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The 'Gamilaraay' or 'Kamilaroi' (see below for other spellings) language is a Pama-Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in South East Australia. It was the traditional language of the Kamilaroi people, but is now moribund—according to Ethnologue, there were only 3 speakers left in 1997. However, there are thousands of people of mixed descent both within the native populations as well as immigrant populations, who identify themselves as Kamilaroi. Kamilaroi is also taught in some Australian schools.

Contents

Classification

Name

Geographic distribution

Dialects

History

Phonology

Vowel

Consonants

Stress

Grammar

Gamilaraay words in English

References

External links

Classification

★ 'Pama-Nyungan'

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★ 'Central New South Wales group'

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★ 'Wiradhuric'

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★
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★ 'Gamilaraay'

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★
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★ Wiradhuri

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★ Ngiyambaa

Name

The name ''Gamilaraay'' means ''gamil''-having, ''gamil'' being the word for "no". Other dialects and languages are similarly named after their respective words for "no". (Compare the division between ''Langues d'oïl'' and ''Langue d'oc'' in France, distinguished by their respective words for "yes".)
Spellings of the name, pronounced (listen) in the language itself , include:

★ 'Camilaroi'

★ 'Kamalarai'

★ 'Kamilaroi'

★ 'Gamilaraay'

★ 'Gamilaroi'

Geographic distribution

Dialects

★ 'Yuwaalaraay'

★ 'Yuwaaliyaay' (Euahlayi)

★ 'Gunjbaraay'

★ 'Gawambaraay'

★ 'Wirayaraay' (Wiriwiri)

★ 'Walaraay'

History

Southern Aboriginal guides led the surveyor John Howe to the upper Hunter River above present-day Singleton in 1819. They told him that the country there was "Coomery Roy [=Gamilaraay] and more further a great way", meaning to the north-west, over the Liverpool Range (see O'Rourke 1997: 29). This is probably the first record of the name.
A basic wordlist collected by Major Thomas Mitchell in February, 1832 is the earliest written record of Gamilaraay.
The Presbyterian missionary William Ridley studied the language from 1852 to 1856.

Phonology

Vowel

	Front	Back
High
Low

is realized as .

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal		Apical
	Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar
Stop
Nasal
Lateral
Rhotic
Semivowel

Initially, and may be simplified to and .

Stress

All long vowels in a word get equal stress. If there are no long vowels, stress falls on the first syllable.
Secondary stress falls on short vowels which are two syllables to the right or to the left of a stressed syllable.

Grammar

Gamilaraay words in English

Several loanwords have entered Australian English from Gamilaraay, including:

Common nouns
Anglicised form	Gamilaraay	Meaning
bindi-eye, bindii, bindies	bindayaa	The burrs of several plant species that stick in one's feet.
brolga	burralga	A bird species, ''Grus rubicunda.''
''possibly'' budgerigar	gidjirrigaa	A bird species, ''Melopsittacus undulatus.''
Proper nouns
Anglicised form	Gamilaraay	Meaning
Kamilaroi	gamilaraay	The Gamilaraay people or language.
Placenames
Anglicised form	Gamilaraay	Meaning
Boggabri	bagaaybaraay	having creeks
Boggabilla	bagaaybila	full of creeks
Collarenebri	galariinbaraay	having acacia blossoms

References

★ A Reference Dictionary of Gamilaraay, northern New South Wales, , Peter, Austin, La Trobe University, 1993,

★ Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development, , R. M. W., Dixon, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN-10: 0521473780, ISBN-13: 9780521473781

★ Languages of the Kamilaroi and Other Aboriginal Tribes of New South Wales, , R. H., Mathews, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1903

★ The Kamilaroi Lands. Canberra, 1997., , Michael., O'Rourke, ,

★ On the Kamilaroi Tribe of Australians and Their Dialect, , William, Ridley, Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, 1856

External links

★ Ethnologue report for Gamilaaray

★ The Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) Language, northern New South Wales — A Brief History of Research (PDF)

★ Gutenberg Project Browse By Language: Gamilaraay

★ Online dictionary