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Warrongo (or War(r)ungu) is an Australian Aboriginal language, one of the dozen languages of the Maric branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. It was formerly spoken by the Warrongo people in the area around Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Its last native speaker was Alf Palmer, who died in 1981.

Before his death, linguists Tasaku Tsunoda and Peter Sutton worked together with Palmer to preserve the language (Warrungu proper); thanks to their efforts, the language is beginning to be revived.

One of the notable feature of the language is its syntactic ergativity.

As noted by Ethnologue, the language is currently dormant meaning that there are no native/proficient speakers left.

Alternative names for the language include Warrangu, Warrango, War(r)uŋu, War-oong-oo, Gudjala and Gudjal.

Phonology

Vowels

There are three vowels: /a/, /i/ and /u/ (orthographically ⟨o⟩). Length is distinctive only for /a/, its long counterpart is orthographically represented as ⟨aa⟩. /u/ has two allophones: [u], and [o] (neither of which involve significant lip rounding), depending on the preceding consonant. Both are possible after /b/, /m/ and /j/, while after all other consonants only [o] appears. The allophony of /i/ seems to be governed by more complex rules but generally,  [i] is the sole allophone after /ɟ/ˌ /ɲ/ˌ /ŋ/ and /w/, while after almost all other consonants both [i] and [e] can be observed.

In the tables below, the consonants in angled brackets represent spelling in Warrongo. Those consonants with no brackets represent IPA.

Vowel Phonemes

	Front	Back
Closed	i ⟨i⟩	u ⟨o⟩
Open	a, aː ⟨a, aa⟩

Consonants

Warrongo has a consonant inventory of 13 consonant phonemes. All consonants in Warrongo are phonemically voiced and there are no unvoiced consonants.

Warrongo consonants

	bilabial	lamino-dental(only in Gugu-Badhun)	apico-alveolar	retroflex	lamino-palatal	dorso-velar
stop	b ⟨b⟩	(d̪ ⟨dh⟩)	d ⟨d⟩		ɟ ⟨j⟩	ɡ ⟨g⟩
nasal	m ⟨m⟩	(n̪ ⟨nh⟩)	n ⟨n⟩		ɲ ⟨ny⟩	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
rhotic			ɾ ⟨rr⟩	ɻ ⟨r⟩
lateral			l ⟨l⟩
semivowel					j ⟨y⟩	w ⟨w⟩

The sound [h] appears only in the interjection [hai] 'Hi!' and the exclamation of surprise [haha] (or [ha:ha:]) ^[10] Due to its minimal use, the phoneme /h/ is not considered a consonant phoneme in the language. Dentalized consonants tend to appear in the Gugu-Badhun dialect. An alveolar approximant [ɹ] is stated to appear in the Gugu-Badhun dialect as well.^[11] The retroflex approximant /ɻ/ in syllable-final position can infrequently be realised as a retroflex tap [ɽ].  The lamino-palatal stop is in most instances phonetically an affricate [tʃ] or [dʒ]. Voicing is not distinctive for stops .^[12] The rules for voicing are fairly complex, but still it is impossible to predict it in all instances .^[13] The factors involved are the place of articulation (the more front the stop, the more likely it is to be voiced), the phonetic environment, position with respect to word boundaries, and possibly also the length of the word, the number of syllables that follow the stop and the location of stress.

Syllable Structure

The syllabic structure in Warrongo is CVC(C(C))V(C) where C(C(C))V can be repeated for nouns and roots.

Note: some marginal interjections are exceptions to the syllabic structure and can start with V.

Roots in Warrongo have some of the following shapes.

Some root syllable structures

Template	Example	Translation/meaning
Vː	/aː/	an interjection
VC	/aji/	'yes'
CVːC	/baːn/	'whip
CVCV	/babi/	'mother's mother'
CVCCVC	/balban/	'bone'
CVCCCVC	/guɻŋgal/	'husband'
CVCCVCVCVC	/balbiɾigan/	'shark'

Suffixes have 9 different syllable structures as seen below.

Syllable structure of suffixes

Template	Example	Translation/meaning
V	/u/	ergative case
C	/n/	non-future
CV	/ŋu/	genitive case
CVC	/ŋal/	'towards'
CVCV	/mali/	'to/on the side of..'
CVCVC	/guwaj/	'all my (of kin)
CCV	/ŋgu/	locative case
CCVC	/ɲɟar/	'kin'
CCCVCV	/inbuɻu/	'on knees'

Stress

Stress in Warrongo is not contrastive and is usually accompanied by a rise in pitch but not always. There are three degrees of stress in Warrongo:

1. Primary Stress - represented by an acute accent
2. Secondary Stress - represented by a grave accent
3. Absence of stress

Stress generally falls on the word-initial syllable, e.g. [báma] (man).

When a word undergoes reduplication, stress falls on the the first syllable of each root e.g. /buna~buna/, is realised as [bónabóna] in Warrongo, meaning 'couch grass'.

If a word undergoes compounding, "primary stress falls on the first syllable of the second root, and secondary stress on the first syllable of the first root". e.g. /mara-guna/ (hand-faeces), is realised as [màɻagóna] in Warrongo, meaning 'lazy person'

Stress never falls on an enclitic or a suffix.

Stress shift can occur when certain suffixes are added to words. In this case, stress shifts to one of the successive vowel phonemes. e.g. [jámba] (camp) and the suffix, [bara] (denizen), form [jambábara] (camp-denizen).

Pitch

Pitch is not contrastive in Warrongo. There are three levels of pitch: high (H), middle (M) and low (L). Most words containing pitch start high and end low. e.g. in the word [báma] (man), the first syllable is high and the second is low.

Words with more than 2 syllables will usually contain middle level pitch. e.g. [bálano] (moon) has 3 syllables. The first syllable is high, the second is middle, and the third is low pitch. Here we see a gradual change from high to low pitch over the pronunciation of the word.

Nominal Morphology

Nouns generally do not distinguish number or gender, while pronouns have different forms for number (singular, dual and plural) and person (first, second and third). All of them do, however, inflect for case. The case suffixes have allomorphs according to the final phoneme of the stem, with some peculiarities exhibited by pronouns and by vowel-final proper and kin nouns .^[18] There are also a few irregular nouns.

Inflectional Morphology

Nouns have a single form, unmarked by a suffix, for the nominative case (used for the subject of an intransitive verb) and the accusative case(used for the object of a transitive verb), while the ergative case (used for the subject of a transitive verb) is marked by a suffix. In pronouns, on the other hand, the nominative and the ergative coincide in the bare stem form, while the accusative is marked by a suffix. Exceptionally, the third person dual and plural pronouns, as well as vowel-final proper and kin nouns, receive separate marking for each of these three cases. ^[19] The ergative, if used with inanimate nouns, may also mark an instrument.^[20]

The locative case describes path or destination of movement, location, duration in time, instrument (and means), company ('together with'), and cause or reason. The dative case marks purpose, cause and reason, possession (rarely), goal and direction of movement, recipient, temporal duration or endpoint, a core argument in some syntactic constructions, and a complement of intransitives verbs or nouns like 'fond (of)', 'good (to)', 'know', 'forget'. The genitive is used only with animate nouns^[21] and marks, besides the typical possessor and related functions, also a beneficiary, recipient, or complement of some verbs and nouns. The ablative most commonly marks reason or a temporal or spatial starting point. The comitative seems to have a wide range of meanings, some of them idiomatic, but the most typical seem to correspond to English 'with'.

Genitive, ablative and comitative suffixes may be followed by other case suffixes.^[22] Some adverbs can take case suffixes: locative (optionally for adverbs of place), dative (with the sense 'to', optionally for adverbs of place, obligatory for adverbs of time), or ablative (obligatory for both if the meaning is 'from, since').^[23] Adverbs of manner cannot take case suffixes – this distinguishes them from nouns that express similar meanings (as these nouns must agree in case with the nouns they modify).^[24]

An example of the different types of case inflection for a regular noun, /bama/ (man) can be found below.

Case	Declension
NOMINATIVE/ACCUSATIVE	/bama/
ERGATIVE	/bama-nggo/
LOCATIVE	/bama-ngga/
COMITATIVE	/bama-yi/
DATIVE	/bama-wo/
GENITIVE	/bama-ngo/
ABLATIVE	/bama-ngomay/

These noun declensions can change slightly depending on whether the final segment of the root morpheme is a vowel or a consonant. E.g. When using the dative case; vowel final stems take the suffix /-wo/ whereas consonant final stems take the suffix /-go/.

Derivational Morphology

Warrongo forms complex words through suffixation, reduplication, and compounding.

Affixation

Within the language of Warrongo, suffixation is the only type of affixation that occurs.

Example of a noun-stem-forming suffix:

/gobo/ (leaf), and /-barra/ (inhabitant of/ denizen of) form /gobo-barra/

Literal translation of /gobo-barra/ – ‘inhabitant of a place with leaves’.

Reduplication

All cases of reduplication in Warrongo involve full reduplication.

In Warrongo reduplication has two main functions:

Intensification

/gamo/ (water). Once reduplication is applied, the word transforms into /gamo~gamo/ meaning 'alcohol' (or possibly 'strong water').

Pluralisation

/jolbon/ (married person). Once reduplication is applied, the word transforms into /jolbon~jolbon/ meaning '(many) married persons'.

Compounding

In Warrongo, compounding involves two different roots with the first always being a noun. The second root can be a noun, adjective, numeral, adverb, verb. Generally the meaning of a compound can be deduced from the two roots as in the example below:

e.g. /bama/ (man) and /goman/ (different)

Compounding is applied and the word /bama-goman/ is formed meaning 'different men'.

That said, there are also cases when the meaning of the compound is not fully predictable from the root alone:

e.g. /mara/ (hand) and /jalan/ (greedy)

Compounding is applied and the word /mara-jalan/ is formed meaning 'greedy person'.

Verbal Morphology

Verbs belong to one of three conjugation classes: L-class, Y-class and ZERO-class which are characterised by the presence of a 'conjugational marker' (-l-, -y- or none) which appears in certain verb forms. L-class verbs are usually transitive but there are several cases of intransitive verbs, whereas Y-class and ZERO-class verbs are usually intransitive with few exceptions.

Inflectional morphology

Verbs take suffixes for change of valency or for tense/mood (future tense, between two and three non-future tenses, imperatives, apprehensional). There are also purposive forms, which signal intention when used as the predicate of a non-subordinate clause,^[26] or mark verbs in subordinate clauses for purpose, result or successive actions.^[27]

For example, an L-class verb, /baba/ (stab). Changing the meaning to nonfuture-2, the suffix of /-l/ is added and the new word formed /baba-l/ is formed. The nonfuture meaning of /baba-l/ indicates that the action of stabbing may have happened in the past or is happening presently.

Derivational morphology

Verb stems are derived in 3 ways: affixation of a verb-stem forming suffix, reduplication of a verb root, and compounding of a noun and verb root.

Affixation

There are two cases of verbal derivational affixation in Warrongo: suffixes added to verb roots and suffixes added to the root of another word class.

e.g. Suffix added to a verb root: /baja-l/ (bite-L.class) and the suffix /-nda-y/ indicating repeated action.

/baja-nda-y/ meaning 'bite (everything)' or 'bite about'.

e.g. Suffix added to the root of a seperate word class: the noun /yimi-rr/ (glad) has the verb-stem-forming suffix /-bi-l/ added indicating an intransitive verb.

/yimi-rr-bi-l/ meaning 'be glad'. Here we see a noun that is transformed into an intransitive verb due to the addition of a suffix.

Reduplication

Reduplication of verb roots is not particularly common in Warrongo yet it can have many different affects on the meaning of the verb such as repetition, prolongation, distributivity, intensity, multiplicity, or careful attention.

e.g. careful attention: /nyaga-l/ (look at-L.class). Once reduplication is applied, the word /nyaga-nyaga-L/ is formed meaning 'have a good look at'.

e.g. repetition: /moja-l/ (eat-L.class). Once reduplication is applied, the word /moja-moja-L/ is formed meaning 'eat again and again'.

Compounding

Compounding in Warrongo involves the combination of transitive verbs and nouns.

e.g. the noun /jabo/ (grave) and the verb /baga-l/ (dig-L.class). When compounding is applied, the word /jabo-baga-l/ is formed meaning 'bury'.

Syntax

Word order

Word order is free and does not seem to be governed by information structure. It has been observed that constituents of a single phrase need not be contiguous.^[28]Warrongo is an ergative-absolutive language, meaning that the subject of transitive verbs takes the ergative case, and the subject of intransitive verbs takes the nominative case.

With transitive verbs, nearly all possible orders of subject (S), verb (V), object(O) can be identified within the language. The attested orders are as follows: SOV, SVO, OSV, OVS, VSO. The only combination not present is VOS. Out of all these combinations SOV is the most common.

Examples of differing word orders can be seen below:

O                       S                 V              (O)

Gajarra-Ø

Possum-ACC

nyola

3SG.ERG

ganyji-n

carry-NF

goman-Ø

another-ACC

Gajarra-Ø nyola ganyji-n goman-Ø

Possum-ACC 3SG.ERG carry-NF another-ACC

‘She carried another possum’

 

S                       V                             O

nyola

3SG.ERG

ganyji-n

carry-NF

ngaygo

1SG.GEN

birgo-Ø

wife-ACC

nyola ganyji-n ngaygo birgo-Ø

3SG.ERG carry-NF 1SG.GEN wife-ACC

'he took my wife [with him]'

 

S                         O                          V

bama-nggo

man-ERG(A)

galbin-Ø

child-ACC(O)

yogi-nga-n 

swim-TR-NF

bama-nggo galbin-Ø yogi-nga-n 

man-ERG(A) child-ACC(O) swim-TR-NF

'The man made the child swim'

For intransitive clauses, the subject followed by the verb (SV) is the most common pattern attested. An example can be seen below.

S                         V                        

galbin-Ø

child-NOM(s)

yodi-n

swim-NF

galbin-Ø yodi-n

child-NOM(s) swim-NF

'The child swam'

Order of Constituents

Although word order is relatively free in Warrongo, there are some tendencies: numeral nouns usually follow the head noun, while adjective-like modifiers tend to precede it.^[29] Arguments tend to precede verbs, while the agent-like argument of a transitive verb more often than not precedes the patient-like argument, although more frequently only one of them is expressed.^[30]

An example of a head-dependant pair can be seen below:

NOUN + NUMERAL

yani-ya

go-IMP

gajarra-wo

possum-DAT

nyon.gol-go!

one-DAT

yani-ya gajarra-wo nyon.gol-go!

go-IMP possum-DAT one-DAT

'Go for [i.e. to get] one possum'

The numeral (one) follows the noun (possum) .