Warrongo language
| Warrongo | |
|---|---|
| Northern Maric | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Queensland, west of Ingham and Abergowrie almost to Einasleigh. |
| Extinct | 1981 with the death of Alf Palmer |
|
Pama–Nyungan
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: |
| Glottolog | nort2757 |
| AIATSIS |
Y133 Warungu, Y128 Gugu Badhun |
Warrongo (or War(r)ungu) is an Australian Aboriginal language, one of the dozen languages of the Maric branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. It was formerly spoken by the Warrongo people in the area around Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Its last native speaker was Alf Palmer, who died in 1981.
Before his death, linguists Tasaku Tsunoda and Peter Sutton worked together with Palmer to preserve the language (Warrungu proper); thanks to their efforts, the language is beginning to be revived.
One of the notable feature of the language is its syntactic ergativity.
Alternative names for the language include Warrangu, Warrango, War(r)uŋu and War-oong-oo.
Nowadays people identifying themselves as Warrongo live both within traditional Warrongo territory (Mount Garnet) and outside it (Palm Island, Townsville, Ingham, Cardwell, and Cairns). The language has been extinct since the last speaker, Alf Palmer, died in 1981. In the late 1990s or early 2000s a language revival movement started by a community of people, most of them grandchildren of the last speakers, the central figure being the granddaughter of Alf Palmer. The community had contacted Tsunoda, the linguist who worked with the last speakers in the 1970s, and between 2002 and 2006 he conducted 5 sessions of lessons, of 4–5 days each. As a result, the language seems to have acquired a limited set of symbolic functions. It has begun to be used in teasing between children, and as a source of personal names.
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