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Minkin language

Minkin or Mingginda is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language, perhaps a language isolate, of northern Australia. It was spoken by the Mingin people in the area around Burketown, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in an area that contains the headwaters of the Leichhardt River.

The classification of Minkin is uncertain, primarily due to a lack of data. It has been suggested that it may have been related to the Yiwaidjan or Tankic language families. Evans (1990) believes it has been demonstrated to be a Tankic language, more distant than the others are to each other; this is accepted in Bowern (2011).

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in parentheses are unattested, but may have existed based on other languages' phonologies.

Vowels

It is not possible to tell if there was vowel length.

The following wildcard letters represent unresolvable segments:

  • T = /t̪/, /ʈ/ or /t/
  • TH = /t̪/ or /tʲ/
  • N = /n/, /ɳ/, /n̪/, /ŋ/, also /nʲ/ initially
  • NH = /n/, /n/, /nʲ/
  • NG = /ŋ/ /ŋk/, or /nk/
  • W = /ŋ/, or /w/ initially
  • W = /ŋ/ or /k/ initially
  • G = /k/ or /tʲ/
  • L = /l/, /É­/ or /l̪/
  • R = /r/ or /É»/
  • E = /i/ or /a/
  • O = /u/ or /a/
  • V = any vowel

Vocabulary

Minkin data reconstituted by Evans (1990):

Animals

  • jaco-jaco (kangaroo)
  • kallanarra (mosquito)
  • karimbala (white cockatoo)
  • koodoo (tame dog)
  • koorina (fly)
  • megilpurra (wild dog)
  • ooabiba (egg)
  • paganbaba (snake)
  • piringooraa (wild turkey)
  • piteldoo (pelican)
  • poolunganna (emu)
  • pooralga (native companion)
  • wapoora (possum)
  • wongoola (crow)
  • worra (fish)

Body parts

  • bilba (thigh)
  • boormba (hair of the head)
  • changa (foot)
  • charn-nga (tongue)
  • dimira (bone)
  • kiwira (nose)
  • lia (teeth)
  • makola (breasts)
  • mara (ear)
  • migilla (eye)
  • na-nga-ra (hand)
  • pagooroo (skin)
  • paranga (fat)
  • pardaga (stomach)
  • parka (mouth)
  • tangana (blood)
  • turra (bowel and excrement)
  • wedda (head)
  • yarin-nga (beard)

Numbers

  • choarng-ngo (one)
  • tigina (two)
  • tarngiltna (three)

People

  • birgenkoora (brother-younger)
  • churbooyo (God)
  • kiagi (father)
  • koo-ar-ee (being who taught them everything)
  • koondoonoo (mother)
  • magoo (black woman)
  • nacile (brother-elder)
  • nurka (aboriginal man)
  • ooardigiri (old woman)
  • ooroonda (a young man)
  • parda (ghosts)
  • pardingara (an old man)
  • pelgincorra (a baby)
  • takandana (a white man)
  • tano ara mingoo? (where are black?)
  • tyana (track of a foot)
  • wompoora (the blacks)
  • yillolunga (sister-elder)

Source:

References