Yugambeh language

In the Yugambeh language, the word means an emphatic 'no', 'never' i.e. 'very much no' and is a common exonym for the people and their language. Speakers of the language use the word which means 'man', 'human', 'wedge-tailed eagle' and is the preferred endonym for the people; they call their language meaning 'of man', 'of human', 'of eagle' (the suffix forming the genitive of the word ). Yugambeh may also be referred to as: • Yugambir, Yugambeh (not to be confused with Yugambal/Yugumbal, a distinct language located further west) • Yubumbee • Jugumbir, Jukamba • Tweed-Albert language • Nganduwal • Ngarangwal == Geographic distribution ==

Yugambeh is spoken within the Logan, Albert, Coomera, Nerang, and Tweed River basins. == Dialects ==

Linguists such as Margaret Sharpe, relying on the previous work of others like Terry Crowley, described the Yugambeh language as having potentially upwards of 7 dialects. Recent analysis has found errors in these original studies and when corrected for these errors, two mutually intelligible dialects can be found; a western (freshwater) variety and an eastern (saltwater) variety with minor vocabulary differences. Some differences between the dialects as noted by linguist Shaun Davies: == App ==

The Yugambeh Museum in Beenleigh currently maintains a free dictionary app for the Yugambeh language, available on Android, iOS and a desktop version. ==Phonology==

Vowels Yugambeh has a vowel system of four vowels that also contrast in length, resulting in eight phonemic vowels in total. The letter "h" is used after the vowel to indicate a long vowel. Allophones The low central vowel is fronted and raised between palatal consonants and a lateral/rhotic consonant. Consonants Compared to other Pama-Nyungan languages, Yugambeh has a smaller inventory of consonants. There are four places of articulation, with the consonants consisting of four obstruents, four nasals, two liquids, and two semivowels. Obstruents Obstruents do not have a voicing contrast, and can appear as fricative allophones. Obstruents are phonetically voiceless, except when following a homorganic consonant. == Grammar ==

The grammar of the Yugambeh language is highly agglutinative, making use of over 50 suffixes on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and demonstratives. Noun morphology Nouns take a number of suffixes to decline for grammatical case. Suffixes Noun suffixes are placed into ten orders. A noun may not take more than one suffix from any order, and if more than one suffix is attached they must always be in the set order of the suffix orders, e.g., an order 7 suffix must always come after an order 5 suffix. 'X' stands for a homorganic obstruent. 'N' stands for a homorganic nasal. • The comitative, purposive, desiderative, ablative, and aversive suffixes are preceded by on animate nouns. • 1st order suffixes • - (typified by) – used to indicate an association or link • Examples: • 'shoe' lit. 'typified by foot' • 'womaniser' lit. 'typified by women' • 2nd order suffixes • (feminine) – used to form feminine nouns and some astrological terms • Examples: • 'female singer' • 3rd order suffixes • (diminutive) – used to form the diminutive of a noun, referring to a smaller version • Examples: • 'toy boomerang' • 4th order suffixes • (possessive) – indicates current possession • Examples: • 'our' • 'of the moon/moon's' • (past possessive) – indicates past possession • Examples: • 'was of the parrot' (Billinudgel) Verb morphology Verbs are conjugated with suffixes. Yugambeh is an aspect-dominant language, as opposed to being tense-dominant like most Western languages. Suffixes mostly indicate aspect and mood. Suffixes Verb suffixes are placed in six orders. A verb may not take more than one suffix from a given order, and similar to nouns, suffixes are attached in a set order. Combinations of these suffixes express all possible conjugations of Yugambeh verbs, with only a small number of combinations possible. Yugambeh verb stems are commonly two syllables in length and always end in a vowel. Adjective morphology Adjectives can be marked with a suffix to indicate the gender of the noun they qualify. Adjective set The above set can be suffixed with order 7 noun suffixes to form demonstrative pronouns that function like ordinary independent nouns. e.g. 'Take this with you!' The 'not in sight' and 'not here anymore' forms can take the order 2 noun suffix -gan to form time words. e.g. 'recently'. Location set Syntax Syntax in the Yugambeh language is fairly free, with a tendency towards SOV (subject–object–verb). Within noun phrases, adjectives and demonstratives (e.g., that man, a red car) stay adjacent to the noun they qualify. == Place names ==

Modern place names with roots in the Yugambeh language include: • Billinudgel – from , 'was of the parrot' • Canungra – from , 'a long flat or clearing' • Coomera/Upper Coomera – from , a species of wattle • Jumpinpi – Pandanus root • Mundoolun – from , the local name for the Common death adder • Nindooinbah – from , 'the remains of a fire' • Pimpama – from , 'a place of soldier birds' • Tabragalba – from , 'a place of clubs' • Tallebudgera – rotten or decayed logs • Wongawallan – from the words ('pigeon') and ('water') == References ==