Mpakwithi dialect

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	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Close-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink (Template:IPAlink)	Template:IPAlink
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Low	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

Template:IPAslink 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, , Mpakwithi has a fourth, . 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	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
	prenasal	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricatives	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiceless			(Template:IPAlink)		(Template:IPAlink)
Nasals		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Rhotics						Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Approximants		Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink

The flap /ɾ/ may occasionally also be heard as a trill [r].

Sounds [s, ʃ] may also occur, but only rarely and in a small amount of words. The phonemic status is uncertain.

References

Template:Pama–Nyungan languagesTemplate:Ia-lang-stub