Umpila is an

Aboriginal Australian 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 ...

, or dialect cluster, of the

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupació ...

in northern Queensland. It is spoken by about 100

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, many of them elderly.

Geographic distribution

The land territory associated with the Umpila language group is located along the northeastern coast of Cape York Peninsula and stretches from the northern end of Temple Bay south to the Massey Creek region at the top of Princess Charlotte Bay, and west of the Great Dividing Range towards the township of Coen. Most of the remaining Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u speakers reside in Lockhart River Aboriginal Community, which is located at Lloyd Bay, roughly at the boundary between Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u lands.

Varieties

The chief varieties of Umpila, variously considered dialects or distinct languages, are: *Umpila proper *Kanju (Kandju, Kaantyu, Gandju, Gandanju, Kamdhue, Kandyu, Kanyu, Karnu), also ''Jabuda, Neogulada, Yaldiye-Ho'' *Kuuku-Yaʼu (Yaʼo, Koko-Jaʼo, Kokoyao), also ''Bagadji (Pakadji)'' *Kuuku Yani (extinct) *Uutaalnganu (extinct) *Kuuku Iʼyu (extinct)

Phonology

Umpila consonant inventoryO’Grady, G.N. “Wadjuk and Umpila: A Long-Short Approach to Pama-Nyungan.” In ''Studies in Comparative Pama-Nyungan'', edited by G.N. O’Grady and D.T. Tyron. Pacific Linguistics Series C 111, 1990. Umpila vowel inventory

Grammar

Typologically, Umpila is an agglutinative, suffixing, dependent-marking language, with a preference for Subject-Object-Verb constituent order. Grammatical relations are indicated by a split ergative case system: nominal inflections are ergative/absolutive, pronominals are nominative/accusative. Features of note include: historical dropping of initial consonants, complex verbal reduplication expressing progressivity and habitual aspect, 'optional' ergative marking.

Sign language

The Umpila have (or had) a well-developed signed form of their language. Kendon, A. (1988) ''Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press It is one of the primary components of

Far North Queensland Indigenous Sign Language Indigenous Sign Language (ISL) is an emerging contact language used by aboriginal deaf people in urban centers of Far North Queensland (Cape York Peninsula) such as Cairns.Suzannah Jackson, 2015'Indigenous Sign Language of Far North Queensland' ' ...

Bibliography

* Chase, A. K. 1979. Cultural Continuity: Land and Resources among East Cape York Aborigines. In Stevens, N. C. and Bailey, A. (eds). Contemporary Cape York Peninsula. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. * Chase, A. K. 1980. Which way now? Tradition, continuity and change in a north Queensland Aboriginal Community. Unpublished PhD thesis. Brisbane: University of Queensland. * Chase, A. K. 1984. Belonging to Country: Territory, Identity and Environment in Cape York Peninsula, Northern Australia. In L.R. Hiatt (ed) Aboriginal Landowners: Contemporary issues in the determination of traditional Aboriginal land ownership. Sydney: Sydney University Press. *Rigsby, B. and Chase, A. 1998. The Sandbeach People and Dugong Hunters of Eastern Cape York Peninsula: property in Land and Sea Country. Rigsby, B and Peterson, N. (eds) Customary Marine Tenure in Australia. Sydney. Oceania 48:192-218. *Thompson, D. 1988. Lockhart River ‘Sand Beach’ Language: An Outline of Kuuku Ya'u and Umpila. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics. *Thomson, D. F. 1933. The Hero Cult, Initiation Totemism on Cape York. Royal Anthropological Institute Journal 63: 453-537. *Thomson, D. F. 1934. Notes on a Hero Cult from the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Queensland. Royal Anthropological Institute Journal 64: 217-262.

References

North Cape York Paman languages Agglutinative languages Subject–object–verb languages Endangered indigenous Australian languages in Queensland Severely endangered languages {{ia-lang-stub