Gunbarlang language facts for kids

Gunbarlang, also known as Kunbarlang or Warlang, was an Indigenous Australian language. It was spoken in northern Australia and had several different ways of speaking, called dialects. Other names for it were Gungalang and Warlang.

Sadly, Gunbarlang is now a critically endangered language. This means very few people speak it today. Most of the Gunbarlang people now speak Kunwinjku. There is a special project working to help bring the Gunbarlang language back to life.

Where Does Gunbarlang Come From?

Languages can be grouped into families, just like human families. Gunbarlang belongs to the Gunwinyguan language family. This family includes many languages spoken in the Arnhem Land region of Australia.

Gunbarlang's closest language relatives are Bininj Kunwok and Dalabon. These languages share similar features and sounds.

Where Was Gunbarlang Spoken?

Historically, Gunbarlang was spoken in several places in the Northern Territory of Australia. Some people who spoke Gunbarlang lived in Warruwi. This town is located on South Goulburn Island.

Other speakers lived in Maningrida. In the past, the language was also spoken in Gunbalanya.

How Does Gunbarlang Work?

Gunbarlang is a very interesting language because of its grammar. It is known as a polysynthetic language. This means that many parts of a sentence, like subjects, objects, and actions, can be combined into one long word. Often, this long word is a verb.

The order of words in a Gunbarlang sentence can change. Sometimes, the subject (who is doing the action) comes first, then the verb (the action), then the object (who or what the action is done to). Other times, the subject comes first, then the object, then the verb.

How Verbs Change

In Gunbarlang, verbs are very important and can change a lot. They often include special parts that tell you who is doing the action and who the action is being done to. These parts are like small words attached to the main verb.

Verbs can also change to show when something happened. For example, they can show if an action happened in the past, is happening now, or will happen in the future. They can also show if an action is a command or a possibility.

How Nouns Work

Unlike some languages, nouns in Gunbarlang do not change their form to show their role in a sentence. However, Gunbarlang uses noun classes. This means that nouns are sorted into different groups.

For example, Gunbarlang has different classes for male things, female things, plants, and body parts. This helps speakers understand the type of thing being talked about.

Bringing Gunbarlang Back

As of 2020, Gunbarlang is one of 20 languages chosen for a special project. This project is called the Priority Languages Support Project. It is run by First Languages Australia and funded by the Australian government.

The main goal of this project is to find and document languages that are critically endangered. This means they want to record these languages, especially if there are no existing recordings. They also want to work with the few remaining speakers to learn and preserve the language. This effort helps keep the rich history and culture of the Gunbarlang people alive.