Contents

Giimbiyu language

Giimbiyu
Mangerr
Native to	Australia
Region	Northern Territory
Extinct	1980s–1990s[1]
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[2]	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]

• Mangerr (Mengerrdji)
• Urningangga (Wuningak) and Erri (Arri)

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

Phonology[edit]

Consonants[edit]

• 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].

Vowels[edit]

• /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]

Vocabulary[edit]

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

gloss	Mangeri	Uningangk
man	wurilg	wurig
woman	ŋeːn	ŋeːn
head	wiliŋerm	ulŋerb
eye	iːm	iːm
nose	jingolm	ingolb
mouth	jagir	indjaːd
tongue	nindjadj	indjaːd
stomach	abeɽweɽe	abeɽwe
bone	ijerm	mulgud
blood	maneŋulm	waija
kangaroo	oidjbaɣar	wurulamb
opossum	muŋaːd	malijarŋ
emu	wiwijüw	iwidjiw
crow	gagud	gagud
fly	muɳimuɳi	maŋanaŋaɳ
sun	muɣaːliŋ	indjuwawi
moon	järagäl	järagäl
fire	wiɽumgarm	widjälim
smoke	wuŋɛŋg	wuŋɛŋg
water	ogog	ogog

References[edit]

Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:North Australian word lists

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