The Wemba Wemba language is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language once spoken along the Murray River and its tributaries in North Western Victoria and South Central New South Wales.

Nari Nari Nari may refer to: People Given name: *Nari (Korean name), including a list of people with the name *Nari Contractor (born 1934), Indian cricketer *Nari Gandhi (1934–1993), Indian architect * Nari Hira, Indian film producer *Nari Kusakawa, Japane ...

, a dialect of Wemba Wemba, is part of a language revival project. Other dialects are Barababaraba and Wergaia. Jardwadjali (with dialects Jagwadjali, Nundadjali, Mardidjali) may be Wemba-Wemba, or may be closer to the Madhi–Ladji–Wadi varieties.

Sounds

Consonants

Vowels

Voiced consonant sounds only occur within prenasalized stops. Prenasal consonants include: /mb/ /nd/ /ndy/ /ng/ and /rnd/. In phonetic form they are pronounced as b d �ɟ �ɡand �ɖ

Influence on English

At least four botanical terms in

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...

are thought to have been introduced into local speech from Wemba-Wemba: * ''dilanj'' = nitre bush/dillon * ''lerep'' = lerp/honeydew or lerp manna * ''gambang'' = bulrush/cumbungi * ''mali'' = mallee * The word yabby, a type of

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

, comes from Wemba-Wemba.

Language revival

, the Nari Nari dialect is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the

Department of Communications and the Arts The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs. In December 2019, prime minister Scott Morrison ...

. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".

External links

Wemba Wemba language

References

Kulin languages Extinct languages of Victoria (Australia) {{Ia-lang-stub