ABSTRACT

In this paper, we demonstrate that Anindilyakwa, spoken on Groote Eylandt, East Arnhem Land, is genetically closely related to Wubuy (Gunwinyguan). Anindilyakwa has long been believed to be a family-level isolate, but by a rigorous application of the Comparative Method we uncover regular sound correspondences from lexical correspondence sets, reconstruct the sound system of the proto-language, and suggest how the proto-phoneme inventory derives from the proto-Gunwinyguan system through phonological innovations. Although it has been hinted before that Anindilyakwa and Wubuy are related and together with Ngandi form a subgroup, this hypothesis is not borne out here: while Wubuy and Ngandi have been shown to share a significant amount of core vocabulary and irregular verbal paradigms, Anindilyakwa and Wubuy appear to have undergone separate development for a considerable length of time. Moreover, Anindilyakwa has independently undergone extensive further sound changes, resulting in a language that is phonologically (though not lexically or grammatically) quite unusual in Australia.

摘要

在本文中，我们证明了在阿纳姆东部土地的Groote Eylandt上讲话的Anindilyakwa与Wubuy（Gunwinyguan）在遗传上密切相关。长期以来，人们一直认为Anindilyakwa是家庭级别的孤立者，但是通过严格地使用“比较方法”，我们可以从词汇对应集中发现规则的声音对应，重构原始语言的声音系统，并提出原始音素清单的建议。通过语音创新源自原始的Gunwinyguan系统。尽管之前曾暗示过Anindilyakwa和Wubuy是相关的，并且与Ngandi一起构成一个亚组，但这一假设并未得到证实：尽管Wubuy和Ngandi已被证明拥有大量的核心词汇和不规则的言语范式，Anindilyakwa和Wubuy似乎经历了很长一段时间的独立发展。此外，Aindilyakwa独立地经历了广泛的声音变化，从而导致一种在语音上（尽管不是词汇或语法上）在澳大利亚很不常见的语言。