Kalkatungu (also ''Kalkutungu'', ''Galgadungu'', ''Kalkutung'', ''Kalkadoon'', or ''Galgaduun'') is an extinct

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

formerly spoken around the area of

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, b ...

and

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Classification

Apart from the closely related language,

Wakabunga The Wakabunga are an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland. Language Norman Tindale referred to material by two early correspondents, Urquhart and O'Reilley, in a publication by E. M. Curr for details about the Wakabunga and ...

, Kalkatungu is sometimes grouped with

Yalarnnga The Yalarnnga, also known as the Jalanga, are an Indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland. Language Yalarnnga is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language, hypothesized to be one of the two Galgadungic languages of the Pama–N ...

as the Kalkatungic (Galgadungic) branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. O'Grady et al., however, classify it as the sole member of the "Kalkatungic group" of the Pama-Nyungan family, and Dixon (2002) regards Kalkatungic as an areal group.

Revival

Emeritus Professor

Barry Blake Barry Blake, born 1937, is an Australian linguist, specializing in the description of Australian Aboriginal languages. He is a professor emeritus at La Trobe University Melbourne. Career Blake was born in the northern Melbourne suburb of Ascot ...

, Sheree Blackley and others have revived the language based on recordings, written grammars and personal memories. Robert Ah Wing assisted by Uncle Arthur Peterson is also active in this field. Often, emphasis is placed on belonging, passing on elements of language to younger Kalkatungu.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

It is not clear if the vibrant is a trill or a tap.

Stress

Like in English, word stress is realised in terms of loudness. Sentence stress is also organised similar to English with the first syllable in the final word of a phonological phrase getting the main stress.(tonic stress) Moreover, if there are more than two words in a phrase, the first syllable of the first word receives more stress than the non-final words.

Kalkatungu Sign Language

Kendon (1988) shows that Kalkatungu also had a developed signed form of their language.Kendon, A. (1988) ''Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References

* Roth, Walter E. (1897). ''The expression of ideas by manual signs: a sign-language.'' (p. 273–301) Reprinted from Roth, W.E. ''Ethnological studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines''. London, Queensland Agent-Generals Information Office, 1897; 71–90; Information collected from the following tribes; Pitta-Pitta, Boinji, Ulaolinya, Wonkajera, Walookera, Undekerebina, Kalkadoon, Mitakoodi, Woonamurra, Goa. Reprinted (1978) in ''Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia.'' New York: Plenum Press, vol. 2. Kalkatungic languages Extinct languages of Queensland North West Queensland {{ia-lang-stub