Giimbiyu is an extinct
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...
language isolate
A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...
once spoken by the
Giimbiyu people of northern Australia.
The name is a
Gaagudju word for 'of the stoney country'. It was introduced in Harvey (1992) as a cover term for the named dialects,
*Mangerr (Mengerrdji)
*Urningangga (Wuningak)
*Erri (Arri)
In 1997
Nicholas Evans
Nicholas Benbow Evans (26 July 1950 – 9 August 2022) was a British journalist, screenwriter, television and film producer and novelist. He was best known for his 1995 debut novel, ''The Horse Whisperer (novel), The Horse Whisperer''. It has s ...
proposed an
Arnhem Land family that includes the Giimbiyu languages. However, they are not included in Bowern (2011).
Phonology
Consonants
* Coarticulation among consonants is also present.
* Among consonant-coarticulation, /ɣ/ when preceding sounds /l, ɾ/ may result in being heard as a voiceless palatal
�
Vowels
* may also be heard as .
* Coarticulation among a preceding , may result in the vowel sound becoming more central or as a diphthong .
Vocabulary
Capell
Capell or Capel is a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Capell
* Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (1608–1649), English politician
* Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex (1631–1683), English statesman
* Arthur Capell (1902–1 ...
(1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:
[Capell, Arthur. 1941-1942, 1942-1943]
Languages of Arnhem Land, North Australia
''Oceania'' 12: 364-392, 13: 24-51.
:
References
* McConvell, Patrick and Nicholas Evans. (eds.) 1997. ''Archaeology and Linguistics: Global Perspectives on Ancient Australia.'' Melbourne: Oxford University Press
{{language families
Language isolates of Australia
Extinct languages of the Northern Territory