A Partial Vocabulary of the Ngalooma Aboriginal Tribe
| Title: | A Partial Vocabulary of the Ngalooma Aboriginal Tribe |
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| Identifier: | archives.org.au/A_Partial_Vocabulary_of_the_Ngalooma_Aboriginal_Tribe |
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| Keywords: | Ngalooma Vocabulary |
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File:A Partial Vocabluary of the Ngalooma Tribe.pdf
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[…]
Hall's Orthography
Hall knew Ngarluma1) fairly well. This is borne out by the testimony of my best informant on this language Robert Churnside, 77, of Roebourne who related to Mrs. Wilson2) that Hall could speak the Ngarluma language as well as he himself. From the linguistic point of view, however, it was unfortunate that he had to rely exclusively on English orthography. It is all the more remarkable that he found a way to distinguish between retroflexion, by using instinctively the correct doubling3), on the one hand, and palatals4) and interdentals5) on the other. He even realized that the ordinary n must be produced with the tongue between the teeth (interdental), and he usually expressed this by adding th6). By sticking to the sequence of the ordinary alphabet when he arranged his vocabulary, he had to keep up an artificial differentiation of consonants not necessary in Ngarluma7). But he was aware at least of the non-existence as initials of the mediae g and d8).
1) Hall’s choice of the form Ng&looma is perhaps influenced by Daisy Bates who introauced the unfortunate letter & which phonetically means something different (Umlaut).
2) Mrs. Wilson told me in a letter of the meeting with R. Churnside in April 1971; see her Foreword.
3) For gemination of consonants, mainly n and 1, see von Brandestein, Some new Aspects of Australian Aboriginal Language, Australian Abo¬ riginal Studies No.23 (Linguistic Series 9). Trends in Australian Linguistics: papers presented to the A.I.A.S. Linguistic Group, May 1968 Ed.D.Laycock, p.77,8l.
4) The softening of mainly t/d, l, n by placing the tongue against the Palate.
5) Interdental = between the teeth, the softening of mainly t/d, 1, n by placing the tongue between the teeth or against the upper teeth.
6) When looking at the speaker one can indeed imagine to hear the interdental n finishing with a th.
7) c,k,g are not distinguished phonetically, but orthographically k is used as initial and g between vowels. The same holds for p/b, t/d , j/i and w/u.
8) By avoiding g and a (but unfortunately not b) Hall showed a great linguistic sensibility, often lacking even in professional treatment of Aboriginal languages.
