Wergaia language

Wergaia or Werrigia is an Aboriginal Australian language in the Wimmera region of north-Western Victoria. The Wergaia language consisted of four distinct dialects: Wudjubalug/Wotjobaluk, Djadjala/Djadjali, Buibadjali, Biwadjali.[3] Wergaia was in turn apparently a dialect of the Wemba Wemba language, a member of the Kulinic branch of Pama–Nyungan.[4] The Aboriginal people were known as the Maligundidj, which means the people belonging to the mali (mallee) eucalypt bushland which covers much of their territory.[5]

Wergaia
RegionVictoria
EthnicityWergaia, Wotjobaluk
Extinct(date missing)
Dialects
  • Biwadjali
  • Wudjubalug
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
weg – Wergaia
xwt – Wotjobaluk
GlottologNone
AIATSIS[1]S17
ELPWergaia[2]
Map of Victorian Aborigines language territories

Sounds

The following is the Djadjala dialect.

Consonant sounds
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Stop b d ɖ ɟ ɡ
Nasal m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Rhotic r ɽ
Lateral l
Approximant w j

Vowels given are /a e i u/.[6]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. S17 Wergaia at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Wergaia.
  3. Clark 1990.
  4. Dixon 2002, p. xxxvi.
  5. Clark 1995, pp. 177–183.
  6. Hercus 1969.

References
  • Clark, Ian (1990). Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800-1900. Monash publications in geography, No.37. ISBN 978-0-909-68541-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Clark, Ian (1995). Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria, 1803-1859. Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 978-0-855-75595-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Dixon, Robert M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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