Gubbi Gubbi language

Kabi
Kabi
Kabi Kabi
Region	Queensland
Ethnicity	Kabi Kabi (Kabi), Butchulla (incl. Ngulungbara)
Native speakers	24 of the Batjala dialect (2016 census)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Waka–Kabic Than Kabi; ; ;
Dialects	Kabi Kabi (Dippil); Badjala (Batjala, Batyala, Butchulla);
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; gbw – Kabi-Kabi; xby – Batyala
Glottolog	kabi1260
AIATSIS	E29 Gubbi Gubbi, E30 Butchulla
ELP	Gubbi Gubbi
	Batyala

Kabi Kabi, also spelt Gabi-Gabi/Gubbi Gubbi, is a language of Queensland in Australia, formerly spoken by the Kabi Kabi people of South-east Queensland. The main dialect, Kabi Kabi, is extinct, but there are still 24 people with knowledge of the Butchulla dialect (also spelt Batjala, Batyala, Badjala, and variants), a language spoken by the Butchulla people of Fraser Island.

Words[]

According to Norman Tindale (1974), the word Kabi (['kabi]), means "no".^[2]

"Wunya ngulum" means "Welcome, everyone" in Kabi Kabi/Gabi-Gabi.^[4]

Language status[]

The main dialect is extinct, but there were still 24 people with knowledge of the Batjala dialect (a language spoken by the Butchulla people of Fraser Island) as of the 2016 Australian census.^[1]

Phonology[]

The following is in the Badjala/Butchulla dialect:

Consonants[]

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex/ Palatal	Velar
Stop	plain	b	d̪	d	(ɟ)	ɡ
Stop	tense	pː	d̪ː			kː
Nasal		m	n̪	n	(ɲ)	ŋ
Lateral				l
Rhotic				r	ɻ
Approximant		w			j

/n̪/ is always heard as palatal [ɲ] when preceding /i/, and in word-final position.
/d̪/ can be heard in free variation with palatal [ɟ].
/b d̪ ɡ/ can have lenited allophones [β ð ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
/ɻ/ has a lateral allophone of [ɭ] when preceding /b/.
/ɡ/ is often slightly palatalised as [ɡʲ] before /i/.

Vowels[]

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Mid	ɛ ɛː
Low		a aː

/aː/ can sometimes be heard as [æː] before /l/.
/u/ can be heard as [ɔ] when preceding an intervocalic /ɻ/.^[5]

References[]

^ ^a ^b "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
^ ^a ^b E29 Gubbi Gubbi at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)
^ Endangered Languages Project data for Batyala.
^ "Say G'day in an Indigenous Language" (PDF). slq.qld.gov.au/. State Library of Queensland. 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
^ Bell, Jeanie P. (2003)

External links[]

This Australian Aboriginal languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[census-1] "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Retrieved 30 October 2017.

[AIATSIS-2] E29 Gubbi Gubbi at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)

[ELP2-3] Endangered Languages Project data for Batyala.

[4] "Say G'day in an Indigenous Language" (PDF). slq.qld.gov.au/. State Library of Queensland. 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2019.

[5] Bell, Jeanie P. (2003)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]