| Alawa | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Northern Territory; Arnhem Land, Roper River. |
| Ethnicity | Alawa |
Native speakers | 5 (2021 census)[1] |
Macro-Pama-Nyungan?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | alh |
| Glottolog | alaw1244 |
| AIATSIS[2] | N92 |
| ELP | Alawa |
Alawa (Galawa) is a moribund Indigenous Australian language spoken by the Alawa people of the Northern Territory. In 1991, there were reportedly 18 remaining speakers and 4 semi-speakers.[3]
Alawa has a typical consonant inventory for an Indigenous Australian language, with five contrastive places of articulation, multiple lateral consonants, and no voicing contrast among the stops.[4]
| Alveolar | Palatal | Peripheral | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveo-palatal | Velar | Bilabial | |
| Prenasalised Stop | ⁿd | ⁿɖ | ⁿd̠ʲ | ᵑɡ | ᵐb |
| Devoiced Stop | t | ʈ | t̠ʲ | k | p |
| Nasals | n | ɳ | n̠ʲ | ŋ | m |
| Laterals | l | ɭ | l̠ʲ | ||
| Vibrants | r | ||||
| Glide | ɹ | j | w | ||
Note: there are no standardised IPA symbols for alveopalatal stops.
The vowel system of Alawa is made up of four vowel phonemes: the high front vowel /i/, the high back vowel /u/, the mid front vowel /e/, and the low central vowel /a/.[4]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ||
| Low | a |
There are no rounding contrasts or length contrasts in this language.[4]
Capell (1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:[5]
| gloss | Alawa |
|---|---|
| man | lilmi |
| woman | girija |
| head | guɽuguɽu |
| eye | gulur |
| nose | gujumur |
| mouth | ŋaːndal |
| tongue | djeːjälŋ |
| stomach | gundjäl |
| bone | galawa |
| blood | ŋulidji |
| kangaroo | girimbọ |
| opossum | gudjaɳi |
| emu | djinaliri |
| crow | waŋgunaji |
| fly | wuɳɖil |
| sun | marawaɭbaɭ |
| moon | aɖaŋari |
| fire | wubu |
| smoke | guŋuŋu |
| water | ŋọgọ |
