Index compiled with data collected by AUSTLANG

Data on the Wangkangurru

Alternatives names: Wangganguru, Wongkanguru, Wonkonguru, Wongkongaru

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

Main dialects:

According to Hercus (1994:6-7), Wangkangurru and Arabana are considered as two distinct languages by the speakers of these languages. However technically speaking, they are mutually comprehensible (although numerous differences and considerable misunderstandings can occur).

Wangkagurru is made up of:

• two main dialects, Mikiri-nganha and Wangkatyaka

• a third dialect of more recent origin, Eastern Wangkangurru (Hercus 1994:6-7).

Classification: Pama-Nyungan language family, Karnic group, Southwestern sub-group

Area:

Wangkangurru is an indigenous Australian language spoken in South Australia (SA), in the area to the West and North of Lake Eyre (for Arabana and Wangkanguru) (Hercus 1994:6), on Mount Dare, at Blood Creek, east of Macumba Creek, in lower Finke River, in the Southern portion of Arunta (Simpson) Desert, South-East of Kallakoopah Creek and the Warburton, at Atna Hill (Tindale 1974). (On Bowern’s map (2001), it extends even further North.)

Number of speakers:

The last estimate dates back to 2005, when the National Indigenous Language Survey (NILS) estimated only 5 speakers of Wangkangurru.

Vitality & transmission:

No longer spoken (NILS endangerment grade: 0).

Sources & bibliography:

Hercus, Luise. 1994. A grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru language Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia. Pacific Linguistics C128. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Hercus, Luise. Machine-readable files of Arabana and Wangkangurru vocabulary, ASEDA 0238.

Maps

Austin, Peter. 1981. A grammar of Diyari, South Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bowern, Claire. 2001. “Karnic classification revisited”. In Forty years on, eds. Simpson, Jane et al. 245-261. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Hercus, Luise. 1994. A grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Tindale, Norman. 1974. Tribal Boundaries in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Division of National Mapping, Department of National Development.

Links

AUSTLANG webpage: http://austlang.aiatsis.gov.au/main.php

Ethnologue webpage: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=wgg