Matngele or Madngele is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory spoken by the Madngella and Yunggor peoples.
Classification
Tryon (1974) classified Matngele with Kamu, and this is accepted by Dixon (2002) and Bowern (2011), though denied by Harvey (1990).[1]
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ɵ | |
| Low | a |
Consonants
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | k | c | t | |
| Voiced | b | ɡ | ɟ | d | ||
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n | ||
| Lateral | ʎ | l | ||||
| Rhotic | r | ɻ | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j | ||||
Grammar
Matngele has only five simple verbs. These must be combined with coverbs in order to form complex verbs.
References
- ^ a b c N12 Matngele at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Zandvoort, F. B. (1999). A grammar of Matngele. BA honours sub-thesis. Armidale: University of New England.
External links
- Matngele at the Dalylanguages.org website.