Kunjen language

Kunjen, or Uw, is a Paman language spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, by the Uw Oykangand, Olkola, and related Aboriginal Australian peoples. It is closely related to Kuuk Thaayorre, and perhaps Kuuk Yak.

Kunjen
Uw
Native toAustralia
RegionCape York Peninsula, Queensland
EthnicityNgundjan (Ogh-Undjan), Uw Oykangand, Olkola
Native speakers
2 (2005)[1]
Dialects
  • Uw Oykangand
  • Uw Olkola
  • Ogh-Undjan
  • Kawarrang
  • Athina
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
kjn – Oykangand
olk – Olkol
Glottologkunj1248
AIATSIS[1]Y83 Kunjen (cover term), Y188 Kokiny, Y237 Athina
ELP
Kunjen is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Two of its dialects, Uw Olkola (Olgolo) and Uw Oykangand (Koko Wanggara), are very close, being mutually intelligible and sharing 97% of their core vocabulary.[2] Another two, Ogh-Undjan and Kawarrangg, are also close, but somewhat more distant from the first pair. Kokinj (Kokiny) is a subdialect of Ogh-Undjan. A fifth variety, Athima, is poorly attested.

Below is a table showing the mutual intelligibility in vocabulary between the Kunjen dialects, based on a list of 100 basic words.[3]

Uw Oykangand 97% 44% 38%
Uw Olkola 43% 38%
Ogh-Undjan 82%
Kawarrangg

A small dictionary of Kunjen has been compiled by Philip Hamilton.[4] A great majority of words begin with a vowel (>96%), similar to the situation in distantly-related Arrernte. Exceptions include kinship terms and loanwords. Syllable onsets are thought to be present in all languages, so their absence in native lexicon is highly notable.

Respect register

As in many other Australian languages, such as Dyirbal, Kunjen also has a respect register, which is a polite way of speaking with a potential mother-in-law and is called Olkel-Ilmbanhthi. Most of the vocabulary is replaced, while affixes and function words are kept.[5]

Normal Uw Oykangand:

Alka-nhdh

spear-INSTR

idu-rr

spear-PST

ay

I

Alka-nhdh idu-rr ay

spear-INSTR spear-PST I

"I speared it with a spear."

Equivalent in Olkel-Ilmbanhthi:

Udnga-nhdh

spear-INSTR

yanganyunyja-rr

spear-PST

ay

I

Udnga-nhdh yanganyunyja-rr ay

spear-INSTR spear-PST I

"I speared it with a spear."

Phonology

Vowels

Kunjen has 5 vowels:

Front Back
Unrounded Rounded
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

There is a lexical vowel harmony constraint in Kunjen: Close and mid vowels do not co-occur in a word.

Consonants

Kunjen has 27 consonants:

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Dental Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive voiceless p ⟨p⟩ k ⟨k⟩ c ⟨ch⟩ t̪ ⟨th⟩ t ⟨t⟩
voiced b ⟨b⟩ g ⟨g⟩ ɟ ⟨j⟩ d̪ ⟨dh⟩ d ⟨d⟩
Nasal plain m ⟨m⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩ ɲ ⟨ny⟩ n̪ ⟨nh⟩ n ⟨n⟩
prestopped ᵇm ⟨bm⟩ ᶢŋ ⟨gng⟩ ᶡɲ ⟨jny⟩ ᵈ̪n̪ ⟨dnh⟩ ᵈn ⟨dn⟩
Fricative f ⟨f⟩ ɣ ⟨ɣ⟩ ð ⟨ð⟩
Trill r ⟨rr⟩
Approximant Central w ⟨w⟩ j ⟨y⟩ ɻ ⟨r⟩
Lateral ʎ ⟨ly⟩ l̪ ⟨lh⟩ l ⟨l⟩

The Uw Olkola word for the freshwater crocodile, ogakor, was used as the name of a tribe on the second season of the American reality television series, Survivor in 2001.[6]

References
  1. Y83 Kunjen (cover term) at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  2. "Description of the languages Uw Olkola and Uw Oykangand". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  3. Sommer, Bruce A. (January 1970). "An Australian Language Without CV Syllables". International Journal of American Linguistics. 36: 57–58. doi:10.1086/465090. S2CID 143977924.
  4. "Uw Oykangand and Uw Olkola wordlist". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  5. Evans, Nicholas (2006). "Warramurrungunji Undone: Australian Languages in the 51st Millennium". In Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.). Language Diversity Endangered. pp. 354–355.
  6. "Freshwater crocodile". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012.
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