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Bundjalung
Data collected by AUSTLANG
Data on the Bundjalung language
Alternative names: Bandjalang, Yugambal, Yugambeh, Gidabal, Githabul
For a full list of alternative names and spellings, see Austlang.
Main dialects: Bundjalung Yugambeh, Githabul.
There exists no exhaustive and consensual list of all the Bundjalung dialects, most of them extinct by now. The term Bundjalung is used as a generic for a number of related dialects. Termed Bundjalung proper, but also refers to one of these dialects, spoken around Coraki (cf. Crowley 1978:151 and Sharpe 2005). Sharpe (2005) includes Yugambeh in this group of dialects, and opts for the cover term Yugambeh-Bundjalung.
Classification: Pama-Nyungan, baagandjic languages
Area: Australia, New South Wales. Coraki and Bungawalbin Creek.
Number of speakers : The 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report counted 20 speakers of Bundjalung, but this figure probably refers to the Bundjalung dialect strictly speaking. The NILS counted 1 speaker of Yugambeh in 2005 and provides no figure for Githabul.
Language vitality & transmission :
According to Unesco’s criteria, Bundjalung is “severely endangered” (level 3 on a scale of 5)
“Many Rivers Aboriginal Language Centre” is hosting workshops held by the Bundjalung Elders Language Group in order to establish an orthography for Bundjalung (2007).
Bibliography
Crowley, Terry. 1978. The middle Clarence dialects of Bandjalang. Canberra: AIAS.
Sharpe, Margaret. 1994. Bundjalung. In Macquarie Aboriginal words: a dictionary of words from Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, eds. N Thieberger, W McGregor, 1-22. North Ryde: Macquarie Library.
Sharpe, Margaret. 1995 Dictionary of Western Bundjalung: including Gidhabal and Tabulam Bundjalung. Armidale, NSW: Margaret Sharpe.
Sharpe, Margaret. 2000. Dictionary of Eastern Bundjalung including Minyanbal and Ngahnduwal , ms.
Tindale, Norman. 1974. Tribal Boundaries in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Division of National Mapping, Department of National Development.
See Austlang website for a complete bibliography on Bundjalung.
Links
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have more information on this language: contact@sorosoro.org