Jiwarli (also spelt Djiwarli, Tjiwarli) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is a variety of the Mantharta language of the large Pama–Nyungan family. The last native speaker of Jiwarli, Jack Butler, died in May 1986.
Documentation
Prof Peter K. Austin (Linguistics Department, SOAS) collected all the available material on Jiwarli during fieldwork with Jack Butler from 1978 to 1985. He has published a volume of texts on the language and a bilingual dictionary (Jiwarli-English with English-Jiwarli finderlist).
Phonology
Vowels
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! Front
! Back
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! High
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! Low
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Consonants
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!colspan="2"| Peripheral
!colspan="2"| Laminal
!colspan="2"| Apical
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!
! Bilabial
! Velar
! Palatal
! Dental
! Alveolar
! Postalveolar
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! Stop
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! Nasal
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! Lateral
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! Rhotic
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! Semivowel
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Phonotactics
Word-initially, only non-apical stops, nasals and glides are allowed. Thus, words must begin with p, k, j, th, m, ng, nh, w, or y. Words may not begin with vowels.
All words end in vowels. Roots may end on a consonant, however, and -pa is added to all roots ending in l, rl, rr, and -ma is added to all roots ending in a nasal that would violate the vowel-final word constraint.
References
External links
- Information on the Jiwarli language and culture