Wulna language

Wulna or Wuna is an extinct Indigenous language of Australia. It was a non-Pama-Nyungan language spoken in the Adelaide River region of the Northern Territory.^[3] It is poorly attested and only tentatively classified as being related to Limilngan.^[2]

Wulna
Beriguruk, Wuna
Native to	Australia
Region	Arnhem Land
Ethnicity	Beriguruk, Djerimanga
Extinct	(date missing)[1] 1 (1981)
Language family	Darwin Region Limilngan Wulna
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wux
Glottolog	wuln1239
AIATSIS[2]	N29
ELP	Wulna

It had one speaker left in 1981, Jack Wandi, who was recorded by Gavan Breen in 1980-1981.^[1][3]

Resources

The State Library of New South Wales has an original copy of Vocabulary of the Woolner District Dialect, Adelaide River, Northern Territory by John W. O. Bennett (1869).

The book documents the vocabulary and pronunciation of Wulna in general, in addition to place names from the Adelaide River region of Northern Territory. The original copy has been annotated by Paul Foelsche, the first police inspector of Northern Territory,^[4] who has added his own words to the vocabulary list, and his own corrections on pronunciation.

External links

• AUSTLANG includes and entry for the Wulna language (N29)
• Paradisec has an open access collection of Gavan Breen's materials for Wulna
• A scanned online copy of Vocabulary of the Woolner District Dialect, Adelaide River, Northern Territory by John W. O. Bennett (published 1869, annotated by Paul Foelsche), on the State Library of New South Wales' website