Mbabaram language
| Mbabaram | |
|---|---|
| Barbaram | |
| Region | Queensland |
| Extinct | 1979 with the death of Alick Chalk. |
|
Pama–Nyungan
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | mbab1239 |
| AIATSIS | Y115 |
Mbabaram (Barbaram) is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of north Queensland. It was the traditional language of the Mbabaram tribe. Known speakers were Albert Bennett, Alick Chalk, Jimmy Taylor and Mick Burns. Recordings of Bennett and Chalk are held in the Audiovisual Archive of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. R. M. W. Dixon described his hunt for a native speaker of Mbabaram in his book Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker. Most of what is known of the language is from Dixon's field research with Bennett.
Until R. M. W. Dixon's work on the language, "Barbaram" (as it was then known) was thought to be too different from other languages to be part of the Pama–Nyungan language family. Dixon revealed it to have descended from a more typical form, that was obscured by subsequent changes. Dixon (2002) himself, however, still regards genetic relationships between Mbabaram and other languages as unproven.
Albert Bennett identified Agwamin as the language most subjectively similar to Mbabaram.
Mbabaram was spoken by the Mbabaram tribe in Queensland, southwest of Cairns (17°20′S 145°0′E / 17.333°S 145.000°E).
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