Data collected by AUSTLANG

Data on the language

Alternatives names: Bayungu, Baijungu, Baiyungu, Baiong, Baiung, Biong, Paiunggu.

For additional names and alternative spellings, see the AUSTLANG website.

Classification: Pama-Nyungan language family, Kanyara group

Area: Payungu is an aboriginal language spoken in Western Australia (WA): along Lower Lyndon and Minilya rivers; Southwest of the salt marshes to Quobba; east to Winning Pool; north to Giralia and Bullara but not to the seacoast and Exmouth peninsula (Tindale 1974).

Number of speakers:

The National Indigenous Language 2005 Survey estimated 2 speakers of Payungu.

Vitality & transmission:

According to AUSTLANG, Payungu is “no longer fully spoken” (endangerment level 0).

Sources & bibliography

Austin, Peter. 1992. A dictionary of Payungu, Western Australia. Bundoora: La Trobe University.

Wangka Maya PALC. 2006. Payungu picture dictionary. South Hedland: Wangka Maya PALC.

Burgman, Albert. 2007. Bayungu dictionary : English-Bayungu wordlist and thematic wordlist 2007. South Hedland: Wangka Maya PALC.

Wangka Maya PALC. 2007. Bayungu dictionary 2007. South Hedland: Wangka Maya PALC. (CD Rom)

Maps

Austin, Peter. 1988. Classification of southern Pilbara languages. In Papers in Australian Linguistics 17, eds. P Austin et al, 1-17. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Davis, Stephen. 1993. Australia’s extant and imputed traditional Aboriginal territories. Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press.

Dench, Alan. 1995. Martuthunira, a language of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

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=bxj