Gubbi Gubbi language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kabi
Kabi Kabi
Region	Queensland
Ethnicity	Kabi Kabi (Kabi), Butchulla (incl. Ngulungbara)
Native speakers	24 of the Batjala dialect  (2016 census)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Waka–Kabic Than Kabi
Dialects	Kabi Kabi (Dippil) Badjala (Batjala, Batyala, Butchulla)
AIATSIS	E29 Gubbi Gubbi, E30
Badjala is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Kabi Kabi, also spelt Gabi-Gabi/Gubbi Gubbi, is a language of Queensland in Australia, formerly spoken by the Kabi Kabi people of South-east Queensland. The main dialect, Kabi Kabi, is extinct, but there are still 24 people with knowledge of the Butchulla dialect (also spelt Batjala, Batyala, Badjala, and variants), a language spoken by the Butchulla people of Fraser Island.

Words

According to Norman Tindale (1974), the word Kabi (['kabi]), means "no".

"Wunya ngulum" means "Welcome, everyone" in Kabi Kabi/Gabi-Gabi.

Language status

The main dialect is extinct, but there were still 24 people with knowledge of the Batjala dialect (a language spoken by the Butchulla people of Fraser Island) as of the 2016 Australian census.

Phonology

The following is in the Badjala/Butchulla dialect:

Consonants

• /n̪/ is always heard as palatal [ɲ] when preceding /i/, and in word-final position.
• /d̪/ can be heard in free variation with palatal [ɟ].
• /b d̪ ɡ/ can have lenited allophones [β ð ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
• /ɻ/ has a lateral allophone of [ɭ] when preceding /b/.
• /ɡ/ is often slightly palatalised as [ɡʲ] before /i/.

Vowels

• /aː/ can sometimes be heard as [æː] before /l/.
• /u/ can be heard as [ɔ] when preceding an intervocalic /ɻ/.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma gabi para niños