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'''Len Pasquarelli''' is an [[United States|American]] sportswriter and analyst with [[ESPN.com]] and a 25-year veteran of covering the [[National Football League|NFL]]. He joined ESPN.com in 2001 and has since become a frequent contributor to the other [[ESPN]] outlets, including ''[[SportsCenter]]'', [[ESPNEWS]], [[ESPN Radio]] and ''[[ESPN The Magazine]]''. His articles reflect his opinions on various football topics.
{{language
|name=Mbabaram
|region=[[Queensland]]
|extinct=[[1972]] with the death of [[Albert Bennett (Australian)|Albert Bennett]].
|familycolor=Australian
|fam1=[[Pama-Nyungan languages|Pama-Nyungan]]
|fam2=[[Paman languages|Paman]]
|fam3=[[Southern Pama languages|Southern Pama]]
|iso2=aus
|iso3=vmb
}}
'''Mbabaram''' is an [[language death|extinct]] [[Australian Aboriginal languages|Australian Aboriginal language]] of north [[Queensland]]. It was the traditional language of the [[Mbabaram tribe]].
Pasquarelli has come under increasing criticism in recent years, by critics who say he relies too heavily on his relationships with player agents -- praising players represented by agents who feed him information, and criticizing players whose agents do not.
The last native speaker of Mbabaram was [[Albert Bennett (Australian)|Albert Bennett]] who died in [[1972]]. Other known speakers were [[Jimmy Taylor (Mbabaram speaker)|Jimmy Taylor]] and [[Mick Burns]].
Prior to ESPN, Pasquarelli served as a senior writer for CBS SportsLine.com, which he joined in 1999. He has also covered the NFL for the [[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] from 1989 to 1999, the [[Fort Wayne News-Sentinel]] from 1985 to 1989, [[Pro Football Weekly]] from 1982 to 1985, and [[Pittsburgh Steelers Weekly]] from 1978 to 1982.
[[R. M. W. Dixon]] described his hunt for a native speaker of Mbabaram in his book ''Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker''. Most of what is known of the language is from Dixon's field research with Bennett.
==Classification==
Until [[R. M. W. Dixon]]'s work on the language, "Barbaram" (as it was then known) was thought to be too different from other Australian languages to be part of the Australian phylum. Dixon revealed it to have descended from a more typical form, that was obscured by subsequent changes. Dixon (2002) himself, however, still regards [[genetic relationship]]s between Mbabaram and other languages as unproven.
Pasquarelli is a past president of the [[Pro Football Writers of America]] and has twice won national awards as the NFL Beat Reporter of the Year. He also has won several writing awards, including a first place [[Associated Press]] Deadline Sports Reporting Award in 1988.
Bennett, the last native speaker, identified [[Agwamin language|Agwamin]] as the language most similar subjectively to Mbabaram.
Pasquarelli is a [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]] native, attended Central Catholic High School, and graduated from the [[University of Pittsburgh]] in 1972. He currently resides in [[Atlanta]], GA and is a great friend of Herman Donatelli, DMD.
==Geographic distribution==
Mbabaram was spoken by the [[Mbabaram tribe]] in [[Queensland]], southwest of [[Cairns]] ({{coor dm|17|20|S|145|0|E|region:AU-QLD}}).
'''T==External links==
Nearby tribal dialects were [[Agwamin language|Agwamin]], [[Djangun (linguistics)|Djangun]] ([[Kuku-Yalanji language|Kuku-Yalanji]]), [[Muluridji (linguistics)|Muluridji]] ([[Kuku-Yalanji language|Kuku-Yalanji]]), [[Djabugay language|Djabugay]], [[Yidiny language|Yidiny]], [[Ngadjan (linguistics)|Ngadjan]] ([[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]]), [[Mamu (linguistics)|Mamu]] ([[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]]), [[Jirrbal (linguistics)|Jirrbal]] ([[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]]), [[Girramay (linguistics)|Girramay]] ([[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]]), and [[Warungu language|Warungu]]. While these were often [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]], to varying degrees, with the speech of the adjacent tribes, none were even partially intelligible with Mbabaram. The Mbabaram would often learn the languages of other tribes rather than vice versa, because Mbabaram was found difficult.
*[http://sports.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=Len_Pasquarelli&rT=sports/ Pasquarelli’s recent sports columns from ESPN.com]
==Phonology==
===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPA|i}}
| {{IPA|ɨ}}
| {{IPA|u}}
|-
! [[Low-mid vowel|Low-mid]]
| {{IPA|ɛ}}
|
| {{IPA|ɔ}}
|-
! [[Low vowel|Low]]
|
| {{IPA|a}}
|
|}
===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"| [[Peripheral consonant|Peripheral]]
!colspan="2"| [[Laminal consonant|Laminal]]
!colspan="2"| [[Apical consonant|Apical]]
|-
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| {{IPA|b}}
| {{IPA|ɡ ɡʷ}}
| {{IPA|ɟ}}
| {{IPA|d̪}}
| {{IPA|d dʷ}}
|
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA|m}}
| {{IPA|ŋ}}
| {{IPA|ɲ}}
| {{IPA|n̪}}
| {{IPA|n nʷ}}
|
|-
! [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|
|
|
| {{IPA|l}}
|
|-
! [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
|
|
| {{IPA|r}}
| {{IPA|ɻ}}
|-
! [[Semivowel]]
|colspan="2"| {{IPA|w}}
| {{IPA|j}}
|
|
|
|}
===Phonological history===
====Vowels====
Mbabaram would have originally had simply three vowels, {{IPA|/i a u/}}, like most Australian languages, but several changes occurred to add {{IPA|/ɛ ɨ ɔ/}} to the system:
*{{IPA|[ɔ]}} developed from original {{IPA|*/a/}} in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with {{IPA|*/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|*/ŋ/}}, or {{IPA|*/wu/}}.
*{{IPA|[ɛ]}} developed from original {{IPA|*/a/}} in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with {{IPA|*/ɟ/}}. (It may have also occurred with {{IPA|/ɲ/}} or {{IPA|/ji/}}, but no examples are known.)
*{{IPA|[ɨ]}} developed from original {{IPA|*/i/}} in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with {{IPA|*/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|*/ŋ/}}, or {{IPA|*/w/}}.
*{{IPA|[ɨ]}} also developed from original {{IPA|*/u/}} in the second syllable of a word if the first syllable began with {{IPA|*/ɟ/}}, {{IPA|*/ɲ/}}, or {{IPA|*/j/}}.
The first consonant of each word was then dropped, leaving the distribution of {{IPA|/ɔ ɛ ɨ/}} unpredictable.
== Word for "dog" ==
Mbabaram is famous in linguistic circles for a striking coincidence in its vocabulary. When Dixon finally managed to meet Bennett, he began his study of the language by eliciting a few basic nouns; among the first of these was the word for "dog". Bennett supplied the Mbabaram translation, '''dog'''. Dixon suspected that Bennett hadn't understood the question, or that Bennett's knowledge of Mbabaram had been tainted by decades of using English. But it turned out that the Mbabaram word for "dog" really is '''dog''', pronounced almost identically to the English word. The similarity is a complete coincidence: there is no discernable relationship between English and Mbabaram. This and other [[false cognate]]s are often cited as a caution against deciding that languages are related based on a small number of comparisons.
==Bibliography==
*{{cite journal |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |year=1966 |title=Mbabaram: A Dying Australian Language |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=29 |number=1 |pages=97–121}}
*{{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |year=1991 |chapter=Mbabaram |editor=Dixon, R. M. W. and Blake, B. J. |title=Handbook of Australian Languages |others=Vol. 4 |___location=Melbourne |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
*{{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |year=2002 |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780}}
==External links==
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=vmb Ethnologue report for language code:vmb]
[[Category:SouthernAmerican Pamasportswriters|Paquarelli, languagesLen]]
[[Category:People from Pittsburgh|Paquarelli, Len]]
[[Category:Italian-Americans|Paquarelli, Len]]
[[fr:Mbabaram]]
[[Category:Living people|Paquarelli, Len]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing|Paquarelli, Len]]
[[Category:ESPN Radio|Paquarelli, Len]]
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