Worrorran languages

Worrorran
Geographic distribution	northern Australia
Linguistic classification	One of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions	Wunambal Ungarinyin Worrorra
Glottolog	worr1236
Worrorran languages (purple), among other non-Pama-Nyungan languages (grey)

The Worrorran (Wororan) languages are a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Western Australia.

The Worrorran languages fall into three dialect clusters:

• (Northern) Wunambal
• (Eastern) Ungarinyin (Ngarinyin)
• (Western) Worrorra

In addition, Gulunggulu is unattested but presumably a Worrorran lect.

Validity

There has been debate over whether the Worrorran languages are demonstrably related to one another, or constitute a geographical language group.

Dixon (2002) considers them to be language isolates with no demonstrable relationship other than that of a Sprachbund.

However, more recent literature differs from Dixon:

• Rumsey and McGregor (2009) demonstrate the cohesiveness of the family and its reconstructibility, and;
• Bowern (2011) accepts the Worroorran languages as a family.

References

• Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• McGregor and Rumsey (2009). Worrorran Revisited: The Case for Genetic Relations Among Languages of the Northern Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Pacific Linguistics.