The Kuku Nyungkal dialect (also written Kuku Nyungkul, Kuku Njunggal, Guugu Nyungkul, Gugu Njunggal, Kuku Njungkul,Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Studies "Gugu Nyungkul language (Y90) (Qld SD55-13)" Language and People Thesaurus webpage Accessed 21 January 2011 Kuku Ngungkal) is an Australian Aboriginal language and the language of the Kuku Nyungkal people of Far North Queensland. It is a variety of Kuku Yalanji still being spoken (though by fewer people than speak Kuku Yalanji itself).Hershberger, Henry & Hershberger Ruth (1986) "Kuku Yalanji Dictionary Summer Institute of Linguistics. Darwin" Accessed 21 January 2010 Most of the speakers today live in the communities of Wujal Wujal and Mossman.
The UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger includes Kuku Nyungkal language as part of a larger Kuku Yalanji languages listing, identifying and listing all the Kuku Yalanji languages as a whole as being "severely endangered".UNESCO "Interactive Atlas" UNESCO Atlas of the Worlds languages in danger webpage Accessed 23 January 2011
, Kuku Ngungkal is 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".
Phonology
Vowels Kuku Nyungkal has three vowels as follows:
Vowels English equivalent a as in f a ther i as in p i t u as in p u t
Consonants Kuku Nyungkal has thirteen consonants as follows:
b d j k l m n ny ng r rr w y
All are pronounced as they would be in English, with the rr used for a rolled r, as in the Scottish r.
References