Kalali, also written Kullili, Galali, Garlali, Kullilla and other variants, is a poorly attested Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of several geographically transitional "

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic '' Mahābhārata''. He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti (mother of the ...

– Mari fringe" languages that have not been convincingly classified, and is best considered an isolate branch within the Pama–Nyungan family.

Gavan Breen Gavan Breen (born 22 January 1935), OAM, also known as J.G. Breen, is an Australian linguist, specialising in the description of Australian Aboriginal languages. He has studied and recorded 49 such languages. Life Early life Breen was born at ...

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 'Karna– ...

people apparently lived by the

Bulloo River The Bulloo River is an isolated drainage system in western Queensland, central Australia. Its floodplain, which extends into northern New South Wales, is an important area for waterbirds when inundated. It comprises most of the Bulloo-Banc ...

and the Wilson River in

South West Queensland South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa district and parts of the Channel Coun ...

. 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 The Wilson River language, also known as "Modern" Wankumara (Wangkumara/ Wanggumara), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Karnic family. It was spoken by several peoples along the Wilson River in Queensland. Of these, the Wanggumara ...

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 Thargomindah (frequently shortened to Thargo) is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Bulloo, Queensland, Australia. The town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the Shire of Bulloo. In the , Thargomindah had a population o ...

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 Language revitalization, also referred to as language revival or reversing language shift, is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one. Those involved can include linguists, cultural or community groups, o ...

initiative founded by brothers Toby Adams and Daryl Docherty. Adams' father was one of the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

, having been taken as a child from his

Quilpie Quilpie ( ) is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Quilpie, Queensland, Australia. In the , Quilpie had a population of 595 people. The town is the administrative centre of the Quilpie Shire local government area. The town of Toompine ...

home to the

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

at Cherbourg, and Adams became determined to reconnect to his culture and language. After meeting linguist

Claire Bowern Claire Louise Bowern () is a linguist who works with Australian Indigenous languages. She is currently a professor of linguistics at Yale University, and has a secondary appointment in the department of anthropology at Yale. Career Bowern re ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, 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 A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

. The state school at

is also working with Adams, looking at incorporating language learning into their curriculum.

References

Karnic languages Maric languages Extinct languages of Queensland {{ia-lang-stub