Limilngan, also known as Limil and Manidja (also spelt Manitja), is an extinct
Aboriginal Australian 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 ...
of the
Top End
The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...
of Australia.
Names and ownership
The language as well as its speakers are known by three names:
Limilngan, Limil and Manidja / Manitja, the latter being an
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
.
[
Buneidja is regarded as the same language, and the people are sometimes referred to by this name.][
]
Traditional lands
Limilngan was spoken in the Darwin hinterland, in the Mary River (Northern Territory)
The Mary River flows in the Northern Territory of Australia and is a site of the Mary River National Park.
Description
The river is approximately long and rises about east of Pine Creek. The catchment area is over but is ephemeral and onl ...
area of Kakadu.[
]
Phonology
The Limilngan language uses the three vowel system; /a/, /i/, /u/. The three sounds can result in allophones as /ɑ,æ/, /ɪ/, and /ʊ/.
Vocabulary
Limilngan plant and animal names:
Animals
:
Plants
:
Footnotes
References
{{Australian Aboriginal languages
Limilngan–Wulna languages
Languages extinct in the 2000s