Data collected by AUSTLANG

Data on the Wik-Ngathan language

Classification: Pama-Nyungan, Central Pama

Dialects:

According to Sutton (1995:iii), the different Wik-Ngathan-owing clans have slightly different dialects. One of these dialects, spoken by the coastal clan with an estate just north of Knox River was known as Wik-Iincheyn in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, by the 1990s, the use of the name Wik-Iincheyn appears to have stopped, and the Knox River dialect is now known as Wik-Ngathan.

Area: Australia, Queensland, Cape York Peninsula, Cape Keenweer.

Number of speakers: The 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report estimated approximately 100 speakers of Wik-Ngathan

Language vitality & transmission:

Austlang gives no data on Wik-Ngathan’s vitality. However it is fair to assume that Wik-Ngathan is an highly endangered language.

A documentation project has been conducted by University of Leuven between 2006 and 2009, funded by HRELP, in order to help safeguard the language.

Bibliography

Sutton, Peter. 1978. Appendix 1: The Wik-Ngathana language. In Sutton Wik: Aboriginal society, territory and language at Cape Keenweer, Cape York Peninsula, University of Queensland: PhD.

Sutton, Peter. 1995. Wik-Ngathan dictionary. Adelaide:Caitlin Press.

See Austlang‘s website for a complete bibliography.

Maps

Sutton, Peter. 1978. Wik: Aboriginal society, territory and language at Cape Keerweer, Cape York Peninsula, Australia. University of Queensland: PhD.

Sutton, Peter. 1995. Wik-Ngathan dictionary. Adelaide: Caitlin Press.

Smith, Ian and Johnson, Steve. 2000. Kugu Nganhcara. In Handbook of Australian languages Vol. 5, eds. Dixon RMW and B Blake, 355-489. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Links

Austlang‘s website