Wunambal language

Aboriginal Australian language of Western Australia

The Wunambal language, also known as Northern Worrorran, Gambera or Gaambera, is a moribund Australian Aboriginal language of Western Australia. It has several dialects, including Yiiji, Gunin, Miwa, and Wilawila (with Gaambera and Wunambal also distinguished as separate). It is spoken by the Wunambal people. Wunambal is one of three Worrorran languages, the others being (Western) Worrorra and Ngarinyin (Eastern Worrorra, or Ungarinjin). as of 2020, "Wunambal Gaambera" is part of a language revival project.

Other names and spellings for Wunambal include Jeidji, Jeithi, Unambal, Wumnabal, Wunambullu, Yeidji, Yeithi.

Wunambal's earliest noted documentation was in the early 20th century by J. R. B. Love. Aboriginal peoples have occupied the Kimberleys for at least 40,000 years. The Wunambal peoples are members of their territory's descent group, and they are part of what is characterized as 'clan estates.' Their particular estate is termed guraa, inclusive of the Wunambal people and the Gaambera people. After noted contact with Europeans, Worrorran peoples consisted of around 300.

as of 2020, Wunambal Gaambera is listed as one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".

Wunambal was originally spoken by the Worrorra people, who migrated from their original lands in the west Kimberley area from 1956. This designation originates from the shared influences common to the area; it is through these same inferences that contributes to Wunambal phonology and syntax association with Worrorran and Ungarinyin.

Subject to debate by some scholars, Wunambal dialects include Wunambal proper, Gamberre, Kwini, Miwa, Yiidji, Wilawila, and Ginan. In contention by linguists is that some of these dialects may be considered languages of their own, while remaining closely related. owed to the many similarities and high degree of mutual intelligibility among the three associated languages of the Worrorra people.

There are five noun classes in the northern half of Wunambal country and three in the southern half.

Wunambal is polysynthetic; notably, Worrorran languages contain overarching concord. A complete list of Wunambal class and case markers can be found in Notes on the Wunambal language by Arthur Capell (1941).

As in all Northern Kimberley languages, they contain phenomena of simple and compound verbs, utilizing auxiliaries through conjugation: "certain verbs are conjugated by means of prefixes for person (and to a lesser degree tense), while suffixes are added to show aspect, mood, tense and voice." All Worrorran derived languages contain nominal classification, head marking, and complex predication.

Northern Worrorran languages share vocabulary.