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Giimbiyu
Giimbiyu
Mangerr
Native to	Australia
Region	Northern Territory
Extinct	1980s–1990s
Language family	Arnhem Land? Giimbiyu;
Dialects	Mangerr; Erri; Urningangga;
Writing system	Latin (Australian Aboriginal)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; zme – Mangerr; urc – Urningangg; err – Erre
Glottolog	giim1238
AIATSIS	N220
ELP	Urningangga
	Giimbiyu (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey)

Giimbiyu is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language isolate once spoken by the Giimbiyu people of northern Australia.

The name Giimbiyu is a Gaagudju word for 'of the stoney country'. It was introduced in Harvey (1992) as a cover term for the named dialects,^[2]

In 1997 Nicholas Evans proposed an Arnhem Land family that includes the Giimbiyu languages. However, they are not included in Bowern (2011).^[3]

Phonology

Coarticulation among consonants is also present.
Among consonant-coarticulation, /ɣ/ when preceding sounds /l, ɾ/ may result in being heard as a voiceless palatal [ç].

/u/ may also be heard as [o].
Coarticulation among a preceding /ɪ/, may result in the vowel sound becoming more central [ɪ̈] or as a diphthong [ɪə].^[4]

Capell (1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:^[5]

^ Mangerr at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Urningangg at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Erre at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ ^a ^b N220 Giimbiyu at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
^ Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)
^ Birch, Bruce (2006). A first dictionary of Erre, Mengerrdji and Urningangk: three languages from the Alligator Rivers Region of North Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation: Jabiru: Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corp.
^ Capell, Arthur. 1941-1942, 1942-1943. Languages of Arnhem Land, North Australia. Oceania 12: 364-392, 13: 24-51.

McConvell, Patrick and Nicholas Evans. (eds.) 1997. Archaeology and Linguistics: Global Perspectives on Ancient Australia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press