Gugu Thaypan language

Kuku-Thaypan is an extinct Paman language spoken on the southwestern part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia, by the Kuku-Thaypan people. The language was sometimes called Alaya or Awu Alaya.[3] Koko-Rarmul may have been a dialect,[4] though Bowern (2012) lists Gugu-Rarmul and Kuku-Thaypan as separate languages.[5] The last native speaker, Tommy George, died on 29 July 2016 in Cooktown Hospital.[6]

Kuku-Thaypan
Awu Alaya
Native toAustralia
RegionCape York Peninsula, Queensland
EthnicityKuku Thaypan, Gugu Rarmul
Extinct2016 (with the death of Tommy George)[1]
Dialects
  • Koko-Rarmul
Language codes
ISO 639-3typ
Glottologthay1248
AIATSIS[2]Y84 Kuku Thaypan, Y71 Gugu Rarmul
ELPAwu Laya

Phonology

Vowels

Kuku-Thaypan has six vowels and two marginal vowels possibly only in loan words.[7]

Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Mid e o
(ɔ)
Open (æ) a
  • Sounds /æ/ and /ɔ/ are only marginal, as phonemes.
  • /e/ is heard as [ɛ] when after palatals and /j/.

Consonants

Kuku-Thaypan has 23 consonants.[7]

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive voiceless p k t̪ c t
prenasal ᵐb ᵑɡ ⁿ̪d̪ ᶮɟ ⁿd
Fricative β ɣ ð
Nasal m ŋ n̪ ɲ n
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Approximant w j ɻ
  • /r/ may be heard as a voiceless trill [r̥] when in initial position.
  • /r/ may freely be heard as a tap [ɾ] or trill [r].

References
  1. A "legend", Indigenous Australian Leader, Knowledge Holder Tommy George Passes On.
  2. Y84 Kuku Thaypan at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  3. Jean-Christophe Verstraete, Diane Hafner, Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country (ISBN 902726760X, 2016)
  4. RMW Dixon (2002), Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development, p xxxii
  5. Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)
  6. A "legend", Indigenous Australian Leader, Knowledge Holder Tommy George Passes On.
  7. Rigsby, Bruce (1976). "Kuku-Thaypan descriptive and historical phonology". In Sutton, P. (ed.). Languages of Cape York. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. pp. 68–77.


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