Nungali | |
---|---|
Yilngali | |
Native to | Australia |
Region | Upper Daly River, Northern Territory |
Ethnicity | Nungali |
Extinct | ca. 2000 |
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nug |
Glottolog | nung1291 |
AIATSIS[1] | N28 |
ELP | Nungali |
Nungali, or (with a different prefix) Yilngali, is an Australian language which is believed to be extinct. It was spoken in the Northern TerritoryofAustralia, around the upper Daly River.[2] Its closest relative is the Jaminjung language.
It is the only Yirram language which has retained the original four-class systeminnominals. The four classes are masculine, feminine, neuter and plants, and each of the classes have separate prefixes expressing the absolutive case, locativeorergative case, and the dative case.[3]
Class | Abs. | Loc. / Erg. | Dat. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
I | Masc. | ti- | nyi- | ki- |
II | Fem. | nya- | nyani- | kanyi- |
III | Neut. | nu- / ni- | nyi- | ki- / ku- |
IV | Plants | ma- | - | ki- |
The locative case is also productive when it comes to placenames. An example is Nyimarlanpurruni referring to the Timber Creek area, which consists of the neuter locative prefix nyi-, the word for "river gum", the plural marker -purru, and an additional marker of the neuter locative, -ni.[3]