Gamilaraay language

The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi (see below for other spellings) language is a Pama-Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in South East Australia. It was the traditional language of the Kamilaroi people, but is now moribund—according to Ethnologue, there were only 3 speakers left in 1997. However, there are thousands of people of mixed descent both within the native populations as well as immigrant populations, who identify themselves as Kamilaroi. Kamilaroi is also taught in some Australian schools.

Classification

• Pama-Nyungan
  • Central New South Wales group
    • Wiradhuric
      • Gamilaraay
      • Wiradhuri
      • Ngiyambaa

Name

The name Gamilaraay means gamil-having, gamil being the word for "no". Other dialects and languages are similarly named after their respective words for "no". (Compare the division between Langue d'oïl and Langue d'oc in France, distinguished by their respective words for "yes".)

Spellings of the name, pronounced [ɡ̊aˌmilaˈɻaːj] (listen) in the language itself, include:

• Camilaroi
• Kamalarai
• Kamilaroi
• Gamilaraay
• Gamilaroi

Geographic distribution

A map of the tribes of New South Wales, published in 1892. Gamilaraay is marked I.

This section requires expansion.

Dialects

• Yuwaalaraay
• Yuwaaliyaay (Euahlayi)
• Gunjbaraay
• Gawambaraay
• Wirayaraay (Wiriwiri)
• Walaraay

History

Southern Aboriginal guides led the surveyor John Howe to the upper Hunter River above present-day Singleton in 1819. They told him that the country there was "Coomery Roy [=Gamilaraay] and more further a great way", meaning to the north-west, over the Liverpool Range (see O'Rourke 1997: 29). This is probably the first record of the name.

A basic wordlist collected by Major Thomas Mitchell in February, 1832 is the earliest written record of Gamilaraay.

The Presbyterian missionary William Ridley studied the language from 1852 to 1856.

This section requires expansion.

Phonology

Vowel

/wa/ is realized as [wo].

Consonants

Initially, /wu/ and /ji/ may be simplified to [u] and [i].

Stress

All long vowels in a word get equal stress. If there are no long vowels, stress falls on the first syllable.

Secondary stress falls on short vowels which are two syllables to the right or to the left of a stressed syllable.

Grammar

This section requires expansion.

Gamilaraay words in English

Several loanwords have entered Australian English from Gamilaraay, including:

References

• Austin, Peter (1993). A Reference Dictionary of Gamilaraay, northern New South Wales. La Trobe University. http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AborigPages/LANG/GAMDICT/GAMDICT.HTM. 

Ash, Anna et al. Gamilaraay, Yuwaaaraay and Yuwaalayaay Dictionary. Alice Springs: IAD Press 2003.

• Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521473780, ISBN 9780521473781. http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780. 
• Mathews, R. H. (Jul.–Dec. 1903). "Languages of the Kamilaroi and Other Aboriginal Tribes of New South Wales". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 33: 259–283. doi:10.2307/2842812. 
• O'Rourke, Michael.. The Kamilaroi Lands. Canberra, 1997.. 
• Ridley, William (1856). "On the Kamilaroi Tribe of Australians and Their Dialect". Journal of the Ethnological Society of London 4: 285–293. doi:10.2307/3014109. 

External links

• Ethnologue report for Gamilaaray
• The Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) Language, northern New South Wales — A Brief History of Research (PDF)
• Gutenberg Project Browse By Language: Gamilaraay
• Online dictionary