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5 unusual facts about Pama–Nyungan languages


Associated motion

This category is attested in Pama–Nyungan languages (Koch 1984, Wilkins 1991) where it was first discovered, in Tacanan (Guillaume 2006, 2008, 2009) and in Rgyalrong languages (Jacques 2013).

Lumpers and splitters

For this reason, many language families have had lumper–splitter controversies, including Altaic, Pama–Nyungan, Nilo-Saharan, and most of the larger families of the Americas.

Municipality of Kogarah

The name Kogarah is Aboriginal, meaning place of reeds and takes its name from the reeds that grew in the inlets along the Georges River and at the head of Kogarah Bay.

Pama–Nyungan languages

The Pama–Nyungan family was identified and named by Kenneth L. Hale, in his work on the classification of Native Australian languages.

Retroflex consonants for most languages are written by prefixing an r to the corresponding alveolar (as in Swedish), although a few, like Pitjantjatjara, use an underline instead.


In Distortion We Trust

It was recorded in PAMA Studios/Blakk Records in Kristianopel in Sweden and produced and engineered by Mankan Sedenberg.

Punctuated equilibrium

In linguistics, R. M. W. Dixon has proposed a punctuated equilibrium model for language histories, with reference particularly to the prehistory of the indigenous languages of Australia and his objections to the proposed Pama–Nyungan language family there.

Thura-Yura languages

The Yura or Thura-Yura languages are a group of Australian Aboriginal languages surrounding Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent in South Australia, that comprise a genetic language family of the Pama–Nyungan family.


see also