Data collected by AUSTLANG

Data on the Jaminjung language

Alternative names: Djamindjung

For a full list of alternative names and spellings, see Austlang

Dialects: According to Ethnologue: “Reports indicate that Djamindjung and Ngaliwuru are so close as to be one language; only some older adults can distinguish the difference. »

Classification: Mindi languages

Area: Australia, Northern Territory.

Formerly between the Fitzmaurice and Victoria Rivers (Cleverly 1968:1). It was said that Djamindjung went to Bradshaws Run and the north side of the Victoria River to its mouth (Akerman in Sutton 1995:112).

Number of speakers: The 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report counted 15 speakers of Jaminjung.

Schultze-Berndt, (2000) gave an estimate of 50-150 speakers.

Language vitality & transmission:

According to UNESCO’s criteria, Jaminjung is a “severely endangered language”.

Schultze-Berndt (2000) noted a recent growth of the speakers’ number.

No monolingual speaker.

Bibliography

McGregor, William. 1988. Handbook of Kimberley languages, volume 1: General information. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Merlan, Francesca. 1994. A grammar of Wardaman, a language of the Northern Territory of Australia. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Schultze-Berndt, Eva. 2000. Simple and complex verbs in Jaminjung: a study of event categorisation in an Australian language, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen: PhD.

See Austlang website for a complete bibliography about Bundjalung

Links

Ethnoglogue entry for Jaminjung

AUSTLANG website