Worrorran languages

Updated on Dec 14, 2024

Edit

Comment

Geographicdistribution northern Australia		Glottolog worr1236

Linguistic classification One of the world's primary language families Subdivisions WunambalUngarinyinWorrorra

The Worrorran (Wororan) languages are a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Australia.

The Worrorran languages fall into three dialect clusters:

(Northern) Wunambal

(Eastern) Ungarinyin (Ngarinyin)

(Western) Worrorra

Validity

There has been debate over whether the Worrorran languages are demonstrably related to one another, or constitute a geographical language group.

Dixon (2002) considers them to be language isolates with no demonstrable relationship other than that of a Sprachbund.

However, more recent literature differs from Dixon:

Rumsey and McGregor (2009) demonstrate the cohesiveness of the family and its reconstructibility, and;

Bowern (2011) accepts the Worroorran languages as a family.

(Text) CC BY-SA