Kaytetye (also spelt Kaititj, Gaididj, Kaiditj, Kaytej) 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 ...

spoken in the Northern Territory north of

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

by the Kaytetye people, who live around

Barrow Creek Barrow Creek is a very small town, with a current population of 11, in the southern Northern Territory of Australia. It is located on the Stuart Highway, about 280 km north of Alice Springs, about halfway from there to Tennant Creek. The m ...

and Tennant Creek. It belongs to the Arandic subgroup of the Pama-Nyungan languages and is related to Alyawarra, which is one of the

Upper Arrernte Arrernte or Aranda (; ) or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte (Upper Aranda), is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations are A ...

dialects. It has an unusual phonology and there are no known dialects. The language is considered to be threatened; it is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users, with only 120 speakers of the language in the 2016 census. The Kaytetye have (or had) a well-developed sign language known as Akitiri or Eltye eltyarrenke. Kendon, A. (1988) ''Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 60 Languages of Central Australia - map

Phonology

Kaytetye is phonologically unusual in a number of ways. Words start with vowels and end with schwa; full CV(C) syllables only occur within a word, as in the word 'three' (schwa is spelled , unless initial, in which case it is not written and often not pronounced). Stress falls on the first full syllable. There are only two productive vowels, but numerous consonants, including pre-stopped and pre-palatalized consonants.Koch, 2006. "Kaytetye". In the ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'', 2nd ed.

Consonants

Consonants occur plain and labialized. is phonemically . In the orthography, is written .

Vowels

is marginal. Two-vowel systems are unusual, but occur in closely related

Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australi ...

as well as in some

Northwest Caucasian languages The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian, Circassic, or sometimes ''Pontic languages'' (from the historical region of Pontus, in contrast to ''Caspian languages'' for the Northeast Cauc ...

. It seems that the vowel system derives from an earlier one with the typical Australian , but that *u lost its roundedness to neighboring consonants, resulting in the labialized series of consonants, while *i lost its frontness (palatal-ness) to other consonants as well, resulting in some cases in the prepalatalized series.

Grammar

Kin terms are obligatorily possessed, though with grammatically singular pronouns. There is a dyadic suffix as well: Dual and plural pronouns distinguish clusivity as well as

moiety Moiety may refer to: Chemistry * Moiety (chemistry), a part or functional group of a molecule ** Moiety conservation, conservation of a subgroup in a chemical species Anthropology * Moiety (kinship), either of two groups into which a society is ...

(or 'section') and generation. That is, for a male speaker, different pronouns are used for ''I and my sibling, grandparent, grandchild'' (even generation, same moiety), ''I and my father, I and my brother's child'' (odd generation, same moiety), and ''I and my mother, spouse, sister's child'' (opposite moiety). This results in twelve pronouns for 'we': That is, root ''ay-'', dual suffix ''-la'' or plural ''-na'', exclusive

infix An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem (an existing word or the core of a family of words). It contrasts with ''adfix,'' a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix. When marking text for int ...

', an irregular nasal for even generation, and a suffix for same moiety ''-ke'' or opposite moiety ''-nthe''. Verbs include incorporated former verbs of motion that indicate direction and relative timing of someone, usually the subject of the verb. There are differences depending on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive:

People

Erlikilyika Erlikilyika (c.1865 – c.1930), known to Europeans by the name Jim Kite or Jim Kyte or Jim Kite Penangke, was an Aboriginal Australian sculptor, artist and anthropological interpreter. He was an Arrernte man, born into the Southern Arrernte ...

(Jim Kite) learnt to speak Kaytetye when working on the Overland Telegraph Line, and worked as an interpreter for anthropologists and explorers

Spencer and Gillen Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (23 June 1860 – 14 July 1929), commonly referred to as Baldwin Spencer, was a British-Australian evolutionary biologist, anthropologist and ethnologist. He is known for his fieldwork with Aboriginal peoples in ...

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Grammar

People

References

Further reading