Kaytetye language
| Kaytetye | |
|---|---|
| Kaititj, Gaididj, Kaiditj, Kaytej | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | central Northern Territory |
| Ethnicity | Kaytetye people |
Native speakers | 109 (2021 census)[1] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Akitiri Sign Language | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | gbb |
| Glottolog | kayt1238 |
| AIATSIS[2] | C13 |
| ELP | Kaytetye |
 Map showing languages in Central Australia | |
Kaytetye (also spelt Kaititj, Gaididj, Kaiditj, Kaytej) is an Australian Aboriginal language primarily spoken in the Northern Territory north of Alice Springs[3] by the Kaytetye people, who live around Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek. It belongs to the Arandic subgroup of the Pama-Nyungan languages and is related to Alyawarra, which is one of the Upper Arrernte dialects. It has an unusual phonology and there are no known dialects.[3]
The language is considered to be threatened; it is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users,[4] with only 109 speakers of the language in the 2021 census.[1]
The Kaytetye have (or had) a well-developed sign language known as Akitiri or Eltye eltyarrenke.[5]
Phonology
Kaytetye is phonologically unusual in a number of ways. Words start with vowels and end with schwa; full CV(C) syllables only occur within a word, as in the word arrkwentyarte 'three' (schwa is spelled ⟨e⟩, unless initial, in which case it is not written and often not pronounced). Stress falls on the first full syllable. There are only two productive vowels, but numerous consonants, including pre-stopped and pre-palatalized consonants.[6]
Consonants
Consonants occur plain and labialized.
| Peripheral | Coronal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laminal | Apical | |||||||
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Prepalatalized | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Plosive | p pʷ | k kʷ | c cʷ | t̪ t̪ʷ | ʲt ʲtʷ | t tʷ | ʈ ʈʷ | |
| Nasal | plain | m mʷ | ŋ ŋʷ | ɲ ɲʷ | n̪ n̪ʷ | ʲn ʲnʷ | n nʷ | ɳ ɳʷ |
| prestopped | ᵖm ᵖmʷ | ᵏŋ ᵏŋʷ | ᶜɲ ᶜɲʷ | ᵗn̪ ᵗn̪ʷ | jtn jtnʷ | ᵗn ᵗnʷ | ᵗɳ ᵗɳʷ | |
| Lateral | ʎ ʎʷ | l̪ l̪ʷ | ʲl ʲlʷ | l lʷ | ɭ ɭʷ | |||
| Approximant | ɰ w | j jʷ | ɻ ɻʷ | |||||
| Tap | ɾ ɾʷ | |||||||
[w] is phonemically /ɰʷ/. In the orthography, /ɰ/ is written ⟨h⟩.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ ~ ə | (u) |
| Mid | |||
| Low | a |
/u/ is marginal.[7]
Two-vowel systems are unusual, but occur in closely related Arrernte as well as in some Northwest Caucasian languages. It seems that the vowel system derives from an earlier one with the typical Australian /i a u/, but that *u lost its roundedness to neighboring consonants, resulting in the labialized series of consonants, while *i lost its frontness (palatal-ness) to other consonants as well, resulting in some cases in the prepalatalized series.
Grammar
Kin terms are obligatorily possessed, though with grammatically singular pronouns. There is a dyadic suffix as well:[6]
| Elder brother | Mother | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | alkere-ye my/our brother |
arrwengke my/our mother |
| 2 | ngk-alkere your brother |
ngk-arrwengke your mother |
| 3 | kw-alkere his/her/their brother |
kw-arrwengke his/her/their mother |
| dyadic | alkere-nhenge elder and younger brother |
arrwengke-nhenge mother and child |
Dual and plural pronouns distinguish clusivity as well as moiety (or 'section') and generation. That is, for a male speaker, different pronouns are used for I and my sibling, grandparent, grandchild (even generation, same moiety), I and my father, I and my brother's child (odd generation, same moiety), and I and my mother, spouse, sister's child (opposite moiety). This results in twelve pronouns for 'we':[6]
| Number | Clusivity | Even generation (same moiety) |
Odd generation (same moiety) |
Opposite moiety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dual | inclusive | ayleme | aylake | aylanthe |
| exclusive | aylene | aylenake | aylenanthe | |
| Plural | inclusive | aynangke | aynake | aynanthe |
| exclusive | aynenangke | aynenake | aynenanthe |
That is, root ay-, dual suffix -la or plural -na, exclusive infix ⟨en⟩, an irregular nasal for even generation, and a suffix for same moiety -ke or opposite moiety -nthe.
Verbs include incorporated former verbs of motion that indicate direction and relative timing of someone, usually the subject of the verb. There are differences depending on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive:[6]
| Time | angke 'talk' | Gloss | kwathe 'drink' | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prior motion (go/come and X) |
angke-ye-ne- | 'talk after going' | kwathe-ye-ne- | 'drink after going' |
| angke-ye-tnye- | 'talk after coming' | kwathe-ye-tnye- | 'drink after coming' | |
| angke-ya-lpe- | 'talk after returning' | kwathe-ya-lpe- | 'drink after returning' | |
| angke-ya-yte- | 'talk after someone arrives' | kwathe-ya-yte- | 'drink after someone arrives' | |
| Subsequent motion (X and go/come) |
angke-rra-yte- | 'talk before leaving' | kwathe-la-yte- | 'drink before leaving' |
| angke-rra-lpe- | 'talk before returning' | kwathe-la-lpe- | 'drink before returning' | |
| Concurrent motion (X while going/coming) |
angke-yerna-lpe- | 'talk while coming' | kwathe-yerna-lpe- | 'drink while coming' |
| angke-rra-pe- | 'talk while going along' | kwathe-rra-pe-yne- | 'drink while going along' | |
| angke-rra-ngke-rre-nye- | 'talk continuously while going along' | kwathe-la-the-la-rre- | 'drink continuously while going along' | |
| angke-lpa-ngke- | 'talk once when on the way' | kwathe-lpa-the- | 'drink once when on the way' | |
| Prior and subsequent | angke-nya-yne- | 'go and talk and come back' | kwathe-nya-yne- | 'go and drink and come back' |
People
- Erlikilyika (Jim Kite) learnt to speak Kaytetye when working on the Overland Telegraph Line, and worked as an interpreter for anthropologists and explorers Spencer and Gillen.
References
- ^ a b "SBS Australian Census Explorer". Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ C13 Kaytetye at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- ^ a b "Kaytetye". Ethnologue. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ "Kaytetye in the Language Cloud".
- ^ Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 60
- ^ a b c d Koch, 2006. "Kaytetye". In the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed.
- ^ Panther, Forrest Andrew (2021). Topics in Kaytetye Phonology and Morpho-Syntax.
Further reading
- Breen, Gavan (2001). "Chapter 4: The wonders of Arandic phonology". In Simpson, Jane; Nash, David; Laughren, Mary; Austin, Peter; Alpher, Barry (eds.). Forty years on: Ken Hale and Australian languages (pdf). Pacific Linguistics 512. ANU. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. (Pacific Linguistics). pp. 45–69. ISBN 085883524X. (pp.59-62 are specifically on Kaytetye)
- Materials on Kaytetye are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections (AC1) held by Paradisec.
- Koch, Harold (April 2018). "Chapter 10: The Development of Arandic Subsection Names in Time and Space". In McConvell, Patrick; Kelly, Piers; Lacrampe, Sébastien (eds.). Skin, Kin and Clan. ANU. doi:10.22459/SKC.04.2018. ISBN 9781760461645. Has map and gives much info about Arrernte group and related languages.