Ngaanyatjarra dialect
Ngaanyatjarra (IPA: [ˈŋɐːn̪ɐt̪ɐrɐ]; also Ngaanyatjara, Ngaanjatjarra) is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Pama–Nyungan family. It is one of the dialects of the Western Desert Language and is very similar to its close neighbour Ngaatjatjarra, with which it is highly mutually intelligible.
Ngaanyatjarra | |
---|---|
Native to | Australia |
Region | Western Australia; Warburton Ranges. |
Ethnicity | Ngaanyatjarra |
Native speakers | 1,091 (2016 census)[1] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ntj |
Glottolog | ngaa1240 [2] |
AIATSIS[3] | A38 |
Most Ngaanyatjarra people live in one of the communities of Warburton, Warakurna, Tjukurla, Papulankutja (Blackstone), Mantamaru (Jameson) or Kaltukatjara (Docker River). Some have moved to Cosmo Newbery and Laverton in the Eastern Goldfields area of Western Australia.
Origin of the name
The name Ngaanyatjarra derives from the word ngaanya 'this' which, combined with the comitative suffix -tjarra means "having ngaanya (as the word for 'this')". This distinguishes it from its near neighbour Ngaatjatjarra, which has ngaatja for 'this'.
Phonology
Vowels
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i [i] ii [iː] | u [ʊ] uu [uː] |
Low | a [a] aa [aː] |
- Before alveolar consonants, the three vowels /i, a, u/ are pronounced as [ɪ, ɐ, ʊ].
- Before velar consonants, the three vowels /i, a, u/ are pronounced as [ɪ, ɒ, o].
- Vowel sounds are rhoticized when preceding retroflex consonants.
Consonants
Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labial | Velar | Dental/ Palatal |
Alveolar | Retroflex | |
Stop | p [p] | k [k] | tj [t̪] | t [t] | ṯ [ʈ] |
Nasal | m [m] | ng [ŋ] | ny [n̪] | n [n] | ṉ [ɳ] |
Lateral | ly [l̪] | l [l] | ḻ [ɭ] | ||
Rhotic | r [ɾ~r] | ||||
Approximant | w [w] | y [j] | ṟ [ɻ] |
- Laminal stop sounds are different in the Ngaanyatjarra dialect, in that they are not palatal, but dental, yet they are still orthographically transcribed the same as the other dialects.
- When occurring after nasal sounds, stop consonants become slightly voiced.
Notes
Citations
- ABoS 2016.
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Ngaanyatjarra". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- A38 Ngaanyatjarra at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Sources
- "2016 Census QuickStats: Laverton - Ngaanyatjarraku - Surrounds". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
- Glass, Amee; Hackett, Dorothy (1979). Ngaanyatjarra texts. New Revised edition of Pitjantjatjara texts (1969). Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. ISBN 0-391-01683-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Glass, Amee; Hackett, Dorothy (2003). Ngaanyatjarra & Ngaatjatjarra to English Dictionary. Alice Springs: IAD press. ISBN 1-86465-053-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Douglas, W. H. (1964). An introduction to the Western Desert language: a pedagogical description of the Western Desert language, based on the dialect spoken at Warburton Ranges, Western Australia. Sydney: University of Sydney. pp. 10–28.
External links
- ELAR archive of Western Desert Special Speech Styles Project