Gija language

Gija
Gija
Kija
Region	From Halls Creek to Kununurra, Western Australia
Ethnicity	Gija
Native speakers	266 (2021 census)
Language family	Jarrakan Gija;
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gia
Glottolog	kitj1240
AIATSIS	K20
ELP	Kija
	Kija is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Gija (variously spelled Kija, Kitja, Gidja) is an Australian Aboriginal language today spoken by about 200 people, most of whom live in the region from Halls Creek to Kununurra and west to Lansdowne and Tableland Stations in Western Australia. It is a member of the Jarragan language family, a non-Pama-Nyungan family in the East Kimberley. The Argyle Diamond Mine, on the south-western corner of Lake Argyle, is on the borders of Gija and Miriwoong country. The Purnululu National Park (Gija orthography: 'Boornoolooloo'), which contains the Bungle Bungle Range, is located mostly in Gija country.

Kuluwarrang and Walgi may have been dialects.

Phonology

Voiceless stops /p, k, t̪, c, t, ʈ/ can have voiced allophones [b, ɡ, d̪, ɟ, d, ɖ] when in intervocalic positions or when following nasals or liquid consonants. They can also be heard as unreleased when in word-final position.
/p, k/ can also be heard as fricatives [β, ɣ] in intervocalic positions or when following liquid consonants.
/t̪/ can freely be heard as an affricate [t̪θ] when in initial positions, and also be heard as either voiced fricative [ð] or affricate [d̪ð] sounds when in intervocalic positions.
/t, ʈ/ can be heard as flap sounds [ɾ, ɽ] when in intervocalic positions.
/r/ can have a voiced flap sound [ɾ] when in intervocalic positions. In word-final positions, it has a voiceless trill [r̥] allophone.

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Low		a aː

↑ "SBS Australian Census Explorer". Retrieved 8 September 2023.
↑ K20 Gija at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
1 2 3 Kofod, Frances; Bray, Eileen; Peters, Rusty (2022). Gija Dictionary (1st ed.). Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 978-1-922752-10-9.

Blythe, J. Yuwurriyangem Kijam (our Language Kija): a Phrasebook of the Kija Language. Halls Creek: Kimberley Language Resource Centre.
Kofod, F. M. (1996). Introduction to the Kija Language. Halls Creek: Kimberley Language Resource Centre.
Kofod, F. M. (2016). Gija~Kija-English Dictionary. Warmun: Warmun Arts.
Taylor, P.; Taylor, J. (1971). "A tentative statement of Kitja phonology". Papers on the Languages of Australian Aboriginals: 100–19.
Taylor, P.; Hudson, J. (1976). "Metamorphosis and Process in Kija". Talanya. 3: 25–36.