Jaminjung language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jaminjung |
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| Native to | Australia | |||
| Region | Victoria River (Northern Territory) | |||
| Native speakers | 29 (2016)e25 | |||
| Language family | ||||
| Dialects |
Ngaliwuru
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| AIATSIS | N18 Jaminjung, N19 | |||
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Jaminjung is a moribund Australian language spoken around the Victoria River in the Northern Territory of Australia. There seems to be a steady increase in the number of speakers of the language with very few people speaking the language in 1967, about 30 speakers in 1991, and between 50 and 150 speakers in 2000.
Phonology
Vowels
Jaminjung has 4 vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | u /u/ | |
| Close-mid | e /e/ | ||
| Open | a /a/ |
Vowel length is not distinctive. The close-mid vowel /e/ only appears in a small number of words, and is probably a loan from surrounding languages.
Consonants
Jaminjung has 18 consonants:
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Plosive | p /p/ | k /k/ | j /c/ | th /t̪/ | t /t/ | rt /ʈ / |
| Nasal | m /m/ | ng /ŋ/ | ny /ɲ/ | n /n/ | rn /ɳ / | |
| Trill | rr /r/ | |||||
| Approximant | ly /ʎ/ | l /l/ | rl /ɭ / | |||
| w /w/ | y /j/ | r /ɻ / | ||||
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Jaminjung language Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.