Kabi Kabi, also spelt Gabi-Gabi/Gubbi Gubbi, is a language of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
in Australia, formerly spoken by the
Kabi Kabi people
The Gubbi Gubbi people also known as Kabi Kabi are an Aboriginal Australian people native to south-eastern Queensland. They are now classified as one of several Murri language groups in Queensland.
Naming
As is often the case, ethnonyms dist ...
of
South-east Queensland
South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. Th ...
. The main dialect, Kabi Kabi, is
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
, but there are still 24 people with knowledge of the Butchulla dialect (also spelt Batjala, Batyala, Badjala, and variants), a language spoken by the
Butchulla
The Butchulla, also written Butchella, Badjala, Badjula, Badjela, Bajellah, Badtjala and Budjilla are an Aboriginal Australian people of K'gari, Queensland, and a small area of the nearby mainland of southern Queensland.
Language
The Butchulla ...
people of
Fraser Island
Fraser Island ( Butchulla: ) is a World Heritage-listed island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region, Queensland, Australia. The island is approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is within the Fras ...
.
Words
According to
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist.
Life
Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ther ...
(1974), the word Kabi (
kabi, means "no".
[
"Wunya ngulum" means "Welcome, everyone" in Kabi Kabi/Gabi-Gabi.
]
Language status
The main dialect is extinct, but there were still 24 people with knowledge of the Batjala dialect (a language spoken by the Butchulla
The Butchulla, also written Butchella, Badjala, Badjula, Badjela, Bajellah, Badtjala and Budjilla are an Aboriginal Australian people of K'gari, Queensland, and a small area of the nearby mainland of southern Queensland.
Language
The Butchulla ...
people of Fraser Island
Fraser Island ( Butchulla: ) is a World Heritage-listed island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region, Queensland, Australia. The island is approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is within the Fras ...
) as of the 2016 Australian census
The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incre ...
.
Phonology
The following is in the Badjala/Butchulla dialect:
Consonants
* /n̪/ is always heard as palatal ²when preceding /i/, and in word-final position.
* /d̪/ can be heard in free variation with palatal Ÿ
* /b d̪ É¡/ can have lenited allophones ² ð É£in intervocalic positions.
* /É»/ has a lateral allophone of when preceding /b/.
* /É¡/ is often slightly palatalised as ¡Ê²before /i/.
Vowels
* can sometimes be heard as before .
* can be heard as when preceding an intervocalic .[Bell, Jeanie P. (2003)]
References
External links
Bibliography of Gabi Gabi people and language resources
at the
Heritage of Kabi Kabi people - Sunshine Coast Tourism Information Centre
Waka–Kabic languages
Extinct languages of Queensland
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