Ilgar language

Ilgar, also known as Garig-Ilgar after its two dialects, is an extinct Iwaidjan language spoken in the mainland of Cobourg Peninsula, around Port Essington, Northern Territory.

Garig–Ilgar
Garig, Ilgar
Native to	Australia
Region	Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory
Ethnicity	Ilgar, Gaari
Extinct	2003
Language family	Iwaidjan Iwaidjic Warrkbi Garig–Ilgar
Dialects	Ilgar Garig
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ilg
Glottolog	gari1253
AIATSIS	N184 Ilgar, N188 Garig
ELP	Ilgar

Phonology

Consonant inventory

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	p	k	c	t	ʈ
Nasal	m	ŋ	ɲ	n	ɳ
Approximant	w	ɣ	j		ɻ
Trill				r
Flap					ɽ
Lateral			(ʎ)	l	ɭ
Lateral flap				ɺ ⟨ld⟩	𝼈 ⟨rld⟩

Unlike many Australian languages, Ilgar does not have lamino-alveolars.

Vowels

Evans (1998) briefly discusses vowels in his paper noting that Iwaidjan languages including Ilgar have a three vowel (/a/, /i/, /u/) system typical of most Australian languages.

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low	a

References

1. Garig–Ilgar at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
2. N184 Ilgar at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
3. Evans, Nicholas (1998). "Iwaidja mutation and its origins". In Anna Siewierska & Jae Jung Song. Case, Typology and Grammar: In honor of Barry J. Blake. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 115–149.

Further reading

• Evans, N. (2007). Pseudo-argument affixes in Iwaidja and Ilgar: a case of deponent subject and object agreement. In M. Baerman, G. G. Corbett, D. Brown, & A. Hippisley (Eds.), Deponency and morphological mismatches (pp. 271–296). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Evans,N. (1994). Ilgar Field Notes, Recorded from Charlie Wardaga.