Alngith () is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
Paman language formerly spoken on the
Cape York Peninsula
The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...
of
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, by the
Alngith people. The last known speakers survived into the 1980s.
[Wurm, S. A. and S. Hattori (eds.). 1981. Language atlas of the Pacific area. Canberra: The Australian Academy of the Humanities in collaboration with the Japan Academy.] Phonologically
Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often prefer ...
, this language variety is very similar to the related variety
Linngithigh, the only difference being that this language has the process of
metathesis whereas Linngithigh does not.
Alngith is considered to be a dialect of Thaynakwith, a language spoken on Western Cape York in the Weipa area taking in Albatross Bay and Mission River. The traditional language area of Thaynakwith includes landscape within the local government boundaries of
Weipa
Weipa () is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland. It is one of the largest towns on the Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. The Port of Weipa is main ...
Town Council and the
Shire of Cook
The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland.
It covers an area ...
.
The word ''Nje 'alan'' means 'good day'.
Phonology
The two dialects of Alngith and Linngithigh have the same sound inventory.
[Kenneth Hale, 1976, Phonological Developments in Particular Northern Paman Languages, pp.14]
Consonants
Vowels
References
Northern Paman languages
Extinct languages of Queensland
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