Data collected by AUSTLANG

Data on the Ngatjumaya language

Alternatives names: Ngatjunmay, Ngadjunmaya, Ngadjunmaia, Ngadjumaya, Ngatjumay, Ngatju language

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

Comment: Walsh (1981) maps Ngatjunmaya and Ngatjumay as separate languages but they probably refer to the same language, Ngatjumaya. von Brandenstein (1980) uses the term ‘Ngadju’ to refer to a ‘mixed’ language consisting of formerly separate dialects: Mirningj [A9], Marlba – which seems to be his equivalent of Tindale’s Ngadjunmaia (A3)- Fraser Range [A74*], and Kallaargu [A2]. Ngatjumay in Douglas (1968) appears to be the equivalent of von Brandenstein’s Ngadju.

Classification: Pama-Nyungan, South-West group

Area: Western Australia. Goddard Creek south to Mount Ragged, Israelite Bay, and Point Malcolm, possession of the latter place being a matter of dispute with the Njunga people since before contact times; west to Fraser Range; east to near Narethal and to near Point Culver on the coast; at Mount Andrew and Balladonia (Tindale 1974).

Number of speakers: The 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report estimated the number of Ngatjumaya speakers at 5.

Language vitality & transmission: According to AUSTLANG, Ngatjumaya is “no longer fully spoken” (endangerment level 0).

Sources & bibliography

von Brandenstein, Carl. 1980. Ngadjumaja : an Aboriginal language of southeast Western Australia. Innsbruck: Institut fur Sprachwissenschaft det Universitat Innsbruck.

Map

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

Links

AUSTLANG website

Ethnologue webpage

Dedicated Webpage on the online Handbook of Western Australian Aboriginal languages South of the Kimberley Region