Alawa language

Alawa (Galawa) is a moribund Indigenous Australian language spoken by the Alawa people of the Northern Territory. In 1991, there were reportedly 18 remaining speakers and 4 semi-speakers.

Consonants
Alawa has a typical consonant inventory for an Indigenous Australian language, with five contrastive places of articulation, multiple lateral consonants, and no voicing contrast among the stops.

Note: there are no standardised IPA symbols for alveopalatal stops.

Vowels
The vowel system of Alawa is made up of four vowel phonemes: the high front vowel /i/, the high back vowel /u/, the mid front vowel /e/, and the low central vowel /a/.

There are no rounding contrasts or length contrasts in this language.

Vocabulary
Capell (1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Alawa
 * man || lilmi
 * woman || girija
 * head || guɽuguɽu
 * eye || gulur
 * nose || gujumur
 * mouth || ŋaːndal
 * tongue || djeːjälŋ
 * stomach || gundjäl
 * bone || galawa
 * blood || ŋulidji
 * kangaroo || girimbọ
 * opossum || gudjaɳi
 * emu || djinaliri
 * crow || waŋgunaji
 * fly || wuɳɖil
 * sun || marawaɭbaɭ
 * moon || aɖaŋari
 * fire || wubu
 * smoke || guŋuŋu
 * water || ŋọgọ
 * }
 * kangaroo || girimbọ
 * opossum || gudjaɳi
 * emu || djinaliri
 * crow || waŋgunaji
 * fly || wuɳɖil
 * sun || marawaɭbaɭ
 * moon || aɖaŋari
 * fire || wubu
 * smoke || guŋuŋu
 * water || ŋọgọ
 * }
 * moon || aɖaŋari
 * fire || wubu
 * smoke || guŋuŋu
 * water || ŋọgọ
 * }
 * smoke || guŋuŋu
 * water || ŋọgọ
 * }
 * }