Laragiya language information

The Laragiya language, also spelt Larrakia (deriving from Larrakia people), and also known as Gulumirrgin, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by just six people near the city of Darwin in northern Australia as of 1983. Only 14 people claimed to know the Laragiya language in 2016.

Laragiya was once considered a language isolate, but Mark Harvey has made a case for it being part of a family of Darwin Region languages.^[3]

Linguist Arthur Capell wrote,

"Even in 1950 there were no children speaking it, and most of the older people who spoke it in 1952 (when the bulk of these notes was gathered) were found on the Delissaville Reserve (now Belyuen ), across the harbour from Darwin. By 1968, reports of only two speakers could be gained, and these far away from Darwin. In former times, however, the tribe was fairly large, and its territory extended to the Coolalinga, where it joined that of a tribe called "Woolna" by the early writers, while on the south-east it was bounded by the Warrai. These latter languages are practically unrecorded.

"The present outline of Laragia is based on notes taken at various periods, chiefly 1949 and 1952. The notes have been systematised as far as possible, but they make no claim to provide a fully laid out grammar, especially on the phonetic level."