Nyulnyul language

Nyulnyul
Region	Western Australia
Extinct	1999, with the death of Carmel Charles
Language family	Nyulnyulan Western Nyulnyul
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nyv
Glottolog	nyul1247[1]
AIATSIS[2]	K13

Nyulnyul is an extinct Australian Aboriginal dialect, formerly spoken by the Nyulnyul people of Western Australia.

Mary Carmel Charles is documented as the last fluent speaker of the Nyulnyul language of Western Australia.^[3]

The majority of the language spoken was women in the late 1900s. These women were called the Nyikina Women.

Classification

Nyulnyul is very closely related to and was possibly mutually intelligible with Bardi, Jawi, Jabirrjabirr and Nimanburru, and possibly also Ngumbarl about which little is known. However, the speakers considered them to be distinct.

Notes

1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nyulnyul". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
2. Nyulnyul at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
3. Charles, Mary (2000) [1993]. Winin – Why the Emu Cannot Fly. Translated by W. B. McGregor. Broome, WA: Magabala Books. ISBN 1-875641-07-6.

References

• Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 666–667. ISBN 0-521-47378-0.
• McGregor, W. B. (1994). "Complex Sentence Constructions in Nyulnyul, Western Australia". Functions of Language 1: 25–66. doi:10.1075/fol.1.1.04mcg.
• McGregor, W. B. (1996). Nyulnyul. Munich and Newcastle: Lincom Europa.
• McGregor, W. B. (1999). "The Medio-active Construction in Nyulnyulan languages". Studies in Language 23 (3): 531–567. doi:10.1075/sl.23.3.04mcg.
• McGregor, W. B. (1999). "External Possession Constructions in Nyulnyulan languages". In D.L. Payne and I. Barshi. External Possession. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. pp. 429–448.
• McGregor, W. B. (2000). "Reflexive and Reciprocal Constructions in Nyulnyulan languages". In Z. Frajzyngier and T.S. Curl. Reciprocals: Form and Function. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 85–122.
• McGregor, W. B. (2003). "Language Shift among the Nyulnyul of Dampier Land". Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 35: 115–159. doi:10.1080/03740463.2003.10416076.
• Nekes, H. (1938). "The Pronoun in Nyol-Nyol (Nyul-Nyul) and Related Dialects". In A.P. Elkin. Studies in Australian Linguistics. Sydney: University of Sydney. pp. 139–163.