Warlmanpa language

Warlmanpa
Warlmanpa
Region	Northern Territory, Australia
Ethnicity	Warlmanpa
Native speakers	30 (2005) to 48 (2006 census)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Ngumpin–Yapa Ngarrkic Warlmanpa; ; ;
Signed forms	Warlmanpa Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wrl
Glottolog	warl1255
AIATSIS	C17
ELP	Warlmanpa

Warlmanpa (also Walmala) is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Warlmanpa people.

The Warlmanpa have a highly developed sign language.

One of the first recordings of this language was made by Kenneth Hale in his interview with Donald Jupurrula Graham in 1966.^[2]

Phonology

Warlmanpa vowel inventory^[3]
	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Low	a aː

Warlmanpa consonant inventory^[3]^[4]
		Bilabial	Apico- alveolar	Apico- domal	Lamino- alveolar	Dorso- velar
Plosive	lax	p	t	ʈ	c	k
Plosive	tense	pː	tː	ʈː	cː	kː
Nasal		m	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
Lateral			l	ɭ	ʎ
Flap			ɾ
Glide		w		ɻ	j

1 2 C17 Warlmanpa at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
↑ Nash, David (2008). "Donald Jupurrula Graham (c1920-1989)". Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography (Rev ed.). Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press. p. 233. hdl:10070/492231. ISBN 9780980457810. Retrieved 24 June 2025.^{[dead link]}
1 2 Nash, David. “A Preliminary Vocabulary of the Warlmanpa Language.” Word list and grammatical sketch. Cambridge, MA, 1979.
↑ Browne, Mitchell Stewart (2021). A Grammatical Description of Warlmanpa. The University of Queensland Australia.