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Mingginda language facts for kids

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Mingginda
Minkin
Region Queensland, Australia
Ethnicity Mingin people
Extinct (date missing)
Language family
AIATSIS G26

Mingginda, also known as Minkin, was an ancient language spoken by the Mingin people in northern Queensland, Australia. It was used in the area around Burketown, near the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. This region includes where the Leichhardt River begins.

About the Mingginda Language

The Mingginda language is considered extinct, meaning it is no longer spoken by anyone. It was an Aboriginal language. Experts are not completely sure about its history. Some think it might have been a language isolate. This means it was not closely related to any other known language family.

Language Family Connections

It is hard to classify Mingginda because there is not much information about it. Some experts have suggested it might be connected to the Yiwaidjan or Tangkic language families.

However, a linguist named Nicholas Evans believed it was part of the Tangkic language family. He thought it was more distantly related than other languages in that group. This idea was also supported by another expert, Claire Bowern, in 2011.

Words from Mingginda

Nicholas Evans collected some words from the Mingginda language. This helps us understand a little bit about how the language worked. Here are a few examples:

English Meaning Mingginda Word
man ŋaRka
woman maku
boy, children wuRaRa
baby piltʸinkuRa
father kEyatʸi
mother kuntuŋu
head wiʈa
eye mitʸELa
ear maRa
hand ŋaRŋaRa
water, rain wat̪a
fire wiLa
sun tʸiRiŋaŋa
moon palaŋatʸi
kangaroo punkana
dingo mitʸilpaRa
emu puLanʸtʸana
fish waRa
good puRuka
bad TuRka
one tʸuwaRnʸu
two Tikinʸa
to walk yaNkiya
to eat TayaTaya
to sleep yuŋ(k)uyu
yes Niya

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Idioma minkin para niños

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