June 2020 Academic & Specialist Aboriginal Studies Press

A Dictionary of Umpithamu, with notes on Middle Paman Jean-Christophe Verstraete


Paperback | Jul 2020 | Aboriginal Studies Press | 9781925302219 | 544pp | 240x170mm | RFB | AUD$34.95, NZD$39.99

Umpithamu is a language of the Princess Charlotte Bay region on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula, in northeastern Australia. A Dictionary of Umpithamu, with notes on Middle Paman is the first comprehensive dictionary of a Cape York language to be published in over two decades.

The dictionary provides detailed information about the grammar, meaning and use of Umpithamu words, generously illustrated with example sentences. All information can also be accessed through an index of English translations, organised alphabetically and thematically. 

For users with more specific interests, like linguists, anthropologists and biologists, the dictionary further offers phonetic transcriptions, cognates and (Middle) Paman reconstructions for most words, as well as ethnographic notes and identifications of plant and animal species.

Jean-Christophe Verstraete; main language consultants Florrie Bassani, Joan Liddy