Pitta Pitta
RegionQueensland
EthnicityPitapita, Ringaringa, Rakkaia, Karanya, Kungkalenja, Maiawali
Extinct2 cited in 1979[1]
Dialects
  • Pitta-Pitta
  • Ringu-Ringu
  • Rakaya
  • Ngulupulu/Karanja
  • Kunkalanja
  • Mayawarli (Maiawali)[2]
Pitha Pitha Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3pit – inclusive code
Individual code:
yxa  Mayawali (Maiawali)
Glottologpitt1247  Pitta Pitta
AIATSIS[3]G6 Pitta Pitta (other dialects listed from here)
ELPPitta-Pitta

Pitta Pitta (also known under several other spellings) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language. It was spoken around Boulia, Queensland.[4]

Pituri

The name pituri for the leaves chewed as a stimulant by traditional Aboriginal people has been claimed to be derived from the Pitta Pitta word pijiri.[5][6] though Walter Roth pointed out in 1897 that the word 'pituri', thus pronounced, was the term used by the neighbouring Yurlayurlanya people, and added that the Pitta Pitta people called it "tarembola".[7]

Status

In 1979, Barry J. Blake reported that Pitta Pitta was "virtually extinct", with only three speakers remaining – Ivy Nardoo of Boulia, Ted Marshall and Linda Craigie of Mount Isa.[1] It is now considered unlikely that any speakers remain.[8]

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Low a

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive p k c t ʈ
Nasal m ŋ ɲ n ɳ
Lateral ʎ l ɭ
Tap/Trill ɾ r
Approximant w j ɻ

Vocabulary

Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981).[9]

EnglishPitta-Pitta
mankarna
womanparratya
motherngamari
fatheryapiri
headkarti
eyemiyi
nosemilya
earngarra
mouthparla
tongueṯarli
toothmirlka
handmara
breastkaputyu
stomachngampa
urinepurra
faeceskuna
thighmarla
footṯina
bonepirna
bloodkimpa
dogpiyawarli
snakekaṯi
kangarookulipila
possumṯinapali
fishkupi
spiderkupu
mosquitokuṉṯi
emuwarrukatyi
eaglehawkkurriṯala
crowwakiri
sunwarlka
moontyangi
startyinpi
stonetipu
waterngapu
campngurra
firemaka
smokekuṯu
foodyaṉṯurru
meatkaṯi
standṯarrka
sitṉangka
seeṉatyi
gokarnta
getmarri
hitpiṯi
Ingantya
youinpa
onengururu
twoparrkula

Sign language

The Pitta Pitta had well-developed a signed form of their language.[10]

Sign language

The Pitta Pitta had well-developed a signed form of their language.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Barry J. Blake (1979). "Pitta-Pitta". In Robert M. W. Dixon & Barry J. Blake (ed.). Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol. 1. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 183–242. ISBN 90-272-0512-4.
  2. RMW Dixon (2002), Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development, p xxxvii
  3. G6 Pitta Pitta (other dialects listed from here) at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  4. Crump, Des (17 August 2020). "Language of the Week: Week Twelve - Pitta Pitta". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  5. Philip A. Clarke (2007). "The power of plants". Aboriginal People and their Plants. Rosenberg Publishers. pp. 96–110. ISBN 978-1-877058-51-6.
  6. Philip A. Clarke (2008). "Making plant names". Aboriginal Plant Collectors: Botanists and Australian Aboriginal People in the Nineteenth Century. Rosenberg Publishers. pp. 42–57. ISBN 978-1-877058-68-4.
  7. Roth 1897, p. 51.
  8. "Pitta Pitta: an extinct language of Australia". Ethnologue. SIL International. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  9. Blake, Barry J. (1981). Australian Aboriginal languages: a general introduction. London: Angus & Robertson Publishers. ISBN 0-207-14044-8.
  10. Adam Kendon (1988). Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36008-1.
  11. Adam Kendon (1988). Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36008-1.
  • Blake, Barry J. (1979). Pitta-Pitta. In R.M.W. Dixon and Barry Blake (eds.), Handbook of Australian Languages, Vol. 1. 183–244. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Roth, W. E. (1897). Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. Brisbane: Edmund Gregory, Government Printer.
  • Roth, Walter E. (1897). The expression of ideas by manual signs: a sign-language. (p. 273–301) Reprinted from Roth, W.E. Ethnological studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. London, Queensland Agent-Generals Information Office, 1897; 71–90; Information collected from the following tribes; Pitta-Pitta, Boinji, Ulaolinya, Wonkajera, Walookera, Undekerebina, Kalkadoon, Mitakoodi, Woonamurra, Goa. Reprinted (1978) in Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia. New York: Plenum Press, vol. 2.


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