The Gunwinyguan languages (Gunwinjguan, Gunwingguan), also core Gunwinyguan or Gunwinyguan proper, are a possible branch of a large
language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hist ...
of
Australian Aboriginal languages
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 ...
in
Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
, northern Australia. The most populous language is
Kunwinjku
The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer t ...
, with some 1500 speakers.
Gunwinyguan languages have a
fortis–lenis contrast in plosive consonants. Lenis/short plosives have weak contact and intermittent voicing, while fortis/long plosives have full closure, a more powerful release burst, and no voicing.
Languages
The list here is based on Green (2003). However, Green believes the similarities among these languages are due to shared retentions from
Proto-Arnhem, and are not indicative of an exclusive relationship between them.
[Rebecca Green, 2003. "Proto-Maningrida within Proto-Arnhem: evidence from verbal inflectional suffixes." In Nicholas Evans, ed. ''The Non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia''.]
*Gunwinggic:
Kunwinjku
The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer t ...
(Gunwinggu),
Kunbarlang
*
Jawoyn
The Jawoyn, also written Djauan, are an Australian Aboriginal people living in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Bagala clan are of the Jawoyn people.
Language
Jawoyn, known as Kumertuo, is a non- Pama–Nyungan language that belongs t ...
(Djauan)
*
Dalabon (Ngalkbun)
*Jala (Rembarngic):
Rembarrnga
The Rembarrnga people, also spelt Rembarunga and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory.
Language
The Rembarrnga language
Rembarrnga (Rembarunga) is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the ...
,
Ngalakgan
*Warrayic:
Waray,
Uwinymil
Yangmanic had once been included, but has been removed from recent classifications. Various other languages appear to be related to this Gunwinyguan core. This larger family is sometimes also called Gunwinyguan, but more unambiguously Macro-Gunwinyguan or
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...
.
References
Language families
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