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Nyangumarta
Data collected by AUSTLANG
Data on the language
Alternatives names: Nyangumarda, Njangamarda, Nangumarda, Nyangumada, Njangumada.
For additional names and alternative spellings, see the AUSTLANG website.
Classification: Pama-Nyungan language family, Marrngu group
Main dialects: According to Sharp (2004:4), her informants identify four Nyangumarta dialects:
– Ngurlipartu as spoken to the South by families such as that of Billy Dunn’s;
– Pijikala as spoken to the North near Lake Waukarlykarly and is identified with the families of Billy Thomas and the late Jack Kurala;
– Kuntal spoken by the families associated with Cranky Iti;
– Walyirli, the dialect spoken at Yandeyarra and the Twelve Mile Reserve on the outskirts of Port Hedland, where it is also referred to as ‘coastal’ by some people
These distinctions are however made on the basis of the speaker’s notion of ‘dialects’, and Sharp recognises only two distinct types of a Nyangumarta in the linguistic sense: Ngurlipartu and Walyirli, which Sharp refers to as Southern inland Nyangumarta and Northern coastal Nyangumarta respectively.
Area: Nyangumarta an aboriginal language spoken in Western Australia (WA).
Traditionally, it was spoken in an area that stretched from South and East of lake Waukarlykarly (towards Telfer) Northwards to a long string of claypans that lie East of Sandfire, and which reach over 120 km into the Great Sandy Desert. Many of the Northern Nyangumarta people occupied the Eighty Mile Beach area (Sharp 2004:4).
Presently, Nyangumarta is spoken in Northern Pilbara and Southern Kimberley areas. The area extends to La Grange (Bidyadanga) and Broome and Southwest to Port Hedland as well as Marble Bar (Sharp 2004:12).
In early historical times, the Iparuka Njangamarda took over the territory of the Ngolibardu tribe around Thros-sell Range. Including this area, their territory extended from Rudall River northeastwards to ‘Karbardi near Swindell Field East of ‘Tjandalkuru, (Tindalgoo on maps), then West to near the Eastern border of Warrawagine Station. The Kundal Njangamarda spanned from this line Northwest to [‘Man-da] (Munda Well on Munro Station) and West to Anna Plains Station, just South of Cape Missiessy, where ‘Jawinja, situated beside the present Station homestead, was their northernmost water. Their Southwestern boundary lay along the edge of the tableland North of Grey and Oakover rivers to ‘Jalalo (Ulalling Hills on maps) (Tindale 1974).
Number of speakers :
The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census estimated approximately 312 speakers of Nyangumarta.
Vitality & transmission
Nyangumarta is considered as a « strong / safe language » (endangerment grade: 5) by the National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS).
Sources & bibliography
McKelson, Kevin. 1989. Topical vocabulary in Northern Nyangumarta. Broome, WA: Aboriginal Studies Dept. Nulungu Catholic College.
Sharp, Janet. 2004. Nyangumarta: A language of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Pacific Linguistics 556. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Maps
Tindale, Norman. 1974. Tribal Boundaries in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Division of National Mapping, Department of National Development.
Links
Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre website: http://www.wangkamaya.org.au/
AUSTLANG website: http://austlang.aiatsis.gov.au/main.php
Ethnologue webpage: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=nna
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