Ngarla language

Ngarla is a Pama–Nyungan language of coastal Western Australia. It is possibly mutually intelligible with Panyjima and Martuthunira, but the three are considered distinct languages.

Ngarla
Native toPort Hedland area of Western Australia
EthnicityNgarla
ExtinctCritically endangered[1][2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nrk
Glottologngar1296
AIATSIS[3]A79
ELPNgarla
Ngarla is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
[4]

Ngarla is a member of the Ngayarda branch of the Pama–Nyungan languages. Dench (1995) believed there was insufficient data to enable it to be confidently classified, but Bowern & Koch (2004) include it without proviso.

Ngarla is spoken near Port Hedland. The "Ngarla" on the Ashburton River is a dialect of a different, though possibly related, language, Yinhawangka.

According to the Irra Wangga Language Centre, "Ngarla is no longer spoken today, although there remain some community members who know some words and phrases in the language".[5]

Phonology

Consonants
Bilabial Dorso-velar Lamino-palatal Apico-alveolar Retroflex
Nasal m ŋ ɲ̻ n̺ ɳ
Stop p k c̻ t̺ ʈ
Lateral ʎ̻ l̺ ɭ
Rhotic ɾ ɽ
Semivowel w j

Vowels
Front Back
High i iː u uː
Low a aː

The long vowels are rare.

Grammar

Tense markers

Ngarla tense markers for verbs:[6]

Tense marker Tense
-n past
-ngkaya present
-kuRa future

Language revival

As of 2020, Ngarla is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".[7]

Research has been undertaken on the language at the Irra Wangga Language Centre, who have produced resources in Ngarla, including Ngarla Numbers and Jamie’s Bush Tucker Trip.[5]

Notes
  1. Austlang: W40: Ngarla
  2. UNESCO Languages Atlas
  3. A79 Ngarla at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  4. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 56.
  5. "Midwest Languages: Ngarla". Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  6. O’Grady, Voegelin & Voegelin 1966, p. 82
  7. "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

References
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