Warrwa language

The Warrwa language is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language which was formerly spoken in the Derby Region of Western Australia near Broome, Western Australia. It may have been a dialect of Nyigina. It was also known as Warrawai or Warwa.

Warrwa
Native to	Australia
Region	West Kimberley, Derby region of Western Australia
Extinct	2016, with the death of Maudie Lennard
Language family	Nyulnyulan Eastern Nyigina? Warrwa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wwr
Glottolog	warr1258
AIATSIS	K10
ELP	Warrwa
Map of the traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal tribes around Derby, Western Australia. Warrwa is in green.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	b	d	ɖ ⟨rd⟩	ɟ ⟨j⟩	k
Nasal	m	n	ɳ ⟨rn⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Lateral		l	ɭ ⟨rl⟩	ʎ ⟨ly⟩
Tap		ɾ ⟨rr⟩
Approximant	w		ɻ ⟨r⟩	j

• /k/ may also be heard as voiced [ɡ].

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low	a

• Vowel length is also contrastive.
• /i, u/ can have allophones of [e, o].

Grammar

Warrwa employed a variety of word orders grammatically. Attributive adjectives and possessive adjectives preceded the nouns they modified.