Warlpiri language
| Warlpiri | |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Territory, Australia |
|
Native speakers
|
2,500 (2006) |
|
Pama–Nyungan
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Warlpiri Sign Language | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | warl1254 |
| AIATSIS | C15 |
 |
|
The Warlpiri (/ˈwɑːrlbri/ or /ˈwɔːlpəri/) language is spoken by about 3,000 of the Warlpiri people in Australia's Northern Territory. It is one of the Ngarrkic languages of the large Pama–Nyungan family, and is one of the largest aboriginal languages in Australia in terms of number of speakers.
In the following tables of the Warlpiri sound system, symbols in boldface give the practical alphabet used by the Warlpiri community. Phonetic values in IPA are shown in [square brackets].
Warlpiri has a standard three-vowel system similar to that of Classical Arabic, with a length distinction creating a total of six possible vowels.
As shown in the chart, Warlpiri distinguishes five positions of articulation, and has oral and nasal stops at each position. The oral stops have no phonemic voice distinction, but display voiced and unvoiced allophones; stops are usually unvoiced at the beginning of a word, and voiced elsewhere. In both positions they are usually unaspirated.
Warlpiri, like most Australian languages, has no fricative consonants.
The consonant listed in the table as a retroflex flap is actually an unusual consonant, possibly unique to Warlpiri. The tongue-tip begins in retroflex position, but then moves forward rapidly, flapping against the alveolar ridge.
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