# Kaytetye language

Kaytetye (also spelt Kaititj, Gaididj, Kaiditj, Kaytej) is an Australian Aboriginal language primarily spoken in the Northern Territory north of Alice Springs by the Kaytetye people, who live around Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek. It belongs to the Arandic subgroup of the Pama-Nyungan languages and is related to Alyawarra, which is one of the Upper Arrernte dialects. It has an unusual phonology and there are no known dialects.
The language is considered to be threatened; it is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users, with only 109 speakers of the language in the 2021 census.
The Kaytetye have (or had) a well-developed sign language known as Akitiri or Eltye eltyarrenke.

## Phonology

Kaytetye is phonologically unusual in a number of ways. Words start with vowels and end with schwa; full CV(C) syllables only occur within a word, as in the word arrkwentyarte 'three' (schwa is spelled ⟨e⟩, unless initial, in which case it is not written and often not pronounced). Stress falls on the first full syllable. There are only two productive vowels, but numerous consonants, including pre-stopped and pre-palatalized consonants.

### Consonants

Consonants occur plain and labialized.
| | | Peripheral | Peripheral | Coronal | Coronal | Coronal | Coronal | Coronal |
| | | Peripheral | Peripheral | Laminal | Laminal | Apical | Apical | Apical |
| | | Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Prepalatalized | Alveolar | Retroflex |
| Plosive | Plosive | p pʷ | k kʷ | c cʷ | t̪ t̪ʷ | ʲt ʲtʷ | t tʷ | ʈ ʈʷ |
| Nasal | plain | m mʷ | ŋ ŋʷ | ɲ ɲʷ | n̪ n̪ʷ | ʲn ʲnʷ | n nʷ | ɳ ɳʷ |
| Nasal | prestopped | ᵖm ᵖmʷ | ᵏŋ ᵏŋʷ | ᶜɲ ᶜɲʷ | ᵗn̪ ᵗn̪ʷ | $^{jt}$n $^{jt}$nʷ | ᵗn ᵗnʷ | ᵗɳ ᵗɳʷ |
| Lateral | Lateral | | | ʎ ʎʷ | l̪ l̪ʷ | ʲl ʲlʷ | l lʷ | ɭ ɭʷ |
| Approximant | Approximant | | ɰ w | j jʷ | | | | ɻ ɻʷ |
| Tap | Tap | | | | | | ɾ ɾʷ | |
[w] is phonemically /ɰʷ/. In the orthography, /ɰ/ is written ⟨h⟩.

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| High | i | ɨ ~ ə | (u) |
| Mid | | ɨ ~ ə | |
| Low | | a | |
/u/ is marginal.
Two-vowel systems are unusual, but occur in closely related Arrernte as well as in some Northwest Caucasian languages. It seems that the vowel system derives from an earlier one with the typical Australian /i a u/, but that *u lost its roundedness to neighboring consonants, resulting in the labialized series of consonants, while *i lost its frontness (palatal-ness) to other consonants as well, resulting in some cases in the prepalatalized series.

## Grammar

Kin terms are obligatorily possessed, though with grammatically singular pronouns. There is a dyadic suffix as well:
Kaytetye kin inflections :
| | Elder brother | Mother |
| 1 | alkere-ye my/our brother | arrwengke my/our mother |
| 2 | ngk-alkere your brother | ngk-arrwengke your mother |
| 3 | kw-alkere his/her/their brother | kw-arrwengke his/her/their mother |
| dyadic | alkere-nhenge elder and younger brother | arrwengke-nhenge mother and child |
Dual and plural pronouns distinguish clusivity as well as moiety (or 'section') and generation. That is, for a male speaker, different pronouns are used for I and my sibling, grandparent, grandchild (even generation, same moiety), I and my father, I and my brother's child (odd generation, same moiety), and I and my mother, spouse, sister's child (opposite moiety). This results in twelve pronouns for 'we':
Kaytetye pronouns for 'we' :
| Number | Clusivity | Even generation (same moiety) | Odd generation (same moiety) | Opposite moiety |
| Dual | inclusive | ayleme | aylake | aylanthe |
| Dual | exclusive | aylene | aylenake | aylenanthe |
| Plural | inclusive | aynangke | aynake | aynanthe |
| Plural | exclusive | aynenangke | aynenake | aynenanthe |
That is, root ay-, dual suffix -la or plural -na, exclusive infix ⟨en⟩, an irregular nasal for even generation, and a suffix for same moiety -ke or opposite moiety -nthe.
Verbs include incorporated former verbs of motion that indicate direction and relative timing of someone, usually the subject of the verb. There are differences depending on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive:
Kaytetye 'associated motion' stems :
| Time | angke 'talk' | Gloss | kwathe 'drink' | Gloss |
| Prior motion (go/come and X) | angke-ye-ne- | 'talk after going' | kwathe-ye-ne- | 'drink after going' |
| Prior motion (go/come and X) | angke-ye-tnye- | 'talk after coming' | kwathe-ye-tnye- | 'drink after coming' |
| Prior motion (go/come and X) | angke-ya-lpe- | 'talk after returning' | kwathe-ya-lpe- | 'drink after returning' |
| Prior motion (go/come and X) | angke-ya-yte- | 'talk after someone arrives' | kwathe-ya-yte- | 'drink after someone arrives' |
| Subsequent motion (X and go/come) | angke-rra-yte- | 'talk before leaving' | kwathe-la-yte- | 'drink before leaving' |
| Subsequent motion (X and go/come) | angke-rra-lpe- | 'talk before returning' | kwathe-la-lpe- | 'drink before returning' |
| Concurrent motion (X while going/coming) | angke-yerna-lpe- | 'talk while coming' | kwathe-yerna-lpe- | 'drink while coming' |
| Concurrent motion (X while going/coming) | angke-rra-pe- | 'talk while going along' | kwathe-rra-pe-yne- | 'drink while going along' |
| Concurrent motion (X while going/coming) | angke-rra-ngke-rre-nye- | 'talk continuously while going along' | kwathe-la-the-la-rre- | 'drink continuously while going along' |
| Concurrent motion (X while going/coming) | angke-lpa-ngke- | 'talk once when on the way' | kwathe-lpa-the- | 'drink once when on the way' |
| Prior and subsequent | angke-nya-yne- | 'go and talk and come back' | kwathe-nya-yne- | 'go and drink and come back' |

## People

* Erlikilyika (Jim Kite) learnt to speak Kaytetye when working on the Overland Telegraph Line, and worked as an interpreter for anthropologists and explorers Spencer and Gillen.