Wemba Wemba language

The Wemba Wemba language is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language once spoken along the Murray River and its tributaries in North Western Victoria and South Central New South Wales.

Wemba-Wemba
Eastern Central Murray
Region	Victoria
Ethnicity	Wemba-Wemba, Nari-Nari, Barababaraba, Wergaia, Wotjobaluk, Marditjali, ?Jardwadjali
Extinct	(date missing)[1]
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Kulinic Kulin Wemba-Wemba
Dialects	Nari Nari Barababaraba Wergaia (incl. Wotjobaluk) ? Jardwadjali
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xww – inclusive code Individual codes: rnr – Nari-Nari rbp – Barababaraba weg – Wergaia xwt – Wotjobaluk
Glottolog	west2443  incl. Madhi–Ladji–Wadi
AIATSIS[2]	D1
ELP	Wemba-Wemba
	Nari Nari[3]

Nari Nari, a dialect of Wemba Wemba, is as of 2020^[update] part of a language revival project. Other dialects are Barababaraba and Wergaia.

Jardwadjali (with dialects Jagwadjali, Nundadjali, Mardidjali) may be Wemba-Wemba,^[4] or may be closer to the Madhi–Ladji–Wadi varieties.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Velar	Dental	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Stop	p	k	t̪	c	t	ʈ
Nasal	m	ŋ		ɲ	n	ɳ
Lateral					l	ɭ
Rhotic					r	ɽ
Approximant	w			j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ɪ, i		ʊ, u
Mid	ɛ, e	ə	ɔ, o
Open		a

Voiced consonant sounds only occur within prenasalized stops. Prenasal consonants include: /mb/ /nd/ /ndy/ /ng/ and /rnd/. In phonetic form they are pronounced as [mb] [nd] [ɲɟ] [ŋɡ] and [ɳɖ].^[5]

Vocabulary

Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981).^[6]

English	Wemba-Wemba
man	beng
woman	lerg
mother	guinggurin
father	mam
head	murreng
eye	mir
nose	ganyug
ear	wirimbula
mouth	dyarb
tongue	dyaling
tooth	lia
hand	manye
breast	gurm
stomach	bili
urine	gir
faeces	guni
thigh	gareburdug
foot	dyine
bone	merderug
blood	gurg
dog	wilgar
snake	gurnwil
kangaroo	gure (grey), bara (red)
possum	wile
fish	yauwirr
spider	wirimbeliny
mosquito	liri
emu	dyurung-wil
eaglehawk	banggel
crow	wa
sun	nyaui
star	durd
stone	la
water	gaden
camp	lar
fire	wanab
smoke	burd
meat	benggug
stand	dyerriga
sit	nyengga
see	nyaga
go	yangga
get	garga
hit	daga (barrangguna 'kill')
I	yandang
you	ngin
one	gebin
two	buledya

Influence on English

At least four botanical terms in Australian English are thought to have been introduced into local speech from Wemba-Wemba:

• dilanj = nitre bush/dillon
• lerep = lerp/honeydew or lerp manna^[7]
• gambang = bulrush/cumbungi^[7]
• mali = mallee^[7]
• The word yabby, a type of crayfish, comes from Wemba-Wemba.^[8]

Language revival

As of 2020^[update], the Nari Nari dialect^[9] is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages—those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".^[10]