Yankuntyatyary is one of the languages of Australia , referring to the Pama-Nyungskoy language family. Language is one of the dialects of the language of the western desert .
Yankuntyatyarya | |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Regions | Northwest Australia |
Total number of speakers | 561 (2006) |
Status | |
Classification | |
Category | Australian languages |
poma-nyungskie languages
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | - |
ISO 639-2 | |
ISO 639-3 | kdd |
WALS | |
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Ethnologue | |
ABS ASCL | |
AUSTLANG | |
Elcat | |
Ietf | |
Glottolog | |
Genealogical and Areal Information
Yankuntyatyarya is the language of the Vati group of the southwestern branch of the Pama-Nyunga language family. Yankuntyatyarya is one of the 14 dialects of the language of the western desert . It is spoken mainly in northwestern Australia in such Aboriginal communities as: Mimili, Indulkana, Fregon and Ernabella, as well as in some other communities.
Sociolinguistic Information
According to the Australian census 2006, the number of speakers is 561. They use the language in everyday life, and also learn English as a foreign language to communicate with people who do not know Yankuntyatyar. On the same territory, another dialect of the language of the western desert is sometimes used - Pityantyatiar .
Typological characteristic
Type of expression of grammatical meanings
Yankuntyatyarya is a synthetic language with a developed suffixal morphology.
tjintu-ngka-na | Mimili-ku | kulpa-nyi |
tomorrow-Loc-1Sg | Kimili Purp | Return-Pres |
I'm going back to mimili tomorrow |
[Goddard 1983: 130]
kungka-ngku | tina | kutja-ni |
female erg | lunch-acc | cook-pres |
Woman cooking dinner |
[Goddard 1983: 95]
Character boundary between morphemes
The language is characterized by an agglutinative system. The boundaries of morphemes are unambiguous.
tjintu-ngka-ṉa | palya-ngku | nyanga-nyi |
Sun-Loc-1Sg (Erg) | good-erg | see-Pres |
I will look (at it) in good light |
[Goddard 1983: 31]
pala-ngka-li | ngura | tjunku-ku |
here is Loc-1Du (Erg) | camp-acc | smash-fut |
We can camp here |
[Goddard 1983: 98]
Marking Locus
In the possessive naming group
In the possessive name group, dependent marking is observed:
tjitji-ku | katji |
child-gen | a spear |
child's spear |
[Goddard 1983: 31]
malu-ku | mayi |
Kangaroo-Gen | food |
kangaroo food |
[Goddard 1983: 31]
In predication
In predication, dependent labeling is also observed, since actants have indicators of case:
ngayulu | Tjampu-la | tjana-la | nyina-ngi |
1Sg (Nom) | Tiampu-LocName | 3pl-loc | stay-past.impf |
I stayed with Tyampu and others |
[Goddard 1983: 51]
Role Coding Type
In the language of Yankuntyatyar, a three-term type of role coding is represented. There are three distinct indicators of the nuclear actants of the verb: for the agent of the transitional verb , for the patients of the transitional verb and for the only nuclear actant of the intransitive verb .
Agens and transient verb patients are expressed respectively by an ergative and accusative :
wati-ngku | kata | ngayi-nya | pu-ngu |
man-erg | head (acc) | 1Sg-Acc | hit-past |
A man hit me on the head |
[Goddard 1983: 22]
kaanka-ngku | wanka | ngalku-payi |
crow-erg | caterpillar (Acc) | there is |
Crows eat caterpillars |
[Goddard 1983: 47]
The actant of the intransitive verb is expressed by the nominative :
ngayulu | tjamu-la | nyina-nyi |
1Sg (Nom) | grandpa-locName | sit-pres |
I'm sitting with grandfather |
[Goddard 1983: 40]
tjilpi-nya | anku-ringku-la | ngari-nyi |
Old man-nomname | sleep-incho-serial | lay-pres |
Old man sleeping |
[Goddard 1983: 25]
Basic word order
Unmarked is the SOV order. In language in all cases the verb is at the end of the clause .
punpun-ṉa | kuru-ngka | payi-ni |
flies (Acc) -1Sg (Erg) | eye-loc | brush off-Pres |
I look like flies from my eyes |
[Goddard 1983: 40]
Common phonetic and morphological features
Phonetics and phonology
Consonantism
The phoneme system of consonants is a set of 17 consonants, in which they are divided into peripheral and non-peripheral and are contrasted by the place of articulation : 2 apical, 1 laminar, bilabial and dorsal subgroups.
Non-peripheral | Peripheral | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apical | Laminal | Bilabial | Dorsal | ||
Alveolar | Postvalveolar | Dental | |||
Blasting | r | ṯ | tj | p | k |
Nasal | n | ṟ | ny | m | ng |
Lateral | l | ḻ | ly | ||
Shivering | r | ||||
Smooth | ṉ | y | w |
[Goddard 1983: 25]
As in most Australian languages , there are no fricative phonemes in the Yankuntyatyar language, and each nasal phoneme corresponds to an explosive. There are 3 side phonemes here.
Vocalism
Front | Rear | ||
---|---|---|---|
High rise | i, ii | u, uu | |
Low rise | a, aa |
[Goddard 1983: 12]
Iankuntiatyar distinguishes 3 vowels of different quality, each of which can be short and long. Long vowels appear only in the initial syllable.
Basic syllable structure
CV (C) or (C) V (V) (C). Yankuntyatyary differs from other dialects of the Western Desert language in that it allows for the beginning of a syllable to have vowels and smooth consonant phonemes.
Emphasis
In language 2 types of stress :
1) The main stress falls on the first vowel of the word.
2) Secondary stress falls on the first vowel of complex suffixes.
Morphology
Nouns
Seven cases are distinguished: ergative , accusative , nominative , genitive , locative , ablative , allative and perlativ .
In the end | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Ergative | Locative | Allativ | Perlativ | Ablative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abstract nouns | Vowel | ø | ø | -ku | -ngku | -ngka | -kutu | -wan | -nguru |
Demonstrative pronouns | Consonant | ø | ø | -ku | -Tu | -Ta | -kutu | -wan | -nguru |
Proper names | Consonant | -nga | -nga | -ku | -Tu | -Ta | -Ta-kutu | -Ta-wanu | -Ta-nguru |
Nouns and adjectives | Vowel | -nya | -nya | -ku | -lu | -la | -la-kutu | -la-wanu | -la-nguru |
[Goddard 1983: 24]
- The older generation of carriers tend to use in the ergative case the indicator -lu and in the locative case -la not only with proper nouns and adjectives, but also with abstract nouns and adjectives containing more than 2 syllables.
Two categories agree with the subject of the nominal group :
1. Active adjectives that describe the behavior, emotional / intentional state or sequence in which the subject performs an action
2. Derived elements, semantically and syntactically resembling active adjectives
Some nouns and static adjectives are also consistent with the subject (i.e., lexemes that may be the top of the noun phrase )
Pronouns
Pronouns have grammatical meanings of a person (1,2,3) and numbers (Sg, Du, Pl).
Ergative | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Locative | Allativ | Ablative | Perlativ | |
Pronouns (except 1Sg) | ø | ø | -nya | -mpa | -la | -la-kutu | -la-nguṟu | -la-wanu |
Specific Name (palu) | -ṟu | -ṟu | -nya | -mpa | -la | -la-kutu | -la-nguṟu | -la-wanu |
1Sg (ngayu) | -lu | -lu | -nya | -ku | -la | -la-kutu | -la-nguṟu | -la-wanu |
[Goddard 1983: 26]
The peculiarity of the language of Yankuntyatyar is the presence of a specific name pala , which functions in some contexts as a third person singular pronoun. Usually this element appears after its referent is defined.
wati | paluṟu | puluka | tjuṯa | ngalya-kati-ngu |
person | Or.Name (Erg) | cattle | many (Acc) | here-bring-past |
This man brought cattle here |
[Goddard 1983: 60]
The language also contains 3 groups of clitical pronouns - nominative / ergative, accusative and genetic. Some of them are equivalent to their corresponding pronouns. They play the role of an enclicic , that is, they join the last word of the first phrase element of the clause .
nyaa-n | kuli-ni |
that (Acc) -2Sg (Erg) | think-Pres |
What do you think? |
[Goddard 1983: 61]
Verb
In the language of Yankuntiyatyar there are observed inverse verbs, denoting the beginning of action or its formation. They are divided into:
- state verbs
mama | ngayu-ku | tjilpi-ri-ngu |
father | 1sg-Gen (Nom) | old man-incho-past |
'My father became an old man' |
[Goddard 1983: 109]
- verbs of the physiological state
tiwil-ari-ø |
'have cramps' |
[Goddard 1983: 109]
- verbs of the emotional state
kaakar-ari-ø |
'bother' |
[Goddard 1983: 109]
- behavioral verbs
puṟiny-ari |
slow-incho (imp) |
'Go slow' |
[Goddard 1983: 110]
- verbs of environmental change
tjintu-ri-ng |
'day is coming' |
[Goddard 1983: 110]
- verbs of the passage of time
nganaṉa | nyina-ra | iriti-ri-ngu |
1pl (Nom) | sit-serial | long ago-Incho-Past |
'We stayed very long' |
[Goddard 1983: 110]
- In addition to the inoactive verbs stand out
- Verbs that express sounding actions that have the -ma-n indicator. For example: nguujr-ma-n 'snore' walpal-ma-n 'bark'
- Delocutory verbs that have the indicator -n , joined by the suffix -ma-n . For example: wiya-n-ma-n 'say' no '
- Verbs that express the creation of sound, which have the indicator -tjinga-l . For example: takaḻṯakaḻ-tjinga-l 'create a sound knock'
List of Abbreviations
Abl - ablative,
Acc - accusative,
Dat - dative,
Du is a dual number
Erg - ergative case,
Fut - future tense
Gen - genitive,
Imp is the verb of the perfect imperative,
Incho is an indicator of the inverse verb
Loc - local case,
LocName - the locative case of proper names,
Nom - nominative case
Past - past tense
Pl is a plural
Pres is the present
Purp - target case
Serial is a serial verb
Sg is the only number
1, 2, 3 - first, second, third person.
References
- Goddard, Cliff. 1983. A Semantically-oriented Grammar of the Yankunytjara Dialect of the Western Desert Language
- https://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_ynk
- https://www.ethnologue.com/language/kdd