# Laragiya language
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{{Short description|Endangered Darwin language spoken in Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Laragiya
| region = Near [Darwin](/source/Darwin%2C_Northern_Territory), [Northern Territory](/source/Northern_Territory), [Australia](/source/Australia)
| ethnicity = [Larrakia](/source/Larrakia_people)
| speakers = 41
| date = 2021 census
| ref = aiatsis
| familycolor = Australian
| fam1 = [Darwin](/source/Darwin_Region_languages)
| iso3 = lrg
| aiatsis = N21
| glotto = lara1258
| glottorefname = Laragia
| lingua = 28-HBA-a
| altname = Gulumirrgin
}}
The '''Laragiya language''', also spelt '''Larrakia''' (deriving from [Larrakia people](/source/Larrakia_people)), and also known as '''Gulumirrgin''', is an [Australian Aboriginal language](/source/Australian_Aboriginal_language) spoken by just six people near the city of [Darwin](/source/Darwin%2C_Northern_Territory) in northern Australia as of 1983. Only 41 people claimed to know the Laragiya language in 2021.
Laragiya was once considered a [language isolate](/source/language_isolate), but Mark Harvey has made a case for it being part of a family of [Darwin Region languages](/source/Darwin_Region_languages).[Bowern, Claire. 2011. "[http://anggarrgoon.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/how-many-languages-were-spoken-in-australia/ How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?]", ''Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web'', 23 December 2011 ([http://pamanyungan.sites.yale.edu/master-list-australian-languages-v12 corrected] 6 February 2012)]
Linguist [Arthur Capell](/source/Arthur_Capell) wrote,
"Even in 1950 there were no children speaking it, and most of the older people who spoke it in 1952 (when the bulk of these notes was gathered) were found on the [Delissaville Reserve](/source/Delissaville_Reserve) (now [Belyuen](/source/Belyuen%2C_Northern_Territory)), across the harbour from Darwin. By 1968, reports of only two speakers could be gained, and these far away from Darwin. In former times, however, the tribe was fairly large, and its territory extended to the Coolalinga, where it joined that of a tribe called "[Woolna](/source/Woolna)" by the early writers, while on the south-east it was bounded by the [Warrai](/source/Warrai). These latter languages are practically unrecorded.
"The present outline of Laragia is based on notes taken at various periods, chiefly 1949 and 1952. The notes have been systematised as far as possible, but they make no claim to provide a fully laid out grammar, especially on the phonetic level."
==Phonology==
=== Consonants ===
{| class="IPA wikitable" style=text-align:center
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |[Peripheral](/source/Peripheral_consonant)
! colspan="2" |[Apical](/source/Apical_consonant)
|-
! [Labial](/source/Labial_consonant)
! [Velar](/source/velar_consonant)
! [Palatal](/source/palatal_consonant)
! [Alveolar](/source/Alveolar_consonant)
! [Retroflex](/source/retroflex_consonant)
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [Stop](/source/Stop_consonant)
| b
| ɡ
| ɟ
| d
| ɖ
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [Nasal](/source/Nasal_stop)
| m
| ŋ
| ɲ
| n
| ɳ
|-
|β
|
|
|
|
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [Lateral](/source/lateral_consonant)
|
|
| ʎ
| l
| ɭ
|- style="text-align: center;"
|
|
|
| r
|(ɽ)
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [Approximant](/source/Approximant_consonant)
| w
|
| j
|ɹ
|
|}
* /ɽ/ appears in some dialects.
=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable IPA" style="text-align:center"
!
|- align="center"
| i
| rowspan="2" |ɵ~ʉ
| u
|- align="center"
| e ɛ
| o
|- align="center"
|
| a
|
|}
* /o/ can have an allophone of [ɔ].
* The sound variation of [ɵ~ʉ] is written as one vowel sound ''ö''.[{{Cite book|last=Capell|first=Arthur|title=The Laragia language|publisher=Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies|year=1984|location=Australian National University}}]
"Morphophonemic rules are not so complex in Laragia as in [Maung](/source/Maung_language) and [Jiwadja](/source/Jiwadja), though some are shared between the three languages. One in particular is shared with [Ngarinyin](/source/Ngarinyin) in the Northern [Kimberley](/source/Kimberley_(Western_Australia)) Division of [Western Australia](/source/Western_Australia). The chief difficulties in setting up an [orthography](/source/orthography) for Laragia are due to certain [morphophonemic](/source/morphophonemic) rules, but others arise from the indefinite pronunciations..."
==Morphology==
'''Concord formation'''
"Laragia is a member of the multiple-classifying language group, but has the somewhat unusual practice of combining prefixes and suffixes in the formation of the concord. The Laragia [concord](/source/Agreement_(linguistics)) is shown by a discontinuous [morpheme](/source/morpheme) - at least in many cases, but not in the verb - partly prefixal and partly suffixal.
"It is what [Zellig Harris](/source/Zellig_Harris) called a 'broken sequence'. It may be mentioned in passing that the majority of the multiple-classifying languages in North Australia used prefixal forms to mark the classes, but a few, such as [Worora](/source/Worora) and [Unggumi](/source/Unggumi) in the Northern Kimberley Division of Western Australia, have vestigial suffixes, while a few on the [Barkly Tablelands](/source/Barkly_Tablelands) in the eastern part of the [Northern Territory](/source/Northern_Territory) use only suffixes. These phenomena suggest that the languages originally had, as Laragia still does, markers at each end of the word."[{{cite journal|last=Capell|first=A. |author2=Kathleen Glasgow |author3=G.R. McKay |author4=Rod Kennedy |author5=D. Trefry |title=Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 16 |journal=[Pacific Linguistics A](/source/Pacific_Linguistics_A) |issue=68 |pages=56–106}}]
Larrakia Elder Robert Mills of Batji Tours[[https://web.archive.org/web/20120822023020/http://www.batjitours.com/ Batji Tours]] is able to name plants and animals. Lorraine Williams, a Larrakia woman and Research Associate with the School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems published online, "For a lot of my life I have been involved in and have given evidence as a claimant in the Kenbi Land Claim and the Darwin Native Title proceedings. I am currently working on Larrakia Cultural Heritage Management focusing on Larrakia archaeological sites in the Darwin region and I have a keen interest in all things Larrakia. In years gone by I have worked on Larrakia ethnobiology with the view to keeping Larrakia language and culture strong. I am a member of the Batcho family of the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation".
The Larrakia have in the past referred to themselves as [Gulumerrgin](/source/Gulumerrgin). Gulumerrgin is one of the names for the language spoken by the Larrakia.[[http://www.cdu.edu.au/centres/ik/db_larrakia.html Larrakia 'Gulumerrgin' subproject]]
==Vocabulary==
[Capell](/source/Arthur_Capell) (1940) lists the following basic vocabulary items:[Capell, Arthur. 1940. [https://glottolog.org/resource/reference/id/4167 The Classification of Languages in North and North-West Australia]. ''Oceania'' 10(3): 241-272, 404-433. {{doi|10.1002/j.1834-4461.1940.tb00292.x}}]
:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! gloss
! Laragia
|-
| man
| bilöva
|-
| woman
| binjidba
|-
| head
| maːluma
|-
| eye
| damaɽa
|-
| nose
| gwingwa
|-
| mouth
| gwiabulgwa
|-
| tongue
| gwiamilawa
|-
| stomach
| med’lema
|-
| bone
| mujagwa
|-
| blood
| damadjila
|-
| kangaroo
| mi’luːlula
|-
| opossum
| gudgida
|-
| crow
| goaːgoaːva
|-
| fly
| gumulɛːlva
|-
| sun
| dalira
|-
| moon
| duːrjawa
|-
| fire
| gujuguwa
|-
| smoke
| damudjila
|-
| water
| gaːɽuwa
|}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.language-archives.org/language/lrg Resources in and about the Laragia language], Open Language Archives website (accessed 3 December 2010)
* Bibliographies of [https://web.archive.org/web/20150529085330/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/larrakia_published.pdf published], [https://web.archive.org/web/20150529065422/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/larrakia_rare.pdf rare] or [https://web.archive.org/web/20150529071913/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/larrakia_special.pdf special] materials on Larrakia language and people, at the [Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies](/source/Australian_Institute_of_Aboriginal_and_Torres_Strait_Islander_Studies)
{{Australian Aboriginal languages}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laragiya Language}}
Category:Darwin Region languages
Category:Extinct languages of the Northern Territory
Category:Language isolates of Australia
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Laragiya language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laragiya_language) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laragiya_language?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.