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Pitta Pitta (also known under several other spellings) is an
extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
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 ...
. It was spoken around
Boulia, Queensland Boulia () is an outback town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Boulia, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Boulia had a population of 314 people. Boulia is the administrative centre of the Shire of Bou ...
.


Status

In 1979, Barry J. Blake reported that Pitta Pitta was "virtually extinct", with only three speakers remaining – Ivy Nardoo of Boulia, Ted Marshall and Linda Craigie of
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...
. It is now considered unlikely that any speakers remain.


Phonology


Vowels


Consonants


Vocabulary

Below is a basic vocabulary list from
Blake Blake or Blake's may refer to: People * Blake (given name), a given name of English origin (includes a list of people with the name) * Blake (surname), a surname of English origin (includes a list of people with the name) ** William Blake (1757 ...
(1981). :


Pituri

The name ''
pituri Pituri, also known as mingkulpa, is a mixture of leaves and wood ash traditionally chewed as a stimulant (or, after extended use, a depressant) by Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal Australians widely across the continent. Leaves are gathered fro ...
'' for the leaves chewed as a stimulant by traditional Aboriginal people has been claimed to be derived from the Pitta Pitta word . though Walter Roth pointed out in 1897 that the word 'pituri', thus pronounced, was the term used by the neighbouring Yurlayurlanya people, and added that the Pitta Pitta people called it "".


Sign language

The Pitta Pitta had well-developed a signed form of their language.


References


Further reading

*Blake, Barry J. (1979). Pitta-Pitta. In R.M.W. Dixon and Barry Blake (eds.), ''Handbook of Australian Languages, Vol. 1''. 183–244. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. * * Roth, Walter E. (1897). ''The expression of ideas by manual signs: a sign-language.'' (p. 273–301) Reprinted from Roth, W.E. ''Ethnological studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines''. London, Queensland Agent-Generals Information Office, 1897; 71–90; Information collected from the following tribes; Pitta-Pitta, Boinji, Ulaolinya, Wonkajera, Walookera, Undekerebina, Kalkadoon, Mitakoodi, Woonamurra, Goa. Reprinted (1978) in ''Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia.'' New York: Plenum Press, vol. 2.


External links


Bibliography of Pitta Pitta people and language resources
at the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
{{Pama–Nyungan languages, Central Karnic languages Extinct languages of Queensland Extinct sign languages