Yugambeh.

Yugambeh is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on the southeast coast of Queensland; according to Wikipedia, “Yugambeh is one of some dozen or two dozen dialects of the Bandjalang language. Among the differences in Yugambeh is that yugambeh (or yugam) is the word for no.” The Yugambeh Museum, Language and Heritage Research Centre “aims to record and promote the traditional knowledge of our region, especially the Yugambeh language, which was spoken throughout south east Queensland.” The State Library of Queensland has a nice page on it with links to various resources, and there’s even a free app (“Includes audio, dictionary and pictionary files”). All this is what I call putting the internet to good use; thanks for the links, Bathrobe!

Comments

  1. > […] yugambeh (or yugam) is the word for no.

    So I guess it’s the opposite of langue d’oc and the langues d’oïl?

  2. Yes, I had the same reaction!

  3. See page 67 of “Two Representative Tribes of Queensland” (John Matthews):

    “As is the case with nearly all the tribes in the east and south-east of Australia, the Kabi and Wakka tribes are so named from negatives in the respective dialects. The reason for this mode of nomenclature appears to be the fact that these negatives, by their frequent repetition, are more conspicuous to members of alien tribes than any other words. The Kabi people employ other negatives as well, viz., wa and bar, but kabi is distinctive of them.”

  4. marie-lucie says

    In addition to lenga d’oc and langue d’oïl, there was also lingua de si (Italian) and probably others.

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