Gubbi Gubbi, also spelt Kabi Kabi, is a language 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 ...
in Australia, formerly spoken by the
Kabi Kabi people of
South-east Queensland. The main dialect, Gubbi Gubbi, is
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 ...
, but there are still 24 people with knowledge of the Butchulla dialect (also spelt Batjala, Batyala, Badjala, and variants), a language spoken by the
Butchulla people of
K'gari (Fraser Island).
Language status
The main dialect is extinct, but there were still 24 people with knowledge of the Batjala dialect (a language spoken by the
Butchulla people of
K'gari formerly known as Fraser Island) as of the
2016 Australian census.
Phonology
The following is in the Badjala/Butchulla dialect:
Consonants
* /n̪/ is always heard as palatal
²when preceding /i/, and in word-final position.
* /d̪/ can be heard in free variation with palatal
Ÿ
* /b d̪ ɡ/ can have lenited allophones
² ð É£in intervocalic positions.
* /É»/ has a lateral allophone of
when preceding /b/.
* /É¡/ is often slightly palatalised as
¡Ê²before /i/.
Vowels
* can sometimes be heard as before .
* can be heard as when preceding an intervocalic .
Lexicon
According to
Norman Tindale (1974), the word (), means "no".
means "Welcome, everyone" in Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi.
References
External links
Selected bibliography of material on Gubbi Gubbi / Kabi Kabi / Gabi Gabi language and people held in the AIATSIS LibraryHeritage of Kabi Kabi people - Sunshine Coast Tourism Information Centre
Joyce Bonner digital story
State Library of Queensland. Digital story discussing the Badtjala dialect
Eve Fesl digital story
State Library of Queensland. Digital story discussing the Gubbi Gubbi language
Waka–Kabic languages
Extinct languages of Queensland
Critically endangered languages
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