Jingulu, also spelt Djingili, is an Australian language spoken by the Jingili people in the Northern Territory of Australia, historically around the township of Elliot.
The Jingulu have (or had) a well-developed signed form of their language.Other languages spoken in the West Barkly family include Wambaya, Gudanji, Binbinka, and Ngarnka.
Based on geographical proximity, the Jingili and other ethnic groups have related languages with common vocabulary.
[4] Jingulu has an Ethnologue classification of moribund, meaning that it is an endangered language, with only between 10 and 15 speakers in 1997,[4] the youngest being in the fifties.
[6] In 2019 approximately five people still spoke the language, including Stuart Joel Nuggett, who has recorded music in Jingulu.
The orthographic convention of long high vowels is as two apparent syllable nuclei with a homorganic glide in between.
Note: ⟨rr⟩ represents a flapped or trilled rhotic Noticeably, all places of articulation have a stop phoneme.
However, there are a number of minimal pairs where there indeed is a distinction, for instance dirnd- 'shoot' and dind- 'grind'; mininmi 'Acacia victoriae' and mirnirnmi 'fire drill'; and walu 'forehead' and warlu 'burn scar'.
This does not hold true for Jingulu words that come from the Pama-Nyungan languages of countries neighboring the Jingili.
Morphemes can sometimes stand alone as a word, such as with pronouns and certain cases of demonstratives and adverbials, but the majority of roots must have affixes.
[20] Jingulu vocabulary can be split into three broad categories of parts of speech: nominal, verbal, and adverbial.
[21] winiyiki-rniforeign-F[nayurniwomanngarrirnini]1SG.GEN.Fwiniyiki-rni [nayurni ngarrirnini]foreign-F woman 1SG.GEN.F'My wife is a foreigner'[21]The minimum words required to form an acceptable sentence in Jingulu is a light verb and either a subject or a coverbal root.
[27] Bulungkurri-mbiliBluebush-LOCduwa-ardirise-HABbuliki-rnacow-FOCngarnu3SG.ACC.Mdarr-akja.eat.NOM(P)Bulungkurri-mbili duwa-ardi buliki-rna ngarnu darr-akja.Bluebush-LOC rise-HAB cow-FOC 3SG.ACC.M eat.NOM(P)'Where the bluebush grows is grazing country for cattle.
[30] Jaburra-namabefore-timenga-rruku.1SG-wentJaburra-nama nga-rruku.before-time 1SG-went'I already went'went → already went[30] The major uses of affixation in Jingulu are found in the expression of demonstratives, as well as the nominal features pronouns, case, number, and (in)definiteness discussed in the next section.
In Jingulu, the referential demonstratives, of which there are about five sets, refer to objects that may be distal or proximal, and may be translated as "this" or "that."
[20] There are five sets of referential demonstratives: jama and jimi; nyam-; ngin- and nyin-; ngunu; and ngunungku.
[33] The demonstrative nyam- takes either the suffix -a, -arni- or -bala depending on whether it refers to a nominal of the masculine, feminine, or neuter or vegetable class, respectively.
Likewise, the demonstratives ngin- and nyin- take the suffix -da, -a or -i depending on whether it refers to a nominal of the masculine, feminine or neuter class, respectively, and become ngima and nyima when referring to a nominal of the vegetable class, respectively.
'[35](jamaniki is masculine + -niki modifier)Nyamathat(M)ngaba-juhave-dowangkurra-ngkujkuhoneyngima-rni-rnithat(V)-ERG-FOCyurrku-nuflower-didbukumarra.corkwoodNyama ngaba-ju wangkurra-ngkujku ngima-rni-rni yurrku-nu bukumarra.that(M) have-do honey that(V)-ERG-FOC flower-did corkwood'The corkwood has honey-laden flowers.
'[35](ngini is neuter + -niki modifier)Wanyik-urlugirl-DUnyina-buluDEM(F)-DUladaji-wunyu-judry-3.DU-PRESarduku.slowWanyik-urlu nyina-bulu ladaji-wunyu-ju arduku.girl-DU DEM(F)-DU dry-3.DU-PRES slow'The two girls are slowly drying out.
'[38](nyina is feminine)NgunudijDEM(N)bila-mibreak-IRRnyanyalu!branchNgunudij bila-mi nyanyalu!DEM(N) break-IRR branch'Break that branch!
Examples include wardbardbumi "bush passionfruit," mankijbi "back of neck" and kingmi "rainbow."
Examples include jambilija "male body," kiyinarra "vagina" and yarrulan "youth."
'[45](bila refers to the number of brothers, dual)Ngaja-nga-juthat(m)-PLmurrkunbalathree(M)bayin-balapeople-PL.ANIMwijinki-wurri-justand-3PL-donyambalaDEM(N)lurrju-mbilisandy.ridge-LOCwijinki-wurru-ju.upright-3PL-doNgaja-nga-ju murrkunbala bayin-bala wijinki-wurri-ju nyambala lurrju-mbili wijinki-wurru-ju.that(m)-PL three(M) people-PL.ANIM stand-3PL-do DEM(N) sandy.ridge-LOC upright-3PL-do'I see three men standing on a sandy ridge.
'[50]Ngaba-ardimihave-DISTjimi-rnathat(N)-FOCngarnu3SG.ACC.Mlarnku-rdarrastuff-PLukurdu-nga-mbilibag-DAT.F-LOCnyami-nga-mbili-rni.DEM(F)-DAT.F-LOC-FOCNgaba-ardimi jimi-rna ngarnu larnku-rdarra ukurdu-nga-mbili nyami-nga-mbili-rni.have-DIST that(N)-FOC 3SG.ACC.M stuff-PL bag-DAT.F-LOC DEM(F)-DAT.F-LOC-FOC'He brought all his equipment out of a bag.
[52] mardilyilame→ mardardilyilame folks [52]mardilyi → mardardilyilame {} {lame folks}imikirniold woman→ imimikirniold women [52]imikirni → imimikirni{old woman} {} {old women}Jingulu has free word order, therefore no basic word order can be established.
'[54]Verbless clauses lack an overt verb, normally compensating for this with two nominal elements that act as clausal predicates in its place.
[58] Coordinate structures are found in complex sentences in which the tense of the two clauses is absolutive; i.e. the event associated with each refer to time of utterance.
The structure of these sentences can be implemented in two ways: the tense may be indicated by eliminating the core verb, or the core verb may remain but with tense features determined based on the event time of the main clause rather than the utterance time.
Bubujirna marlukarna ngabangarriyi ngarnu bundurrunu ngunyangarriyi, ngambaya manyan kaya bundundurra.