Bungandidj language

Bungandidj is a language of Australia, spoken by the Bungandidj people, Indigenous Australians who lived in an area which is now in south-eastern South Australia and in south-western Victoria. According to Christina Smith and her book on the Buandig people, the Bungandidj called their language drualat-ngolonung (speech of man), or Booandik-ngolo (speech of the Booandik).^[3] As of 2017, there is a revival and maintenance programme under way for the language.^[4]

Bungandidj
Buwandik
Region	South-east South Australia South-west Victoria
Ethnicity	Bungandidj
Extinct	(date missing)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Southeastern Victorian Kulin–Bungandidj Bungandidj
Dialects	Bungandidj Pinejunga Mootatunga Wichintunga Polinjunga^[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`xbg`
Glottolog	`bung1264`
AIATSIS^[2]	`S13`
ELP	Buandig

Historical variants of the name include: Bunganditj, Bungandaetch, Bunga(n)daetcha, Bungandity, Bungandit, Buganditch, Bungaditj, Pungantitj, Pungatitj, Booganitch, Buanditj, Buandik, Booandik, Boandiks, Bangandidj, Bungandidjk, Pungandik, Bak-on-date, Barconedeet, Booandik-ngolo, Borandikngolo, Bunganditjngolo, and Burhwundeirtch.

Bungandidj phonology is typical of Australian languages generally, sharing characteristics such as a single series of stops (no voicing contrast) at six places of articulation, a full corresponding set of nasals, laminals at all four coronal places of articulation and two glides.^[5] Extrapolating from historical written sources and knowledge of surrounding languages, Blake posits the following consonant inventory:^[5]

Consonants

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	Peripheral		Laminal		Apical
	Bilabial	Velar	Dental	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	p [p]	k [k]	th [t̪]	tj [c]	t [t]	rt [ʈ]
Nasal	m [m]	ng [ŋ]	nh [n̪]	ny [ɲ]	n [n]	rn [ɳ]
Flap/Trill					rr [r]
Lateral			lh [l̪]	ly [ʎ]	l [l]	rl [ɭ]
Approximant	w [w]			y [j]		r [ɻ]

Vowels

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	Front	Central	Back
Close	i [i]		u [u]
Open		a [a]

Notes on orthography

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Early descriptions of Bungandidj made no distinction between the trill/flap /r/ and approximant /ɻ/ and evidence for this contrast is based on comparative evidence only. Blake transcribes both as ⟨r⟩.^[5]
Although there is no voicing distinction, stops are transcribed with voiced symbols ⟨b, g, dh, d, rd⟩ in homorganic nasal-stop clusters (where voicing is expected).^[5]
Syllable-final palatals are transcribed with the digraphs ⟨yt, yn, yl⟩ to avoid a final -y being confused with a vowel.^[5]
Historical sources include five vowel graphemes including ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩; however, it is likely that ⟨e⟩ belongs to the /i/ phoneme and ⟨o⟩ belongs to the /u/ phoneme. However, Blake conservatively retains some ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ segments where they are consistently transcribed in this way across historical sources.

Smith (1880), on pages 138–139, records a poem written in Bungandidj :^[3]

yul-yul, thumbal (Fly beetle, bat, night)
kallaball, moonarerebul (Fly, march-fly, beetle)
nana nan molanin (parrot, little parrot.)
korotaa, king nal (wattle bird,)
yongo birrit. (minah bird.)

^ Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. xxxv.

^ S13 Bungandidj at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

^ ^a ^b Christina Smith, The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends, and Language, Spiller, 1880

^ Monaghan, Paul (2017). "1. Structures of Aboriginal life at the time of colonisation in South Australia" (PDF). In Brock, Peggy; Gara, Tom (eds.). Colonialism and its aftermath: A history of Aboriginal South Australia. Extract, pp.i-xxiii. Wakefield. p. 17. ISBN 9781743054994.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Blake, Barry J. (2003). The Bunganditj (Buwandik) language of the Mount Gambier region. Australian National University. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. ISBN 9780858834958. OCLC 56054287.

Bungandidj language

Contents

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Notes on orthography

A poem

References

Languages