Kalali, also written Kullili, Galali, Garlali, Kullilla and other variants, is a poorly attested
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 one of several geographically transitional "
Karna–
Mari fringe" languages that have not been convincingly classified, and is best considered an isolate branch within the
Pama–Nyungan family.
provisionally includes Minkabari and the
Ngura dialect Pitjara/Bidjara/Bitharra, which together have been called the Bulloo River language.
Breen is partly responsible for the variation in the spelling of the name 'Kalali'. The forms ''Garlali'' and ''Galarli'' are due to what he now considers a non-distinctive instance of retroflex ''rl'', and he prefers the spelling ''Kalali''.
People and language
Both the
Kalali and the
Wanggumara
The Wanggumara, also spelt Wangkumara, Wongkumara, Wangkumarra, and other variants, are an Aboriginal people of the state of Queensland, Australia.
Language
Old Wankumara, spoken along the Bulloo River with the Kalali people, was a 'Karnaâ ...
people apparently lived by the
Bulloo River and the
Wilson River in
South West Queensland. There is some debate whether they originated by the Bulloo River and migrated to the Wilson River or vice versa. For instance, Breen posited that some groups in south-west Queensland had abandoned their original languages (but not their names) and adopted the
Wilson River language in the early days of Australian colonial settlement, when people moved from Thargomindah and the middle Bulloo River to
Nockatunga (near the modern town of Noccundra).
The Bulloo River Kalali lived around the area from
Thargomindah southward to the Currawinya Lakes and perhaps west to Bulloo Lakes and north to Norley Station. Bulloo River Kalali was studied by Breen (from a speaker named Charlie Phillips). The informant Charlie Phillips aged 74 years, born at Backwood Station south of Hungerford in south-west Queensland, spoke the language fluently and confidently despite having not used the language conversationally for 40 years.
A language labelled "Wonkomarra" in Myles (1886) is a different language from modern Wangkumara, and may be a variety of Kalali. On the other hand, the language spoken by the Kalali people that Wurm labelled "Waŋkumara (Gaḷali)" was a variety of Wangkumara.
Language revival
Kullilli Ngulkana is a
language revival initiative founded by brothers Toby Adams and Daryl Docherty. Adams' father was one of the
Stolen Generations, having been taken as a child from his
Quilpie home to the
Aboriginal reserve at
Cherbourg
Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...
, and Adams became determined to reconnect to his culture and language. After meeting linguist
Claire Bowern of
Yale University, who had previously worked with Kullili
elders to produce language resources, the pair started working together. The project has started to develop a dictionary and other learning resources for the language, including a
mobile phone app. The state school at
Thargomindah is also working with Adams, looking at incorporating language learning into their curriculum.
References
Karnic languages
Maric languages
Extinct languages of Queensland
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