The Paakantyi language, also spelt Paakantji, Barkindji, Barkandji, and Baagandji, and also known as the Darling language, is a nearly extinct

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

Aboriginal language spoken along the

Darling River The Darling River (Paakantyi: ''Baaka'' or ''Barka'') is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its conflu ence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longes ...

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from present-day Bourke to Wentworth and including much of the back country around the Paroo River and

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. I ...

. The people's and language name refers to the ''Paaka'' (Darling River) with the suffix ''-ntyi'' meaning "belonging to".Luise Hercus. ''Baagandji Grammar'',

ANU , image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg , caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE , ...

1960; ''Paakantyi Dictionary'' (published with the assistance of AIATSIS, 1993) The speakers of the language are known as the

Paakantyi The Paakantyi, or Barkindji or Barkandji, are an Australian Aboriginal tribal group of the Darling River (known to them as the Baaka) basin in Far West New South Wales, Australia. Name The ethnonym Paakantyi means "River people", formed from ...

(or variant spelling). The major work on the Paakantyi language has been that of linguist

Luise Hercus Luise Anna Hercus , , (16 January 1926 – 15 April 2018) was a German-born linguist who lived in Australia from 1954. After significant early work on Middle Indo-Aryan dialects (Prakrits) she had specialised in Australian Aboriginal languages s ...

.Luise Hercus. ''Baagandji Grammar'',

1960; ''Paakantyi Dictionary'' (published with the assistance of AIATSIS, 1993)

Dialects

Dialects of Paakantyi include Southern Paakantyi (Baagandji, Bagundji), Kurnu (Kula), Wilyakali (Wiljagali), and Pantyikali-Wanyiwalku (Wanyuparlku, Bandjigali, Baarundji), Parrintyi (Barrindji), Marawara (Maraura). Bowern (2011) lists Gurnu/Guula as a separate language, though Hercus includes it because of its almost identical vocabulary. Dixon adds several other names, some perhaps synonyms; Bulaali (Bulali) may have been an alternative name for Wilyakali, but also for a different language, Maljangapa. However; Tindale (1940) mapped the 'Rite of Circumcision' border around Wanyiwalku separating it from the rest of Paakantyi - Tindale instead groups Wanyiwalku together with Maljangapa, Wadikali & Karenggapa of the

Yarli language Yarli (Yardli) was a dialect cluster of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northwestern New South Wales and into Northeastern South Australia individually Malyangapa (Maljangapa), Yardliyawara, and Wadikali (Wardikali, Wadigali). ...

Current status

A 2012 report indicated that two people could speak the Darling language fluently, while in the 2021 census, 111 individuals indicated that Paakantyi was spoken at home.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References

External links

Bibliography of Paakantyi language and people resources
at the

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

Paakantyi language, alphabet and pronunciation

25 Paakantyi words every muurpa should know
{{Aboriginal South Australians Pama–Nyungan languages Endangered indigenous Australian languages in New South Wales Critically endangered languages