Talk:Warlpiri language

Untitled

I'm working on getting a table of consonants and vowels in place. Work in progress; have patience, or jump in and help.

ACW 21:06, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

Phonology

OK, I added enough phonology to go on with for now. The main things missing are the historical phonology of rd and vowel harmony ... the latter is more interesting and important.

There's enough text here now that I removed the stub designation. I'd appreciate anybody else's comments or contributions. I'd especially like some copyright-untrammeled sample sentences. I don't want to steal from Swartz's dictionary or Nash's thesis; I suppose I could try to dig up my copy of Hale's early field notes. But if anybody has something handy, that would be great!

Important things left to do: some syntax (mention non-configurationality, ergative-absolutive case marking); vowel harmony; how the auxiliary word works; sample text and gloss.

ACW 22:03, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

why not use example sentences from these works? you cant, after all, copyright a language. at any rate, it would be good to cite your references in the article. peace. — ishwar  (SPEAK) 10:40, 2005 Jun 8 (UTC)

the rd phoneme looks similar to a phone in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_language Jimydog000 (talk) 15:28, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

This is an excellent section overall. I have a note about the description for the /ɽ/ phoneme. The footnote says that it is unusual for this sound:

The tip of the tongue begins in retroflex position but then moves forward rapidly, flapping against the alveolar ridge.

But, as a phonetician, that seems to me to describe the normal production of the retroflex flap [ɽ]. I recommend removing this footnote because it is redundant. (Maybe these details could be added to the article on [ɽ].)

TimothyMills (talk) 16:14, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

Walbiri

I was just reading about an Aboriginal Australian language called Walbiri in a linguistics text book. Is this the same language with two different spellings? If so, we should have a redirection.

White Lightning 02:34, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

That must be a fairly old book--what is it? Yes, 'Walbiri' is a spelling that has been used for 'Warlpiri', the latter being how it's spelled in the orthography in use by the speakers (and a more accurate phonemic representation than 'Walbiri'). I'm not sure about the value of a redirection but I think it would be good to include in the article a list of alternative spellings that have been used. Dougg 03:19, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

There is a list of alternate spellings at the end of the lede for Warlpiri. ACW 13:58, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Dougg, it's the 2005 edition of a Intro to Ling book that seems to be rather popular.

White Lightning 20:09, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Using the Ethnologue language code listing , I've found that there are 34 alternate names that have been or are used for Warlpiri: Albura, Alpira, Alpiri, Elpira, Ilpara, Ilpira, Ilpirra, Nambuda, Ngalia, Ngaliya, Ngallia, Ngardilpa, Njambalatji, Ulperra, Waibry, Wailbri, Walbiri, Walbrai, Walbri, Waljbiri, Waljpiri, Walmala, Walmama, Walmanba, Walpari, Walpiri, Wanaeka, Wanajaga, Wanajaka, Wanajeka, Waneiga, Waringari, Wolperi, Wolpirra.

I don't know if it's worth including all of these; I wonder if there is a more nuanced source to identify the most common alternatives, such as the one that you are using, White Lightning?

TimothyMills (talk) 16:28, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

References

Famous for minimal syntax?

I seem to recall warlpiri being heavily case-marked enabling free word order. The explanation given was that the word order could accommodate all the neighbouring languages. I have no references but it was a big point at the time. 90.246.33.179 (talk) 21:31, 27 October 2025 (UTC)