Jingulu language

Vowels

Jingulu has 3 vowels:

The close vowel /i/ may be realized as [i], [ɨ] or [e]; the close vowel /u/ most commonly as [u], but also [o] and [ɔ]; and the open vowel /a/ as [a], [ʌ], [æ] and [ə].

Vowel length is contrastive, resulting in the long vowels /aː/, /iː/ and /uː/. In orthography, /aː/ appears as ⟨aa⟩, while the other two appear with a homorganic consonant, ⟨iyi⟩ and ⟨uwu⟩, respectively.

Vowel harmony

An important feature of Jingulu's phonology is vowel harmony. Jingulu exhibits a regressive vowel harmony, which means that the vowels of nominal or verbal roots may be subject to change triggered by suffixes that contain a close vowel and that are directly adjacent to the root. The vowel harmony affects open vowels in the roots, which become close. Due to Jingulu's small inventory of vowels, it will always be the open vowel /a/ that is subject to change, always becoming /i/.

ngaja + -mindi-yi = ngijimindiyi see + 1dl.inc-fut = "we will see" ngarrabaj + -wurru-nu = ngirribijiwurrunu tell + 3pl-past = "they told (it to him)"

However, if vowel harmony is triggered and the root contains a close vowel, none of the open vowels to the left of the close vowel will be subject to change.

warlaku + -rni = warlakurni male dog + fem = female dog ankila + -rni = ankilirni cross cousin + fem = female cross cousin

Consonants

Jingulu has 17 consonants:

There is only little evidence showing that the retroflex consonants are contrastive. Most speakers of Jingulu do not make a distinction between the retroflex consonants and their alveolar equivalents. Often they merely serve as allophones. However, there are a number of minimal pairs where there indeed is a distinction, for instance dirnd- "shoot" and dind- "grind"; mininmi "Acacia victoriae" and mirnirnmi "fire drill"; and walu "forehead" and warlu "burn scar."

The glides, /w/ and /j/, may be dropped word-initially, which is also true for /ŋ/. The latter may also be replaced by a glide.

widij- "to tie" may be realized as /widij-/ or /idij-/ yidaangka "in a few days" may be realized as /jidaːŋka/ or /idaːŋka/ ngirrm- "to make" may be realized as /ŋirm-/, /irm-/ or /jirm-/ nguny- "to give" may be realized as /ŋuɲ-/, /uɲ-/ or /wuɲ-/

Class

All nominals in Jingulu belong to a certain gender or class of which there are four: masculine, feminine, neuter and vegetable. The vegetable class is the smallest of the classes with fewest nominals. Next comes the feminine class, and then the neuter and the masculine classes.

The characteristic endings of nominals belonging to the vegetable class are -imi and -ibi. Most nominals of this class are long, thin, pointed or sharp objects. For instance, a lot of vegetables, body parts, instruments and weather phenomena. Examples include wardbardbumi "bush passionfruit," mankijbi "back of neck" and kingmi "rainbow."

The characteristic endings for feminine nominals are -ini, -irni, -idi and -irdi. Most nominals of this class are female animates, different kinds of axes, the sun, as well as for most smaller songbirds, and many unusual animals. Examples include nambiliju "female body," dardawurni "axe" and lirrikbirni "cockatoo."

The characteristic ending for masculine nominals is -a, although a lot of masculine nominals also end in a consonant. Most nominals of this class are animates, although it also contains a number of flat or rounded inanimates. Examples include jambilija "male body," kiyinarra "vagina" and yarrulan "youth."

Finally, the characteristic ending for neuter nominals is -u. This class contains nominals that do not fall into any of the previous classes, and especially words for abstract concepts and entities. Examples include yurrku "nectar," ngabarangkurru "blood" and karala "ground."

Demonstratives

Jingulu has three kinds of demonstratives: referential, anaphoric and cataphoric. In Jingulu, the referential demonstratives, of which there are about five sets, refer to objects that may be distal or proximal, and may be translated as "this" or "that." The anaphoric demonstratives, of which there is one set, refer to something that is already known by the speaker and listener at the time of speaking, and may be translated as "this (you know)" or "that (you know)." Finally, the cataphoric demonstrative, of which there is only one, refers to something that is not yet known by both the speaker and listener and is to be introduced, and may be translated as "this (which you are to know about)" or "that (which you are to know about)."

As the demonstratives are considered nominals, most of them belong to one of the four nominal classes.

Referential

There are five sets of referential demonstratives: jama and jimi; nyam-; ngin- and nyin-; ngunu; and ngunungku. The first three sets are all by default distal, but may be made proximal by the use of the suffix -(r)niki. None of the last two sets may take the proximal marker, as ngunu is always considered distal, and ngunungku is generally considered proximal, normally translated as "this way."

jama belongs to the masculine class, and jimi to the neuter class. However, jama may refer to nominals of all classes, and jimi may also refer to nominals of the vegetable class.

Jimi-ni jurruma-mi burrbuji-kaji! dem(n)-foc wipe_out-irr finnish-intens "Get rid of all that!" Jama-baji-ni buyu-wurru-ju." dem(m)-pl-foc smoke-3pl-pres "Those people are smoking." Jimi-niki-ni karriyaku imbiy-urru-ju marrinju. dem(n)-prox-foc different speak-3pl-pres language "This is a different language they speak (here)."

The demonstrative nyam- takes either the suffix -a, -arni- or -bala depending on whether it refers to a nominal of the masculine, feminine, or neuter or vegetable class. Likewise, the demonstratives ngin- and nyin- take the suffix -da, -a or -i depending on whether it refers to a nominal of the masculine, feminine or neuter class, and become ngima and nyima when referring to a nominal of the vegetable class. While a nyam- demonstrative takes the proximal marker, it becomes nyamarniki no matter class.

Irriminjulu ngini-rniki buba ngirrma-nga-yi bardakurra. kindling dem(n)-prox fire make-1sg-fut good(m) "This kindling will make a good fire." Wanyik-urlu nyina-bulu ladaji-wunyu-ju arduku. girl-dl dem(f)-dl dry-3dl-pres slow "The two girls are slowly drying out."

The demonstrative ngunu belongs to the neuter class, but may also refer to nominals of the vegetable class. ngunungku may refer to nominals of all classes.

Ngunu dij bila-mi nyanyalu! dem(n) break-irr branch "Break that branch!" Jangkuwardka-ngarri-yi ngunungku kalirrungu-ngka. climb_up-1sg-fut dem hill-all "I will climb the mountain this way."

Anaphoric

There is one set of anaphoric demonstratives: kuna and kuya. These are only used rarely, and are often replaced by referential demonstratives. The former refers to nominals of the masculine class, and the latter to nominals of the neuter class. However, the former may also refer to nominals of other classes, and the latter to nominals of the vegetable class as well.

Nginda wurru-ku kuna-ngka biningkurru-ngka. dem(m) 3pl-went dem(anaph)-all lake-all "They went to that lake (you know the one)." Kuyu-mbili-rni mankiya-nga-yi. dem(anaph)-loc-foc sit-1sg-fut "I'll go sit in that place (that you know)."

Cataphoric

The only cataphoric demonstrative is jiyi and refers to nominals of all classes.

Nyamba-nama nyambala karriyaku-nama kaburrkaburrji jiyi-rni ijijurnminji-mi. what-tmp dem(n) different(n)-tmp brown(n) dem(cataph)-foc butcherbird-foc "Now there's a different one that is brown, that's the butcherbird."

Syntax

Jingulu is syntactically classified as a Non-configurational language. The predicate (both argument and verb) of a clause will lack encyclopedic information.

Sign language

The Jingulu have (or had) a well-developed signed form of their language.