Matngala language

Matngele or Madngele is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory spoken by the Madngella and Yunggor peoples.

Matngele
Region	Northern Territory, Australia
Ethnicity	Madngella, Yunggor
Extinct	by 2006 perhaps 1 reported 1973; perhaps 10 reported 1990
Language family	Eastern Daly Matngele
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zml
Glottolog	madn1237
AIATSIS	N12
ELP	Matngele
Madngele is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Classification

Tryon (1974) classified Matngele with Kamu, and this is accepted by Dixon (2002) and Bowern (2011), though denied by Harvey (1990).

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e	ɵ
Low			a

Consonants

		Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
		Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Stop	Voiceless	p	k	c	t
	Voiced	b	ɡ	ɟ	d
Nasal		m	ŋ	ɲ	n
Lateral				ʎ	l
Rhotic					r	ɻ
Semivowel		w		j

Grammar

Matngele has only five simple verbs. These must be combined with coverbs in order to form complex verbs.

References

• Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Zandvoort, F. B. (1999). A grammar of Matngele. BA honours sub-thesis. Armidale: University of New England.

External links

• Matngele at the Dalylanguages.org website.