Nyigina language

Nyikina (also Nyigina, Njigina) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Western Australia, spoken by the Nyigina people.

Warrwa may have been a dialect.

Classification

R. M. W. Dixon (2002) regards Nyikina, Warrwa, Yawuru and Jukun as a single language.

Nyikina is placed in the Nyulnyulan family of non-Pama–Nyungan languages.

File:Traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal Tribes around Derby.png

Traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal tribes around Derby, Western Australia

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Labial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Nasal	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Lateral			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Tap				Template:IPA link
Approximant	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link

• Sounds /ɟ, ɡ/, when following /l/ or in intervocalic positions, can be heard as [j, ɣ].
• /ɾ/ can also occasionally occur as a trill [r].

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Low	Template:IPA link

Phoneme	Allophones
/i/	Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink
/a/	Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink
/u/	Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink

See also

• Belinda Dann
• Loongkoonan
• Butcher Joe Nangan

External links

• The film "Mad Bastards" (2010) depicting Nyikina language and culture

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