Nyikina
RegionLower Fitzroy River, Western Australia
EthnicityNyigina
Native speakers
61 (2016 census)[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3nyh
Glottolognyig1240
AIATSIS[2]K3
ELPNyikina

Nyikina (also Nyigina, Njigina) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Western Australia, spoken by the Nyigina people.

Warrwa may have been a dialect.

Classification

R. M. W. Dixon (2002) regards Nyikina, Warrwa, Yawuru and Jukun as a single language.

Nyikina is placed in the Nyulnyulan family of non-Pama–Nyungan languages.

Map of the traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal tribes around Derby, Western Australia.[3]

Phonology

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive b ɡ ɟ d ɖ
Nasal m ŋ ɲ n ɳ
Lateral ʎ l ɭ
Tap ɾ
Approximant w j ɻ
  • Sounds /ɟ, ɡ/, when following /l/ or in intervocalic positions, can be heard as [j, ɣ].
  • /ɾ/ can also occasionally occur as a trill [r].[4]

Vowels

Front Back
High i u
Low a
Phoneme Allophones
/i/ [i], [ɪ]
/a/ [ä], [ɑ], [ʌ], [æ]
/u/ [u], [ʊ]

See also

References

  1. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  2. K3 Nyikina at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. This map is indicative only.
  4. Stokes, Bronwyn (1982). A Description of Nyigina, A Language of West Kimberley, Western Australia. Canberra: Australian National University.


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