| Language name: | NGARINJIN |
| UPSID number: | 8374 |
| Alternate name(s): | UNGARINJIN |
| Classification: | Australian, Wororan |
| This language has | 24 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.383499630 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | p t t. c k m n n. nj N r[ r l l. lj j w I i_ U E O a r.A |
| Comment: | Ngarinjin is spoken in the Northern Kimberley Ranges of northern Western Australia. Coate and Elkin's description of sounds is often variable: the palatals are labeled "palato-dental" (except "alveolar" /j/) on the consonant chart but just as palatals when listed individually; /l/ is "alveolar" on the chart but "alveo-velar" in the list. Symbols for plosives suggest voiced segments, but they are defined as voiceless. Vowels apparently may appear long. A high central vowel is added to the five vowels given by Coates and Elkin on the basis of a remark that this vowel is heard in some words and is "differentiated by some linguists in Ngarinjin". |
| Source(s): | Coates, Howard and A.P. Elkin. 1974. Ngarinjin - English Dictionary, vol. I. Oceania Linguistic Monograph, no. 16. |