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

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.

External links


Australian Aboriginal and Tasmanian languages
Categories