Morrobolam language facts for kids

The Morrobolam language is an Indigenous Australian language from far-north Queensland, Australia. It was also known as Morrobalama and Umbuygamu. This language was spoken by a group of the Lamalama people, who are the traditional owners of the land around Princess Charlotte Bay. Today, the Morrobolam language is considered to be possibly extinct, meaning there are no longer any speakers.

The History of Morrobolam Speakers

Early Life and Changes

In 1898, about 1,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Princess Charlotte Bay area. They had their own traditional lands and ways of life. However, when white settlers arrived, the Aboriginal people lost most of their land.

Many Aboriginal groups were forced to move to missions, which were special settlements run by churches. They also faced new diseases, like the Spanish flu, which caused a huge drop in their population. By 1930, the number of Aboriginal people in the region had fallen by 90%.

Moving to Missions

In the 1930s, many of the Aboriginal people who survived were moved to the Old Lockhart River Mission. Some Lamalama people, including those who spoke Morrobolam, stayed on their traditional lands until 1961. During this time, many worked on local cattle stations.

In 1961, the remaining Aboriginal people on their lands were also moved. They were taken to the very tip of the Cape York Peninsula. This meant they were far from their traditional homes.

The Language Today

By the 1990s, only four elderly people could still speak Morrobolam. Only two of them, Nancy Gunnawarra and Mabel Kullakulla, used the language regularly. Younger people in the community could often understand some of the language, but they could not speak it themselves. This is why Morrobolam is now considered possibly extinct.

Understanding Morrobolam Sounds

Vowel Sounds in Morrobolam

Morrobolam has five main vowel sounds. This is common in many Aboriginal Australian languages. These vowels are similar to the sounds you hear in words like "ski" (i), "boot" (u), "bed" (e), "go" (o), and "father" (a).

All these vowels can be spoken for a longer or shorter time, which changes the meaning of a word.

Consonant Sounds in Morrobolam

Morrobolam has many different consonant sounds, more than most other Aboriginal Australian languages. It even has sounds like fricatives (where air is pushed through a narrow gap, like 'f' or 'th') and prestopped consonants (where a stop sound is made very quickly before another sound).

Some of these sounds are written differently from how they are pronounced in English. For example, 'tj' is like the 'ch' in "church", and 'ny' is like the 'ny' in "canyon".

How Morrobolam Words Work

Nouns and Pronouns

Morrobolam is an ergative–absolutive language. This means it uses different ways to show who is doing an action and who is receiving it.

• Pronouns (like "he," "she," "it") have two forms: one for the person doing the action (whether they are the only one doing it or doing it to someone else) and one for the person receiving the action.
• Nouns (like "fire," "dog") have different endings, called "cases," to show their role in a sentence. For example, a noun might have an "ergative" ending if it's the one doing an action to something else. It might have an "absolutive" ending if it's the only one doing an action, or if it's the one receiving an action.

There are at least 10 different noun cases in Morrobolam. The ending added to a word depends on the last sound of the word. The "absolutive" ending is special because it doesn't add anything to the word.

For example, in the sentence: atha -Ø la-ngan fire-ABS burn - 3sg0 "The fire is burning now."

Here, "atha" (fire) has a "-Ø" ending, which means it's in the absolutive case. This shows that the fire is the one doing the action of burning.

Pronouns are often attached to the end of verbs as suffixes. This can show who is doing the action or who owns something.