Worrorra | |
---|---|
Region | Western Australia |
Ethnicity | Worrorra, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, Umiida |
Native speakers | 8 (2021 census)[1] |
Wororan
| |
Dialects |
|
Worora Kinship Sign Language | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:wro – Worrorraxgu – Unggumixud – Umiidaxun – Unggarranggujbw – Yawijibaya |
Glottolog | west2435 |
AIATSIS[3] | K17 Worrorra, K14 Unggumi, K49 Umiida, K55 Unggarrangu, K53 Yawijibaya |
ELP | |
Worrorran languages |
Worrorra, also written Worora and other variants, and also known as Western Worrorran, is a moribund Australian Aboriginal language of northern Western Australia. It encompasses a number of dialects, which are spoken by a group of people known as the Worrorra people.
It is one of a group of Worrorran languages, the other two being Wunambal and Ngarinyin.
Worrorra is a dialect cluster; Bowern (2011) recognises five languages: Worrorra proper, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, and Umiida.[4] McGregor and Rumsey (2009) include the above dialects and also include Winyjarrumi (Winjarumi), describing Worrorra as a non-Pama-Nyungan language of the Worrorran group of languages known properly as western Worrorran.[3]
Umiida, Unggarrangu, Unggumi, and Yawijibaya peoples are described in separate articles.
An alleged Maialnga language was a reported clan name of Worrorra proper that could not be confirmed with speakers.[5]
Elkin Umbagai was a translator between English and Worrorra.[6]
Bilabial | Inter- dental |
Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop | p | t̪ | t | ʈ | c | k |
Nasal | m | n̪ | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ |
Rhotic | ɾ~r | |||||
Lateral | l | ɭ | ʎ | |||
Approximant | w | ɻ | j |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Low | a |
Phoneme | Allophones[8] |
---|---|
/i/ | [i], [ɪ] |
/a/ | [a], [ɒ], [æ], [ɛ̞], [ɑ], [ɐ] |
/u/ | [u], [y], [ʊ] |
/iː/ | [iː], [ɪː] |
/ɛː/ | [eɪ], [ɛː] ~ [eː] |
/ɑː/ | [ɑˑɪ], [ɑ] |
/ɔː/ | [oʊ], [ɔː] ~ [ɒː] |
/uː/ | [uː], [ʊː] |
The Worora have (or at one point had) a signed form of their language, used for speaking to kin in certain taboo relationships,[9] but it is not clear from records that it was particularly well developed compared to other Australian Aboriginal sign languages.[10]