Mingginda language

Mingginda
Minkin
Native toAustralia
RegionBurketown, Queensland
EthnicityMingin people
Extinctlate 19th century[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3xxm
Glottologmink1237
AIATSIS[2]G26

Mingginda or Minkin is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language, perhaps a language isolate, of northern Australia. It was spoken by the Mingin people in the area around Burketown, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in an area that contains the headwaters of the Leichhardt River.[1]

The classification of Minkin is uncertain, primarily due to a lack of data. It has been suggested that it may have been related to the Yiwaidjan or Tankic language families. Evans (1990) believes it has been demonstrated to be a Tankic language, more distant than the others are to each other; this is accepted in Bowern (2011).[3]

  1. ^ a b c Evans, Nicholas (1990). "The Minkin language of the Burketown region". In Geoffrey N. O'Grady & Darrell T. Tryon (ed.). Studies in Comparative Pama-Nyungan. Volume 111 of Pacific Linguistics. Australian National University. pp. 173–207. ISBN 978-0-85883-388-3.
  2. ^ G26 Mingginda at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. ^ Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)