Worimi (also spelt Warrimay), or Gadjang (also spelt ''Kattang, Kutthung, Gadhang, Gadang, Gathang'') is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

. It is the traditional language of the

Worimi people The Worimi (also spelt Warrimay) people are Aboriginal Australians from the eastern Port Stephens and Great Lakes regions of coastal New South Wales, Australia. Before contact with settlers, their people extended from Port Stephens in the sout ...

, whose descendants now speak English. Work has started on revitalising the language with a dictionary and TAFE course in Gathang.

Classification

Worimi is most closely related to Awabakal, in the Yuin–Kuric group of Pama–Nyungan. Bowern (2011) considers Gadjang, Worimi, and Birrpayi to be separate languages.

Phonology

Vowels

There is also the diphthong "ay", pronounced j

Consonants

Within the orthography, both voiceless and voiced

stops Stop may refer to: Places *Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...

are written, words begin with voiced stops only and only voiced stops may occur in consonant clusters or suffixes. There is some inconsistency in the orthography to choice of stop intervocalically, the dictionary/grammar written by Amanda Lissarrague prescribes voiceless stops intervocalically, but this is violated many times such as in ''magu'' - axe. The phonemes /p/ and /b/ may contrast, such as ''gaparr'' - baby, boy, and ''gabarr'' - head. This is unclear. There is some evidence of a merger of the dental and palatal stops/ nasals, with free variation existing in many words, such as ''djinggarr~dhinggarr'' - silver, grey. At the end of a word, a nasal may also be pronounced as its corresponding stop. (E.g. ''bakan~bakat'' - rock). Intervocalically, "b" may be pronounced as

References

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External links

Bibliography of Worimi people and language resources
at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Aboriginal Language the Kutthung
Worimi languages Indigenous Australian languages in New South Wales {{ia-lang-stub