Matngele or Madngele is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory spoken by the Madngella and Yunggor peoples.
| Matngele | |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Territory, Australia |
| Ethnicity | Madngella, Yunggor |
| Extinct | by 2006 census[1] perhaps 1 reported 1973; perhaps 10 reported 1990 |
Eastern Daly
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | zml |
| Glottolog | madn1237 |
| AIATSIS[1] | N12 |
| ELP | Matngele |
Classification edit
Tryon (1974) classified Matngele with Kamu, and this is accepted by Dixon (2002) and Bowern (2011), though denied by Harvey (1990).[1]
Phonology edit
Vowels edit
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ɵ | |
| Low | a |
Consonants edit
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | k | c | t | |
| Voiced | b | ɡ | ɟ | d | ||
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n | ||
| Lateral | ʎ | l | ||||
| Rhotic | r | ɻ | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j | ||||
Grammar edit
Matngele has only five simple verbs. These must be combined with coverbs in order to form complex verbs.
References edit
- ^ a b c N12 Matngele at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Zandvoort, F. B. (1999). A grammar of Matngele. BA honours sub-thesis. Armidale: University of New England.
External links edit
- Matngele at the Dalylanguages.org website.