Gubbi Gubbi language

Kabi Kabi, also spelt Gabi-Gabi/Gubbi Gubbi, is a language of Queensland in Australia, formerly spoken by the Kabi Kabi people of South-east Queensland. The main dialect, Kabi Kabi, is extinct, but there are still 24 people with knowledge of the Butchulla dialect (also spelt Batjala, Batyala, Badjala, and variants), a language spoken by the Butchulla people of K'gari.

Kabi
Kabi Kabi
RegionQueensland
EthnicityKabi Kabi (Kabi), Butchulla (incl. Ngulungbara)
Native speakers
24 of the Batjala dialect (2016 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Kabi Kabi (Dippil)
  • Badjala (Batjala, Batyala, Butchulla)
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
gbw – Kabi-Kabi
xby – Batyala
Glottologkabi1260
AIATSIS[2]E29 Gubbi Gubbi, E30 Butchulla
ELPGubbi Gubbi
 Batyala[3]
Badjala is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Words

According to Norman Tindale (1974), the word Kabi (['kabi]), means "no".[2]

"Wunya ngulum" means "Welcome, everyone" in Kabi Kabi/Gabi-Gabi.[4]

Language status

The main dialect is extinct, but there were still 24 people with knowledge of the Batjala dialect (a language spoken by the Butchulla people of K'gari formerly known as Fraser Island) as of the 2016 Australian census.[1]

Phonology

The following is in the Badjala/Butchulla dialect:

Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex/
Palatal		 Velar
Stop plain b d̪ d (ɟ) ɡ
tense pː d̪ː kː
Nasal m n̪ n (ɲ) ŋ
Lateral l
Rhotic r ɻ
Approximant w j
  • /n̪/ is always heard as palatal [ɲ] when preceding /i/, and in word-final position.
  • /d̪/ can be heard in free variation with palatal [ɟ].
  • /b d̪ ɡ/ can have lenited allophones [β ð ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
  • /ɻ/ has a lateral allophone of [ɭ] when preceding /b/.
  • /ɡ/ is often slightly palatalised as [ɡʲ] before /i/.

Vowels
Front Back
High i iː u uː
Mid ɛ ɛː
Low a aː
  • /aː/ can sometimes be heard as [æː] before /l/.
  • /u/ can be heard as [ɔ] when preceding an intervocalic /ɻ/.[5]

References
  1. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  2. E29 Gubbi Gubbi at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  3. Endangered Languages Project data for Batyala.
  4. "Say G'day in an Indigenous Language" (PDF). slq.qld.gov.au/. State Library of Queensland. 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. Bell, Jeanie P. (2003)
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