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Yugambeh language

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(Redirected from Yugumbir language)
Not to be confused with Yugambal language.

Yugambeh
Minjungbal
Yugam
RegionQueensland, Australia
EthnicityYugambeh
Native speakers
208 (2021)[1]
Dialects
  • Mananjahli (Wangerriburra)
  • Minyangbal
  • Ngahnduwal
  • Nerang Creek
Language codes
ISO 639-3xjb
Glottologtwee1234
AIATSIS[2]E17
ELPMinjungbal
Yugambeh speaker, Shaun Davies.

Yugambeh (or Mibanah, from Mibanah gulgun, lit. 'language of men' or 'sound of eagles'),[3][4] also known as Tweed-Albert Bandjalang, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Yugambeh living in South-East Queensland between and within the Logan River basin and the Tweed River basin, bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean (including South Stradbroke Island) and in the west by the Teviot Ranges and Teviot Brook basin.[5]

Yugambeh is dialect cluster of two mutually intelligible dialects, one of four such clusters of the Bandjalangic branch of the Pama–Nyungan language family.[6]

Nomenclature

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In the Yugambeh language, the word yugambeh means an emphatic 'no', 'never' i.e. 'very much no' and is a common exonym for the people and their language. Language speakers use the word miban which means 'man', 'human', 'wedge-tailed eagle' and is the preferred endonym for the people; they call their language Mibanah meaning 'of man', 'of human', 'of eagle' (the -Nah suffix forming the genitive of the word miban).[7][8][3][4][9][10]

Yugambeh may also be referred to as:

  • Yugambir, Yugambeh (Yugambal/Yugumbal was evidently a separate language located further west[11])
  • Yubumbee
  • Jugumbir, Jukamba[12]
  • Tweed-Albert language
  • Nganduwal[13]
  • Ngarangwal[7]
  • Manaldjali (a variant of Mununjali, the name of a Yugambeh-speaking clan)
  • Minjanbal (probably from Minjungbal, an alternate language term)[14]

Geographic distribution

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Satellite image of the geographic distribution of the Tweed-Albert Language

Yugambeh is spoken within the Logan, Albert, Coomera, Nerang, and Tweed River basins.[7]

Dialects

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Linguists such as Margaret Sharpe, relying on the previous work of others like Terry Crowley, described the Yugambeh language as having potentially upwards of 7 dialects. Recent analysis has found errors in these original studies and when corrected for these errors, two mutually intelligible dialects can be found; a western (freshwater) variety and an eastern (saltwater) variety with minor vocabularic differences.[6]

Some differences noted by linguist Shaun Davies:

English Eastern Western
She Nyahn Nyulegan
Girl Yahgari Jabuny

Phonology

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Vowels

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Yugambeh has a vowel system of four vowels that also contrast in length, resulting in eight phonemic vowels in total. The letter "h" is used after the vowel to indicate a long vowel.

Front Back
High i iː u uː
Mid e eː
Low a aː

Allophones

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The low central vowel /a/ is fronted and raised between palatal consonants and a lateral/rhotic consonant.

Consonants

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Compared to other Pama-Nyungan languages, Yugambeh has a smaller inventory of consonants. There are four places of articulation, with the consonants consisting of four obstruents, four nasals, two liquids, and two semivowels.

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Alveolar
Obstruent p ⟨p⟩ k ⟨k⟩ c ⟨ť⟩ t ⟨t⟩
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ ŋ ⟨g⟩ ɲ ⟨ň⟩ n ⟨n⟩
Lateral l ⟨l⟩
Rhotic ɾ ⟨r⟩
Semivowel w ⟨w⟩ j ⟨j⟩

Obstruents

Obstruents do not have a voicing contrast, and can appear as fricative allophones. Obstruents are phonetically voiceless, except when following a homorganic consonant.[15]

Grammar

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The grammar of the Yugambeh language is highly agglutinative, making use of over 50 suffixes on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and demonstratives.

Noun morphology

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Nouns take a number of suffixes to decline for grammatical case.

Suffixes

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Noun suffixes are placed into ten orders. A noun may not take more than one suffix from any order, and if more than one suffix is attached they must always be in the set order of the suffix orders, e.g., an order 7 suffix must always come after an order 5 suffix.

Orders
1 2 3 4 5 6 7# 8 9 10
-gali

Typified by

-gan

Feminine

-bur

Diminutive

-Nah

Possessive

-jam

Abessive

-bah

Allative

-Xu

Ergative, Instrumental, Comitative

-jahng

Intensive

-ga

Query

-ban

'also'

-Nahjil

Past Possessive

-Ni

Objective

-gur

Respective

-gaia

Benefactive

-gu

Purposive

-gi

Desiderative

-Nu

Ablative

-Xah

Locative

-Xih

Past Locative

-nyi

Aversive

'X' stands for a homorganic obstruent.

'N' stands for a homorganic nasal.

#The comitative, purposive, desiderative, ablative, and aversive suffixes are preceded by -bah on animate nouns.[16]

  1. 1st order suffixes
    • -gali (typified by) – used to indicate an association or link
      • Examples:
        • Jinanggali 'shoe' lit. 'typified by foot'
        • Dubaygali 'womaniser' lit. 'typified by women'
  2. 2nd order suffixes
    • -gan (feminine) – used to form feminine nouns and some astrological terms
      • Examples:
        • Yarabilngingan 'female singer'
  3. 3rd order suffixes
    • -bur (diminutive) – used to form the diminutive of a noun, referring to a smaller version
      • Examples:
        • Baraganbur 'toy boomerang'
  4. 4th order suffixes
    • -Nah (possessive) – indicates current possession
      • Examples:
        • Ngalingah 'our'
        • Gibamah 'of the moon/moon's'
    • -Nahjil (past possessive) – indicates past possession

Verb morphology

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Verbs are conjugated with suffixes. Yugambeh is an aspect-dominant language, as opposed to being tense-dominant like most Western languages. Suffixes mostly indicate aspect and mood.

Suffixes

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Verb suffixes are placed in six orders. A verb may not take more than one suffix from a given order, and similar to nouns, suffixes are attached in a set order. Combinations of these suffixes express all possible conjugations of Yugambeh verbs, with only a small number of combinations possible. Yugambeh verb stems are commonly two syllables in length and always end in a vowel.[17]

Orders
1 2 3 4 5 6
-ba

'Causative'

-ndi

'Carry whilst...'

-li 'reflexive/passive' -ja

'Past tense'

-hn 'imperfective aspect' -du 'habitual aspect'
-wa

'Repetitive'

-hny 'potential mood' -i 'preconditional'
-ma

'Causative'

-h 'imperative' -de 'preconditional'
-hla 'continuous aspect'
-nah 'antechronous aspect'
-nyun 'synchronous aspect'
-luru 'historical past'
-yan
-yah 'purposive'
-jin 'synchronous aspect'
-n 'permissive'
-ni 'perfective'

Adjective morphology

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Adjectives can be marked with a suffix to indicate the gender of the noun they qualify.[16]

Suffixes

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Adjective suffixes
Gender Suffix
Animate (male) -bin
Animate (female) -gan
Arboreal -Nahn*
Neuter -gay

*N stands for a homorganic nasal.

Demonstratives

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Yugambeh possesses a complicated set of demonstratives which make a three-way distinction among proximal, medial, and distal sets. There is a further distinguishing of demonstrative adjectives and location demonstratives. The adjective set can be additionally suffixed to create demonstrative pronouns. The adjective set has three forms for "things in sight", "things hidden or not in sight", and "things not there anymore", while the location set has forms to indicate the general area and definite area, whether in sight or not in sight, and past and present forms.[18]

Adjective set

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Demonstrative adjectives
Demonstratives Proximal (this) Medial (that) Distal (that over there)
In sight (sg) gali mali gili
In sight (plrl) gahny mahny gahm
Not in sight (sg) gunah munah gilah
Not in sight (plrl) gunyeh munyeh gilyeh

The above set can be suffixed with order 7 noun suffixes to form demonstrative pronouns that function like ordinary independent nouns. e.g. Yanindeh galini wungahbaia! 'Take this with you!'

The 'not in sight' and 'not here anymore' forms can take the order 2 noun suffix -gan to form time words. e.g. gunahgan 'recently'.

Location set

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Demonstratives Proximal (here) Medial (there) Distal (over there)
In sight (definite area) gaji maji guh
In sight (general area) gunu munu gundeh
Not in sight (present) gayu mayu guhyu
Not in sight (past) gaye maye guhye

Syntax

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Syntax in the Yugambeh language is fairly free, with a tendency towards SOV (subject–object–verb). Within noun phrases, adjectives and demonstratives (e.g., that man, a red car) stay adjacent to the noun they qualify.[19]

App

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The Yugambeh Museum in Beenleigh currently maintains a free dictionary app for the Yugambeh language, available on Android,[20] iOS[21] and a desktop version.[22]

Place names

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Modern place names with roots in the Yugambeh language include:[23]

References

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  1. ^ https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021/Cultural%20diversity%20data%20summary.xlsx/ Australian Bureau of Statistics - 2021 Census
  2. ^ a b E17 Yugambeh at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. ^ a b Design, UBC Web. "Yugambeh Aboriginal War Memorial | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Memorial service for Yugambeh servicemen". Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  5. ^ Yugambeh Museum web site introduction (web site by the Kombumerri Aboriginal Corporation for Culture)
  6. ^ a b Davies, Shaun (1 January 2022). "Your Language is Dead, Go Learn Bundjalung: Those who said Yugambeh". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ a b c Crowley, Terry (1978). The middle Clarence dialects of Bandjalang. Smythe, W. E. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. ISBN 0855750650. OCLC 6041138.
  8. ^ Sharpe, Margaret C. (2005). Grammar and texts of the Yugambeh-Bundjalung dialect chain in Eastern Australia. Muenchen: Lincom Europa. ISBN 3895867845. OCLC 62185149.
  9. ^ "Edward Curr, The Australian Race" 1886. "THE AUSTRALIAN RACE: NO. 184,-THE CLARENCE RIVER" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  10. ^ Macquarie Aboriginal Words, Macquarie University, 1994, paperback ISBN 0-949757-79-9, chapter 1
  11. ^ "Tindale Tribes – Jukambal". archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  12. ^ "Tindale Tribes – Jukambe". archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Aboriginal Cultural Heritage". Tweed Regional Museum. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  14. ^ "Tindale Tribes – Minjungbal". archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  15. ^ Sharpe, Margaret C. (2005). "Sounds of Yugambeh-Bundjalung". Grammar and Texts of the Yugambeh-Bundjalung Dialect Chain in Eastern Australia. Muenchen, Germany: LINCOM. pp. 43–47. ISBN 3-89586-784-5.
  16. ^ a b Sharpe, Margaret C. (2005). "Nouns, Adjectives and their Suffixes". Grammar and texts of the Yugambeh-Bundjalung dialect chain in Eastern Australia. Muenchen: Lincom Europa. pp. 77–96. ISBN 3895867845. OCLC 62185149.
  17. ^ Sharpe, Margaret C. (2005). "The Verbs". Grammar and texts of the Yugambeh-Bundjalung dialect chain in Eastern Australia. Muenchen: Lincom Europa. pp. 57–74. ISBN 3895867845. OCLC 62185149.
  18. ^ Sharpe, Margaret C. (2005). Grammar and texts of the Yugambeh-Bundjalung dialect chain in Eastern Australia. LINCOM. pp. 97–102. ISBN 3-89586-784-5.
  19. ^ Sharpe, Margaret C. (2005). "Sentences and Clauses and Pronouns". Grammar and texts of the Yugambeh-Bundjalung dialect chain in Eastern Australia. Muenchen: Lincom Europa. pp. 48–56. ISBN 3895867845. OCLC 62185149.
  20. ^ Museum, Yugambeh (16 June 2016), Yugambeh App, Yugambeh Museum, retrieved 18 September 2017[dead link‍]
  21. ^ "Yugambeh App on the App Store". App Store. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  22. ^ "Yugambeh Museum". yugambeh.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Indigenous Language Resources: South-East Qld Placenames" (PDF). State Library of Queensland.

Further reading

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