Battle of Honey Springs

Ilgar, also known as Garig-Ilgar after its two dialects, is an extinct Iwaidjan language spoken in the mainland of Cobourg Peninsula, around Port Essington, Northern Territory.

Phonology

Consonant inventory

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Bilabial Velar Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive p k c t ʈ
Nasal m ŋ ɲ n ɳ
Approximant w ɣ j ɻ
Trill r
Flap ɽ
Lateral (ʎ) l ɭ
Lateral flap ɺ ⟨ld⟩ 𝼈 ⟨rld⟩

[2]

Unlike many Australian languages, Ilgar does not have lamino-alveolars.

Vowels

Evans (1998) briefly discusses vowels in his paper noting that Iwaidjan languages including Ilgar have a three vowel (/a/, /i/, /u/) system typical of most Australian languages.

Front Back
High i u
Low a

References

  1. ^ N184 Ilgar at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  2. ^ Evans, Nicholas (1998). "Iwaidja mutation and its origins". In Anna Siewierska & Jae Jung Song. Case, Typology and Grammar: In honor of Barry J. Blake. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 115–149.

Further reading

  • Evans, N. (2007). Pseudo-argument affixes in Iwaidja and Ilgar: a case of deponent subject and object agreement. In M. Baerman, G. G. Corbett, D. Brown, & A. Hippisley (Eds.), Deponency and morphological mismatches (pp. 271–296). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Evans,N. (1994). Ilgar Field Notes, Recorded from Charlie Wardaga.