Ngawun language

Ngawun is an extinct Mayi language once spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, by the Wunumara and Ngawun peoples. The last speaker of the language was Cherry O'Keefe (or Tjapun in the language) who died of pneumonia on 24 August 1977.^[2]

Ngawun
Native to	Australia
Region	Cape York Peninsula, Queensland
Ethnicity	Ngawun, Wanamara
Extinct	1977
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Mayabic Ngawun
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: nxn – Ngawun wnn – Wunumara
Glottolog	ngaw1240  Ngawun
AIATSIS[1]	G17 Ngawun, G16.1 Wunumura
ELP	Ngawun

The etymology of the name Ngawun is unknown.

Wanamarra (also known as Maykulan and Wunumura) was spoken in North West Queensland. The language region includes areas within the Shire of McKinlay, Shire of Cloncurry and Shire of Richmond, including the Flinders River area, and the towns of Kynuna and Richmond.^[3]

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal		Apical
	Labial	Velar	Dental	Alveolo- palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	p	k	t̪	t̠ʲ	t	ʈ
Nasal	m	ŋ	n̪	n̠ʲ	n	ɳ
Rhotic					ɾ
Lateral				(l̠ʲ)	l	ɭ
Approximant	w			j		ɻ

• /t̪/ can be heard as fricatives [θ] in intervocalic positions, and as [ð] when in between a nasal and a vowel.
• /ɾ/ can be heard as a trill [r] when in word-final position.
• /ɭ/ can be heard as an alveolo-palatal [l̠ʲ] when before /t̠ʲ/.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i, iː	u, uː
Open	a, aː

• /i/ can be heard as [ɪ] when before /j/ or any other alveolo-palatal laminal sounds.
• /u/ can also be heard as [ʊ], and as [o] when in word-final positions.^[4]