them also recognize them as distinct ways of speaking.

How Many People Speak These Dialects?

In 2021, the Australian census counted how many people spoke these languages.

• 1,494 people spoke Kunwinjku.
• 423 people spoke Kuninjku.
• 257 people spoke Kune.
• 71 people spoke Mayali.
• 12 people spoke Kundjeyhmi.

In total, 2,257 people reported speaking a Bininj Kunwok dialect. The Kundedjnjenghmi dialect was not listed as an option in this census.

Where Are They Spoken?

Kunwinjku is spoken in the largest town in the area, Gunbalanya. It is the most widespread dialect. About 900 people speak Kunwinjku, even though they are also learning English.

Kundjeyhmi is spoken in the middle part of Kakadu National Park. In 2020, only three of the original 12 languages in the Kakadu area were still regularly spoken. These were Kundjeyhmi, Kunwinjku, and Jawoyn. Kundjeyhmi and Kunwinjku are part of Bininj Kunwok, but Jawoyn is a different language.

In 2015, the Kundjeyhmi dialect group decided to officially change its spelling. It is now spelled Kundjeyhmi to match the standard way of writing Kunwinjku.

Sounds of Bininj Kunwok (Phonology)

Every language has its own set of sounds. This is called its phonology. Bininj Kunwok has some interesting features that are common in languages from central Arnhem Land.

For example, it has a "glottal stop." This is a sound like the one in the middle of "uh-oh." It also has two types of "stop" sounds, one short and one long.

Unlike many other Aboriginal Australian languages, Bininj Kunwok has five vowel sounds. Most Australian languages only have three. Bininj Kunwok has the vowels /i/, /u/, /a/, and also /e/ and /o/. What's unique is that its vowels don't have long or short versions, even though its consonant sounds do.

How Bininj Kunwok Works (Grammar)

The grammar of a language is how words are put together to make sentences. Bininj Kunwok has a very complex verb system. This means that a lot of information is packed into the verb itself. For example, the verb can tell you who is doing the action and who the action is being done to. It can also show when the action happened.

In the Kunwinjku dialect, nouns (names of people, places, things) are grouped into four classes. However, they don't always have special endings to show their role in a sentence. Some other dialects, like Kune and Manyallaluk Mayali, can use a special ending, -yih, to show who is doing the action.

Building Words

Bininj Kunwok builds words by adding many small parts, called affixes, to a main word. This is like building with LEGOs, where you add many pieces together. These pieces can change the meaning of the word.

Sentence Structure

The way sentences are put together in Bininj Kunwok is quite flexible. For example, words that describe a noun can sometimes appear without the noun itself. Also, the order of words in a group of nouns is not very strict.