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Walmajarri
Data collected by AUSTLANG
Data on the Walmajarri language
Alternatives names: Walmatjarri, Walmadjari
For a full list of alternative names and spelling, see Austlang
Main dialects:
There have been different reports on dialects of Walmajarri and it is not certain how many Walmajarri dialects exist. Hudson and Richards (2007 p.c.), who did extensive research on Walmajarri, at least recognise one dialect, namely Juwaliny. In their 1990 work, they identified Noonkanbah, which has been influenced by Nyikina as a separate dialect but more recently Hudson and Richards (2007 p.c.) say that if this is a genuine dialect, the people have no name for it.
Pililuna is recognised as a dialect of Walmajarri by Dixon (2002). According to Hudson and Richards (2007 p.c.), Pililuna is a name of a station/community, and they refer to it as the eastern dialect of Walmajarri, but people from the area just call themselves Walmajarri. Furthermore, Walsh (1981) lists Nyanyany while Oates (1975) lists Nyardi as a dialect of Walmajarri.
Classification: Pama-Nyungan, South West , Nqumbin languages
Area: Australia, Western Australia.
The original tribal territory of the Walmatjari is the northern part of the Great Sandy Desert. The eastern Walmatjari lived along the northern part of the Canning Stock Route south-west and west of Balgo Hills Mission and the Western Walmatjari lived in the area south of Noonkenbah station. Movement out of the desert took place to the north, east and west and Walmatjari speaking people are now to be found on cattle stations along the Fitzroy River and Christmas Creek, as far as Derby in the west and Halls Creek in the east (Hudson 1978:2).
Desert plateau south of the Fitzroy and Christmas Creek valleys from Noonkanbah, n.n. [‘Kunkadea], east to Cummins Range; south on the line of the Canning Stock Route to Well 47, n.n. [‘Kardalapuru], west from there to about 124°50’E; southwesternmost water used is Ngokanitjardu (unidentified but near 124°50’E x 20°30’S; see reference to this term also under Mangala tribe). In the south by traveling along tribal boundaries they met the Wanman at Munggakulu (perhaps the Adverse Well on maps). Their western boundary ran due north to Mount Fenton (Tindale 1974).
Number of speakers :
The 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report estimated approximately 500 speakers of Walmajarri, whereas the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census counted 518 speakers.
Vitality and transmission:
Walmajarri is considered a strong/safe language by the 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report. But according to Unesco’s criteria, the language is “definitely endangered” (level 2 on a scale of 5).
Bibliography
Dixon, R. M. W. 2002. Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hudson, Joyce. 1978. The core of Walmatjari grammar. Canberra: AIAS.
Oates, Lynette. 1975. The 1973 supplement to a revised linguistic survey of Australia.
Richards, Eirlys and Hudson, Joyce. 1990. Walmajarri-English dictionary: with English finder list. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Walsh, Michael. 1981. The Australia section. In “Language atlas of the Pacific area”. Wurm and Hattori (eds). Australian Academy of the Humanities and Japan Academy, Canberra.
See the Austlang website for a complete bibliography about Walmajarri.
Maps
Tindale, Norman. 1974. Tribal Boundaries in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Division of National Mapping, Department of National Development.
Tsunoda, Tasaku. 1981. The Djaru language of Kimberley, Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Links
Dedicated page on the online Handbook of Western Australian Aboriginal languages South of the Kimberley Region [07.02.2011]
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