| Mpakwithi | |
|---|---|
| Anguthimri | |
| Region | Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia |
| Extinct | 1985 |
| Language family | Pama–Nyungan |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | awg |
| Glottolog | angu1242 |
| AIATSIS | Y186 |
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Mpakwithi is an extinct Australian Aboriginal dialect of Queensland.
Classification
Mpakwithi is generally regarded as a dialect of a broader Anguthimri language, which is part of the Northern Paman family.
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː ĩ y | u uː |
| Close-mid | e eː ẽ (ø) | o |
| Open-mid | æ æː æ̃ | |
| Low | a aː ã | |
/ø/ is found in only one word.
Mpakwithi has the most vowels of any Australian language, with 16–17. It also is the only Australian language to have nasal vowels.
Consonants
While other Anguthimri dialects and Northern Paman languages have three fricatives, /β ð ɣ/, Mpakwithi has a fourth, /ʒ/. Its origin is uncertain. This is an extremely rare sound in Australian languages.
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar/ Retroflex |
Post- alveolar | |||
| Plosives | voiceless | p | k | c | t̪ | t | t̠ʳ | ʔ |
| prenasal | ᵐb | ᵑɡ | ᶮɟ | ⁿ̪d̪ | ⁿd | ⁿd̠ʳ | ||
| Fricatives | voiced | β | ɣ | ʒ | ð | |||
| voiceless | (ʃ) | (s) | ||||||
| Nasals | m | ŋ | ɲ | n̪ | n | |||
| Rhotics | ɻ | ɾ | ||||||
| Approximants | w | j | l | |||||
The flap /ɾ/ may occasionally also be heard as a trill .
Sounds may also occur, but only rarely and in a small amount of words. The phonemic status is uncertain.
References
- Mpakwithi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- Y186 Mpakwithi at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- Crowley, T. (1981). "The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri". In Dixon, R. M. W.; Blake, B. J. (eds.). Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol 2. Canberra and Amsterdam: Australian National University Press and John Benjamins. pp. 146–194.
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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