Ngaanyatjarra dialect facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ngaanyatjarra |
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| Native to | Australia | |||
| Region | Western Australia; Warburton Ranges. | |||
| Ethnicity | Ngaanyatjarra | |||
| Native speakers | 1,091 (2016 census) | |||
| Language family |
Pama–Nyungan
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| AIATSIS | A38 | |||
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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.
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.
Contents
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
Orthography is in brackets.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i ⟨i⟩ iː ⟨ii⟩ | ʊ ⟨u⟩ uː ⟨uu⟩ |
| Low | a ⟨a⟩ aː ⟨aa⟩ | |
- 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 rhotacized when preceding retroflex consonants.
Consonants
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Velar | Dental/ Palatal |
Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Plosive | p ⟨p⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | t̪ ⟨tj⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | ʈ ⟨ṯ⟩ |
| Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | n̪ ⟨ny⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ɳ ⟨ṉ⟩ |
| Lateral | l̪ ⟨ly⟩ | l ⟨l⟩ | ɭ ⟨ḻ⟩ | ||
| Rhotic | ɾ~r ⟨r⟩ | ||||
| Approximant | w ⟨w⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | ɻ ⟨ṟ⟩ | ||
- 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.
