Bandjalang language

Bundjalung
Yugambeh-Bundjalung
Region	New South Wales, Australia
Ethnicity	Bundjalung people, Githabul, etc.
Native speakers	20 (2005) to 95 (2006 census)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Southeast New South Wales Durubal–Bandjalang Bundjalung
Dialects	Bandjalang Yugumbir Nganduwal Minjangbal Njangbal Biriin Baryulgil Waalubal Dinggabal Wiyabal Gidabal Galibal Wudjeebal
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: bdy – Bandjalang gih – Githabul xjb – Minjungbal rkw – Arakwal (not a specific dialect)
Glottolog	band1339
AIATSIS	E12 Bundjalung (cover term), E17 Yugambeh
Bandjalangic languages (green) among other Pama–Nyungan (tan)

Bundjalung, or Yugambeh-Bundjalung, is an Australian Indigenous language of the northeastern New South Wales and South-East Queensland coast.

Bundjalung consists of a number of dialects, including Yugumbir (sometimes confused with Yugambal), Nganduwal, Minjangbal, Njangbal, Biriin, Baryulgil, Waalubal, Dinggabal, Wiyabal, Gidabal, Galibal, and Wudjeebal. Bowern (2011) lists Yugambal, Githabul, Minjungbal, Ngara:ngwal, and Bandjalang as separate Bandjalangic languages.

Phonology

File:SLNSW 820532 Indigneous vocabulary from New South Wales with English explanation.jpg

Indigenous vocabulary from New South Wales with English explanation.

Vowels

Varieties of Bundjalung may have a vowel system of either 3 or 4 vowels that also contrast in length, resulting in either 6 or 8 phonemic vowels in total.

In practical orthography and some descriptions of the language, the letter "h" is often used after the vowel to indicate a long vowel.

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

Vowel Alternations

/a/ and /e/ are neutralised as [ɛ] before /j/.

The low central vowel /a/ can be fronted and raised following a palatal consonant, and backed following a velar consonant.

Unstressed short vowels can be reduced to the neutral central vowel schwa in a similar way to English.

Consonants

Bundjalung has a smaller inventory of consonant phonemes than is typical of most Australian languages, having only four contrastive places of articulation and only one lateral and one rhotic phoneme.

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar
Obstruent	b	ɡ	ɟ	d
Nasal	m	ŋ	ɲ	n
Lateral				l
Rhotic				ɾ
Semivowel	w		j

Obstruents

Although the standard IPA symbols used in transcription of the language are the voiced stop symbols, these segments are better characterised as obstruents because they are realised more often as fricatives or affricates than actual stops. There is no contrast in Bundjalung between these manners of articulation.

Bundjalung varieties do not have voicing contrasts for their obstruent sequences, and so phonological literature varies in its representation of these consonants- some linguists have chosen the symbols /p/, /k/, /c/, /t/, and others have decided upon /b/, /g/, /ɟ/, /d/. Generally, these consonants are phonetically voiceless, except when following a homorganic nasal segment.

Nasals

When nasal stops occur syllable-finally, they are often produced with a stop onset as a free variant.

Lateral

The lateral phoneme can appear as a flap rather than an approximant, and sometimes occurs prestopped as a free variant in the same way as nasals.

Rhotic

The rhotic phoneme has several surface realisations in Bundjalung. Between vowels, it tends to be a flap, although it can sometimes be an approximant, and it is usually a trill at the end of syllables.

Semivowels

The existence of semivowels in Bundjalung can be disputed, as in many Australian languages. Some linguists posit their existence in order to avoid an analysis that involves onset-less syllables, which are usually held to be non-existent in Australian languages. Some phonologists have found that semivowels can be replaced with glottal stops in some varieties of Bundjalung.

Stress

Bundjalung is a stress-timed language and is quantity-sensitive, with stress being assigned to syllables with long vowels. Short unstressed vowels tend to be reduced to the neutral vowel schwa.

Syllable structure

Like many Australian languages, Bundjalung is thought to have a constraint that states that all syllables must have a consonant onset. Only vowels are permitted as the syllable nucleus, and these may be long or short. Syllable codas are also permitted, with long or short vowels in the nucleus. However, long vowels are not permitted to occur in adjacent syllables.

Phonotactics

Consonant Clusters

Bundjalung does not permit clusters of the same consonant, or clusters that begin with an obstruent phoneme or end with an approximant, except the labio-velar glide. All homorganic nasal-obstruent clusters occur in the language. Clusters usually only involve two segments, but clusters of three may occur if an intervening vowel is deleted by some process.

Dialects

"Bundjalung" is used as a cover term for the dialect chain as well as to refer to certain individual dialects. At the time of the first European settlement in the mid-1800s, the Bundjalung people on the north coast of New South Wales and southeast of Queensland spoke up to twenty related dialects. Today only about nine remain. All were mutually intelligible with neighboring dialects.

#	Co-ordinates	Tribal Group	Areas Spoken	Dialects	Bundjalung language chain
1.		Badjalang	From northern bank of Clarence River to Richmond River; at Ballina; inland to Tabulam and Baryugil. Coastal hordes or Widje (horde or hordes at Evans Head) go inland only to Rappville. The boundary between the dialect spoken on the Clarence River, presumably Badjalang and that of the Richmond River comes at a place called Moonim, which is near Coraki.	Bandjalang	Bundjalung (also known as Bandjalang)
2.		Badjalang	Clarence Valley Council Local Government Area	Baryulgal (also known as Baryulgil or Barryugil or Yugilbar)	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
3.		Badjalang	Rappville Area	Biriin (also known as Birrihn)	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
4.		Kalibal	Macpherson Range from near Unumgar, N.S.W., to Christmas Creek, Qld.; east to upper Nerang and south to Mount Cougal and Tweed Range, Tyalgum, and the Brunswick River divide	Dinggabal	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
5.		Badjalang	Casino Area	Walunumgmira	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
6.		Kitabal / Gidabal	Tabulam Area	Wahlubal (also known as Gidabal and Gidhabal)	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
7.		Jukambal	Kyogle, Woodenbong and Tenterfield Area	Githabul	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
8.		Arakwal	From Ballina and northern bank of Richmond River to Cape Byron; south to Ballina where they met Widje hordes of the Badjalang; inland to Lismore, Casino, and Coraki.	Minjungbal	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
9.		Moorang-Moobar	Brunswick River Valley Area	Nganduwal (also known as Ngarakwal)	Yugambeh (also known as Yugumbir)
10.				Ngarrahngbal	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
11.		Tul-gi-gin	Rous River Valley Area	Nganduwal (also known as Ngarakwal)	Yugambeh (also known as Yugumbir)
12.		Badjalang	Ballina and Evans Head Area	Njangbal	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
13.		Badjalang	Casino Area	Wahlubal (also known as Waalubal or Western Bandjalang)	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
14.		Badjalang	Upper Richmond River from north of Kyogle south to near Casino, east to Dunoon; not to Coraki	Wiyabal	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
15.				Wuhyabal	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
16.				Wudjeebal (also known as Wudjebal)	Bundjalung (also known as Banjalang)
17.		Goodjingburra	South-East Queensland coast between the Logan River and the Tweed River (including South Stradbroke Island)	Minyangbal (also known as Minjungbal)	Yugambeh (also known as Yugumbir)

Vocabulary

Place Names
#
	Name/Word	Pronounced	Synonyms	Dialect	Meaning
1
	Ballina			English	Accidental or deliberate corruption of the Aboriginal words 'Bullinah and Boolinah' &/or 'Balloona, Balloonah, Balluna, Bullenah, Bullina and Bulluna'.
2
	Bullenah		Balluna, Bullina, Bulluna, Balloona, Balloonah		'Blood running from the wounded' or 'The place of dying' or 'The place of the wounded after a fight' or 'Place where a battle was fought & people were found dying'.
3
	Bullen-bullen	"Bul-na"			'A fight'.
4
	Bulun				'River'.
5
	Bullinah		Boolinah		'Place of many oysters'.
6
	Cooriki		Gurigay, Hooraki, Kurrachee		'The meeting of the waters'.
7
	Coraki			English	Accidental or deliberate corruption of the Aboriginal words 'Kurrachee', 'Gurigay', 'Hooraki' & 'Cooriki'
8
	Dahbalam		Tabulam	Galibal
9
	Gunya				'A traditional native home, made from wood and bark'.
10
	Gum			Ngarakwal	Crossing
11
	Gummin				'meaning father's mother'.
12
	Gummingarr				'Winter camping grounds'.
13
	Jurbihls		Djuribil	Githabul	'Refers to both a site and the spirit that resides there'.
14
	Maniworkan				'The place where the town of Woodburn is located'.
15
	Nguthungali-garda			Githabul	'Spirits of our grandfathers'.
16
	Uki	"Yoo-k-eye"			'A water fern with edible roots'.
17
	Wollumbin			Ngarakwal	'Patriarch of mountains', 'Fighting Chief', 'Place of Death and Dying', 'Site at which one of the chief warriors lies' or 'Cloud Catcher'.
18
	Woodenbong				'Wood ducks on water'.
19
	Wulambiny Momoli		Mount Warning	Ngarakwal	'Turkey Nest'.

Language, Mythology and Ceremony
#
	Name/Word	Pronounced	Synonyms	Dialect	Meaning
1
	Dirawong	Dira-wong	Dirawonga, Goanna		Creator Being spirit that looked like a Goanna but behaved just like humans.

Human Classifications
#
	Name/Word	Pronounced	Synonyms	Dialect	Meaning
1
	Weeum	Wee-um			'Clever Man' also known as 'Man of high degree of initiation'.
2
	Wuyun Gali	Wu-yun Ga-li			'Clever Man' also known as 'Doctor'
3
	Cooradgi			Gidhabal and Dinggabal	'Clever Men of the tribe' who could cast spells of sleep or sleeping sickness (Hoop Pine curse) as a reprisal against offenders of tribal law, tribal codes, enemies or bad spiritual influences. The ritual coincided with the bone pointing procedure common among Aboriginal tribes throughout Australia.

Flora and Fauna
#
	Name/Word	Pronounced	Synonyms	Dialect	Meaning
1
	Jullum	Jul-lum	Jellum		Fish.
2
	Ngumagal	Ngu-ma-gal			Goanna.
3
	Yabbra	Yab-bra			Bird.
4
	Wudgie-Wudgie	Wud-gie-Wud-gie			Red Cedar.

See also

• Bundjalung people
• Bundjalung Nation Timeline
• Dirawong

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Bibliography of Bundjalung language and people resources, at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Bibliography of Arakwal language and people resources, at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies