Australian language isolate
Umbugarla or Mbukarla is a possible Australian language isolate once spoken by three people in Arnhem Land, northern Australia, in 1981, and is now extinct.
Phonology
Consonants
- /ɡ/ can be heard as either stops [k] or [ʔ] when in word-final or word-medial position, and as a fricative [ɣ] when in intervocalic position.
- /ɽ/ can also be heard as an alveolar tap [ɾ] when in intervocalic position.
Vowels
- Vowels can be lengthened when in open syllables or in word-final position.[2]
Phoneme
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Allophones
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/a/
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[ä], [äː], [æ], [ɛ], [ə], [ɒ], [o]
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/ɛ/
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[ɛ], [ɛː]
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/i/
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[i], [iː], [ɨ], [ʉ], [ə], [eː]
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/u/
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[u], [uː], [o], [oː], [ʉ], [ə]
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/uː/
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[uː], [oː]
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Classification
Umbugarla was once considered a language isolate (together with Ngurmbur as a dialect), but Mark Harvey has made a case for it being part of a family of Darwin Region languages.[3]
References
External links