Alawa (Galawa) is a moribund Indigenous Australian language spoken by the Alawa people of the Northern Territory. In 1991, there were reportedly 18 remaining speakers and 4 semi-speakers, by 2021, the number of people speaking it at home had dropped to 5.

Phonology

Consonants

Alawa has a typical consonant inventory for an Indigenous Australian language, with five contrastive places of articulation, multiple lateral consonants, and no voicing contrast among the stops.

Consonant phonemes
AlveolarPalatalPeripheral
AlveolarRetroflexAlveo-palatalVelarBilabial
Prenasalised Stopⁿdⁿɖⁿd̠ʲᵑɡᵐb
Devoiced Stoptʈt̠ʲkp
Nasalsnɳn̠ʲŋm
Lateralslɭl̠ʲ
Vibrantsr
Glideɹjw

Note: there are no standardised IPA symbols for alveopalatal stops.

Vowels

The vowel system of Alawa is made up of four vowel phonemes: the high front vowel /i/, the high back vowel /u/, the mid front vowel /e/, and the low central vowel /a/.

Vowel phonemes
FrontCentralBack
Highiu
Mide
Lowa

There are no rounding contrasts or length contrasts in this language.

Vocabulary

Capell (1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:

glossAlawa manlilmi womangirija headguɽuguɽu eyegulur nosegujumur mouthŋaːndal tonguedjeːjälŋ stomachgundjäl bonegalawa bloodŋulidji kangaroogirimbọ opossumgudjaɳi emudjinaliri crowwaŋgunaji flywuɳɖil sunmarawaɭbaɭ moonaɖaŋari firewubu smokeguŋuŋu waterŋọgọ

See also

  • Glenn M. Wightman (1991), Alawa ethnobotany: Aboriginal plant use from Minyerri, northern Australia, vol.11, Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory, WikidataQ109466390

External links