Yalarnnga (also ''Jalarnnga'', ''Jalanga'', ''Yelina'', ''Yellunga'', ''Yellanga'', ''Yalarrnnga'', ''Yalanga'' or ''Yalluna''
) is an
extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the
Pama–Nyungan language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...
, that may be related to the
Kalkatungu language
Kalkatungu (also ''Kalkutungu'', ''Galgadungu'', ''Kalkutung'', ''Kalkadoon'', or ''Galgaduun'') is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken around the area of Mount Isa and Cloncurry, Queensland.
Classification
Apart from the ...
.
It was formerly spoken by the
Yalarnnga people in areas near the
Gulf of Carpentaria the towns of
Dajarra and
Cloncurry
Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people.
Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry.
Cloncurry is known a ...
in far northwestern
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
.
The last native speaker died in 1980. It is a suffixing
agglutinative language
An agglutinative language is a type of synthetic language with morphology that primarily uses agglutination. Words may contain different morphemes to determine their meanings, but all of these morphemes (including stems and affixes) tend to r ...
with no attested prefixes.
Classification
Yalarnnga is sometimes grouped with
Kalkatungu
The Kalkadoon (properly Kalkatungu) are descendants of an Indigenous Australian tribe living in the Mount Isa region of Queensland. Their forefather tribe has been called "the elite of the Aboriginal warriors of Queensland". In 1884 they were ma ...
as the
Kalkatungic (Galgadungic) branch of the
Pama–Nyungan family. O'Grady et al., however, classify Kalkatungu as the sole member of the "Kalkatungic group" of the Pama-Nyungan family, and Dixon (2002) regards Kalkatungic as an
areal group.
Vocabulary
Some words from the Yalarnnga language, as spelt and written by Yalarnnga authors include:
* ''Kuyungu mungatha'': good day
* ''Karlu / karlo'': father
* ''Mernoo'': mother
* ''Woothane'': whiteman
* ''Kathirr'': grass
* ''Karni'': shoulder
* ''Katyimpa'': two
* ''Kunyu'': water
* ''Karrkuru'': yellowbelly (fish)
* ''Monero'': tame dog
References
Kalkatungic languages
Extinct languages of Queensland
Indigenous Australian languages in Queensland
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