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Worrorran languages

Family of Aboriginal Australian languages of northern Western Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Worrorran languages
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Not to be confused with Worrorra language.

The Worrorran (Wororan) languages are a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Western Australia.

Quick Facts Geographic distribution, Linguistic classification ...
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The Worrorran languages fall into three dialect clusters:

  • Worrorran
    • the Northern Worrorran group, known as Wunambal and related dialects
    • the Eastern Worrorran group, known as Ngarinyin, a.k.a. Ungarinyin, and related dialects
    • the Western Worrorran group, known as Worrorra, and related dialects

In addition, Gulunggulu is unattested but presumably a Worrorran lect.[3]

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Validity

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Worrorran languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey)

There has been debate over whether the Worrorran languages are demonstrably related to one another, or constitute a geographical language group.

Dixon (2002) considers them to be language isolates with no demonstrable relationship other than that of a Sprachbund.

However, more recent literature differs from Dixon:

  • Rumsey and McGregor (2009) demonstrate the cohesiveness of the family and its reconstructibility, and;
  • Bowern (2011) accepts the Worroorran languages as a family.[4]
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Vocabulary

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Capell (1940) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Worrorran languages:[5]

More information English, Ungarinyin ...
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References

Further reading

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