Worrorra, also written Worora and other variants, and also known as Western Worrorran, is a

moribund Moribund refers to a literal or figurative state near death. Moribund may refer to: * ''Moribund'' (album), a 2006 album by the Norwegian black metal band Koldbrann * "Le Moribond", a song by Jacques Brel known in English as "Seasons in the Sun" ...

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 ...

of northern

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It encompasses a number of dialects, which are spoken by a group of people known as the

Worrorra The Worrorra, also written Worora, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley area of north-western Australia. The term is sometimes used to describe speakers of the (Western) Worrorra language, and sometimes groups whose traditional ...

people. It is one of a group of

Worrorran languages The Worrorran (Wororan) languages are a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Western Australia. The Worrorran languages fall into three dialect clusters: *the Northern Worrorran group, known as Wunambal and relat ...

, the other two being

Wunambal The Wunambal (Unambal), also known as Wunambal Gaambera, Uunguu (referring to their lands), and other names, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia. People The Wunambal were, according to Norma ...

and

Ngarinyin The Ngarinyin or Ngarinjin are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Their language, Ngarinyin, is also known as Ungarinyin. When referring to their traditional lands, they refer to themselves as Wilinggin ...

Dialects of (western) Worrorra

Worrorra is a

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

; Bowern (2011) recognises five languages: Worrorra proper, Unggumi, Yawijibaya, Unggarranggu, and Umiida. McGregor and Rumsey (2009) include the above dialects and also include Winyjarrumi (Winjarumi), describing Worrorra as a non- Pama-Nyungan language of the Worrorran group of languages known properly as western Worrorran.

Umiida The Umiida, also written Umida and Umede, were an indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley region of north Western Australia. Language The Umiida spoke one of the dialects of the (western) Worrorra language. What little is known of it, and ...

, Unggarrangu,

Unggumi The Unggumi, also written ''Ongkomi'', are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australian. Country Norman Tindale estimated that the Unggumi's traditional territorial lands stretch over some , centered on the upper ...

, and

Yawijibaya The Yawijibaya, also written Jaudjibaia, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. Along with the Unggarranggu people, they are the traditional owners of Buccaneer Archipelago, off Derby, together ...

peoples are described in separate articles. An alleged Maialnga language was a reported clan name of Worrorra proper that could not be confirmed with speakers.

Notable people

Elkin Umbagai Elkin Umbagai (February 19, 1921 – January 24, 1980) was an Aboriginal Australian leader and educationalist. Born in a Presbyterian Mission in the Kunmunya Aboriginal Reserve in Western Australia, Umbagai's family mediated between missionari ...

was a translator between English and Worrorra.

Sounds

* A nasal occurring before a stop consonant, is then realised as a prenasalized voiced stop sound (ex. �ɡ. * /r/ can be heard as a trill or a flap, and is typically only voiced when preceding a sonorant, voiced phoneme, or lateral consonant. Elsewhere, it is voiceless as ̥ or can be heard in free variation. */j/ can also be heard as a fricative sound �in word-initial positions. Worrorra vowel inventory * Long vowel sounds are noted as follows: /iː, ɛː, uː, ɔː, ɑː/. * In between consonant clusters, an epenthetic vowel sound �̆~ �̆occurs when breaking them up. Sometimes it can also be heard as a central vowel sound �

Sign language

The Worora have (or at one point had) a signed form of their language, used for speaking to kin in certain taboo relationships, but it is not clear from records that it was particularly well developed compared to other

Australian Aboriginal sign languages Many Australian Aboriginal cultures have or traditionally had a manually coded language, a signed counterpart of their oral language. This appears to be connected with various speech taboos between certain kin or at particular times, such as ...

. Kendon, A. (1988) ''Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives.'' Cambridge:

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Press

Dialects of (western) Worrorra

Notable people

Sounds

Sign language

References

Further reading