Kunjen language
| Kunjen | |
|---|---|
| Uw | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Cape York Peninsula, Queensland |
| Ethnicity | Ngundjan (Ogh-Undjan), Uw Oykangand, Olkola |
Native speakers | 2 (2005)[1] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:kjn – Oykangandolk – Olkol |
| Glottolog | kunj1248 |
| AIATSIS[1] | Y83 Kunjen (cover term), Y188 Kokiny, Y237 Athina |
| ELP | |
 Kunjen is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Kunjen, or Uw, is a Paman language spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, by the Uw Oykangand, Olkola, and related Aboriginal Australian peoples.[2] It is closely related to Kuuk Thaayorre, and perhaps Kuuk Yak.
Two of its dialects, Uw Olkola (Olgolo) and Uw Oykangand (Koko Wanggara), are very close, being mutually intelligible and sharing 97% of their core vocabulary.[3] Another two, Ogh-Undjan and Kawarrangg, are also close, but somewhat more distant from the first pair. Kokinj (Kokiny) is a subdialect of Ogh-Undjan. A fifth variety, Athima, is poorly attested.
Below is a table showing the mutual intelligibility in vocabulary between the Kunjen dialects, based on a list of 100 basic words.[4]
| Uw Oykangand | 97% | 44% | 38% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uw Olkola | 43% | 38% | |
| Ogh-Undjan | 82% | ||
| Kawarrangg | |||
A small dictionary of Kunjen has been compiled by Philip Hamilton.[5] A great majority of words begin with a vowel (>96%), similar to the situation in distantly-related Arrernte. Exceptions include kinship terms and loanwords. Syllable onsets are thought to be present in all languages, so their absence in native lexicon is highly notable.
Respect register
[edit]As in many other Australian languages, such as Dyirbal, Kunjen also has a respect register, which is a polite way of speaking with a potential mother-in-law and is called Olkel-Ilmbanhthi. Most of the vocabulary is replaced, while affixes and function words are kept.[6]
Alka-nhdh
spear-INSTR
idu-rr
spear-PST
ay
I
"I speared it with a spear."
Udnga-nhdh
spear-INSTR
yanganyunyja-rr
spear-PST
ay
I
"I speared it with a spear."
Phonology
[edit]Vowels
[edit]Kunjen has 5 vowels:
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
There is a lexical vowel harmony constraint in Kunjen: Close and mid vowels do not co-occur in a word.
Consonants
[edit]Kunjen has 27 consonants:
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | c ⟨ch⟩ | t̪ ⟨th⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | |
| voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | g ⟨g⟩ | ɟ ⟨j⟩ | d̪ ⟨dh⟩ | d ⟨d⟩ | ||
| Nasal | plain | m ⟨m⟩ | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | n̪ ⟨nh⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | |
| prestopped | ᵇm ⟨bm⟩ | ᶢŋ ⟨gng⟩ | ᶡɲ ⟨jny⟩ | ᵈ̪n̪ ⟨dnh⟩ | ᵈn ⟨dn⟩ | ||
| Fricative | f ⟨f⟩ | ɣ ⟨ɣ⟩ | ð ⟨ð⟩ | ||||
| Trill | r ⟨rr⟩ | ||||||
| Approximant | Central | w ⟨w⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | ɻ ⟨r⟩ | |||
| Lateral | ʎ ⟨ly⟩ | l̪ ⟨lh⟩ | l ⟨l⟩ | ||||
In popular culture
[edit]The Uw Olkola word for the freshwater crocodile, ogakor, was used as the name of a tribe on the second season of the American reality television series, Survivor in 2001.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Y83 Kunjen (cover term) at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)
- ^ Crump, Des (10 August 2020). "Language of the Week: Week Eleven - Oykangand". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- ^ "Description of the languages Uw Olkola and Uw Oykangand". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
- ^ Sommer, Bruce A. (January 1970). "An Australian Language Without CV Syllables". International Journal of American Linguistics. 36: 57–58. doi:10.1086/465090. S2CID 143977924.
- ^ "Uw Oykangand and Uw Olkola wordlist". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
- ^ Evans, Nicholas (2006). "Warramurrungunji Undone: Australian Languages in the 51st Millennium". In Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.). Language Diversity Endangered. pp. 354–355.
- ^ Sommer 1969, pp. 37, 41.
- ^ Sommer 1969, pp. 37–40.
- ^ "Freshwater crocodile". oocities.org. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012.[self-published source?]
- Sommer, Bruce A. (1969). Kunjen phonology: synchronic and diachronic. Pacific Linguistics: Series B, Monographs. Vol. 11. Canberra: Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-B11.
- "Uw Olkola and Uw Oykangand Language Information". geocities.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2002.[self-published source]
Further reading
[edit]- Sommer, Bruce A. (2006). Speaking Kunjen : an ethnography of Oykangand kinship and communication. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. ISBN 0858835576.
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