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Noongar (), also Nyungar (), is an
Australian Aboriginal language or
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
, spoken by some members of the
Noongar
The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...
community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broadcasting. The
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
of the Noongar people is the southwest corner of
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. Within that region, many Noongar words have been
adopted into
Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...
, particularly names of plants and animals.
Noongar was first recorded in 1801 by
Matthew Flinders, who made a number of word lists.
Varieties
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (abbreviated OSM) is a free, Open Database License, open geographic database, map database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveying, surveys, trace from Ae ...
project, and English names where they are not. Names recorded for features such as
Swan River,
Perth Oval and
Lake Monger are not shown in this map. , there are 103 instances of the 'name:nys' tag used to record Noongar names in OpenStreetMap."
lang="nys" />
It is generally agreed that there was no single, standard Noongar (or Nyungar) language before European settlement: it was a
subgroup
In group theory, a branch of mathematics, a subset of a group G is a subgroup of G if the members of that subset form a group with respect to the group operation in G.
Formally, given a group (mathematics), group under a binary operation ...
(or possibly a
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
) of closely related languages, whose speakers were differentiated geographically and, in some cases, by cultural practices. The dialects merged into the modern Noongar language following colonisation. A 1990 conference organised by the Nyoongar Language Project Advisory Panel recognised that the Noongar subgroup included at least three distinct languages. This was highlighted by the 2011 ''Noongar Dictionary'', edited by Bernard Rooney, which was based on the Yuat (Juat) variety, from the northwest part of the Noongar subgroup area.
The highlighted area of the map shown here may correspond to the Noongar subgroup. The subdivisions shown correspond to individual
varieties. In modern Noongar, these varieties have merged. There is controversy in some cases as to whether all of these varieties were part of the original Noongar subgroup. Some may have been distinct languages and some may have belonged to neighbouring subgroups.
Many linguists believe that the northernmost language shown, Amangu, was not part of the Noongar subgroup, was instead a part of the
Kartu subgroup, and may have been a dialect of the Kartu language
Nhanda. (As such, Amangu may have been synonymous with a dialect known as Nhanhagardi, which has also been classified, at different times, as a part of Nhanda, Noongar, or
Widi.)
There is a general consensus that the following varieties belong to the Noongar subgroup: Wudjari, Minang, Bibelman (a.k.a. Pibelman; Bibbulman), Kaneang (Kaniyang), Wardandi, Balardung (a.k.a. Ballardong; which probably included Tjapanmay/Djabanmai), and Yuat (Juat). Wiilman, Whadjuk (Wajuk) and Pinjarup are also usually regarded as dialects of Noongar, although this identification is not completely secure. The Koreng (Goreng) people are thought to have spoken a dialect of, or closely related to, Wudjari, in which case their language would have been part of the Noongar subgroup.
Njakinjaki (Nyakinyaki) was possibly a dialect of
Kalaamaya – a language related to, but separate from, the original Noongar subgroup. It is not clear if the
Njunga (or Nunga) dialect was significantly different from Wudjari. However, according to
Norman Tindale, the Njunga people rejected the name Wudjari and had adopted some of the customs of their non-Noongar-speaking eastern neighbours, the
Ngadjunmaya.
Documentation
The Noongar names for birds were included in
Serventy and
Whittell's ''
Birds of Western Australia
This is a list of the Wildness#Degrees of domestication, wild birds found in Western Australia. The list includes introduced species, common vagrancy (biology), vagrants, recently Extinction, extinct species, Local extinction, extirpated species ...
'' (1948), noting their regional variations. A later review and synthesis of recorded names and consultation with Noongars produced a list of recommended orthography and pronunciation for birds (2009) occurring in the region. The author, Ian Abbott, also published these recommendations for plants (1983) and mammals (2001), and proposed that these replace other vernacular in common use.
A number of small wordlists were recorded in the early days of the
Swan River Colony, for example
Robert Menli Lyon's 1833 publication ''A Glance at the Manners and Language of Aboriginal Inhabitants of Western Australia''. Lyon acquired much of his information from
Yagan while Yagan was incarcerated on
Carnac Island. Despite the significance of Lyon's work in being the first of its kind,
George Fletcher Moore described Lyon's work as "containing many inaccuracies and much that was fanciful".
During August and October 1839 the ''
Perth Gazette
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times (Western Australia), The Sunday Times'' ...
'' published ''Vocabulary of the Aboriginal people of Western Australia'', written by Lieutenant
Grey
Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...
of HM 83rd Regiment. Grey spent twelve months studying the languages of the Noongar people and came to the conclusion that there was much in common between them. Just prior to publication, he received from Mr Bussel of the
Busselton
Busselton is a city in the South West (Western Australia), South West region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destin ...
district a list of 320 words from that region which was near identical to those he had collected in the Swan River region. Much to Grey's disappointment, his work was published in an unfinished list as he was leaving the colony, but he believed that the publication would assist in communication between settlers and Noongar people. Also noted by Grey was that the Noongar language had no soft sound, there was no use of and that was very rarely used and never at the start of a word.
Serious documentation of the Noongar language began in 1842 with the publication of ''
A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language in Common Use Amongst the Aborigines of Western Australia'' by
George Fletcher Moore, later republished in 1884 as part of
Moore's diary. This work included a substantial wordlist of Noongar. The first modern linguistic research on Noongar was carried out by
Gerhardt Laves on the variety known as "Koreng", near
Albany in 1930, but this material was lost for many years and has only recently been recovered. Beginning in the 1930s and then more intensively in the 1960s
Wilfrid Douglas learnt and studied Noongar, eventually producing a grammar, dictionary, and other materials.
More recently, Noongar people have taken a major role in this work as researchers, for example Rose Whitehurst who compiled the ''Noongar Dictionary'' in her work for the Noongar Language and Culture Centre. In 2012 Tim McCabe finished a PhD on Noongar place names, songs and stories, having been taught a variety of the language by Clive Humphreys of
Kellerberrin, and is teaching Noongar to inmates in Perth prisons.
Peter Bindon and Ross Chadwick have compiled an authoritative cross referenced "A Nyoongar Wordlist: from the South West of Western Australia", by assembling material from all of the above writers in their original spelling. It is clear from this reference that the orthographies used reflected not only dialectical differences, but also how the various authors "heard" and transcribed spoken Noongar.
Current situation
Neo-Nyungar
An English dialect with Noongar
admixture, known as Neo-Nyungar, is the community dialect of the Nyungar people.
Number of speakers
On the
2016 census, 443 people identified themselves as speaking Noongar at home.
Since the late 20th century, there has been increased interest in reviving the Noongar/Nyungar language, including teaching it at many schools throughout the south west of
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. it is one of the 24 Aboriginal languages being taught at 68 schools in Western Australia to around 10,000 students.
Curtin University offers an open online Noongar language and culture course.
Noongar Language Centre
The Noongar Language and Culture Centre was set up at the Bunbury Aboriginal Progress Association in 1986, and grew to include offices in
Northam and Perth. Authors such as
Charmaine Bennell have released several books in the language. Educators
Glenys Collard and Rose Whitehurst started recording elders speaking using Noongar language in 1990.
In 1997 at a meeting of around 200 Noongar people at
Marribank, a standard
orthography
An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis.
Most national ...
was agreed on for teaching the language in schools. A unanimous vote decided that the language would be spelt "Nyoongar", but later, as teaching and learning resources were being developed for the
Languages Other Than English (LOTE) curriculum which would be taught in schools, it was decided to change to "Noongar".
By 2010, 37 schools in the
South West and
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
were teaching the language.
In 2014, the Noongar Boodjar Language Cultural Aboriginal Corporation (NBLCAC) was incorporated, and the
Commonwealth Government provided funding for four years from 2015 under the Indigenous Languages Support program to establish the Noongar Language Centre. The offices are located in
Cannington.
Noongarpedia
In 2015 Professor
Len Collard from the School of Indigenous Studies at the
University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...
challenged the science behind the claim that it is an endangered language, citing the lack of rigour in the data. Collard began leading a project to create the "
Noongarpedia", recording the language in a
wiki
A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...
format, allowing for expansion over time. The project is continuing , with the site growing in the
Wikimedia Incubator. It is the first Wikipedia in an Aboriginal Australian language site, but it is intended to be
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
, so as to be used as a teaching aid in schools.
Language through the arts
Singer-songwriter
Gina Williams has promoted the use of the language through song, including
lullabies for children and a translation of the song "
Moon River".
An adaption and translation of the
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
an tragedy ''
Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'' into Noongar was performed at the 2020
Perth Festival. The play, named ''Hecate'', is produced by
Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company with
Bell Shakespeare, and performed by an all-Noongar cast. The play took years to translate, and has sparked wider interest in reviving the language.
On July 2022, rock band
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard released a special edition of their album ''
Butterfly 3000'' with all its 10 songs translated into Noongar by Merinda Hansen and Lois Spehn-Jackson; all proceedings of this edition are donated to the Langford Aboriginal Association.
Mobile apps
Several
mobile app
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
s have been created that use Noongar language, both written and spoken. These include a plant identification app, dictionary, and cultural information.
Phonology
The following are the sounds in the Noongar language:
Vowels
Consonants
/r/ can be heard as either
, ɾor a glide
¹
Pronunciation
Grammar
Noongar grammar is fairly typical of
Pama–Nyungan languages
The Pama–Nyungan languages () are the most widespread language family, family of Australian Aboriginal languages, containing 306 out of 400 Aboriginal languages in Australia. The name "Pama–Nyungan" is a merism: it is derived from the two e ...
in that it is
agglutinating, with words and phrases formed by the addition of affixes to verb and noun stems.
Word order
In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective, and examines how languages employ different orders. Correlatio ...
in Noongar is free, but generally tends to follow a
subject–object–verb pattern. Because there are several
varieties of Noongar, aspects of grammar, syntax and orthography are highly regionally variable.
Verbs
Like most Australian languages, Noongar has a complex tense and aspect system. The plain verb stem functions as both the infinitive and the present tense. Verb phrases are formed by adding suffixes or adverbs to the verb stem.
The following adverbs are used to indicate
grammatical tense
In grammar, tense is a grammatical category, category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their grammatical conjugation, conjugation patterns.
The main tenses found ...
or
aspect.
*later (, "will eat later")
* future (, "will eat after a while")
* conditional (, "should eat")
Some tense/aspect distinctions are indicated by use of a verb suffix. In Noongar, the past or preterite tense is the same as the past participle.
*''-iny''progressive (, "eating")
*''-ga''past (, "ate, had eaten")
A few adverbs are used with the past tense to indicate the amount of time since the event of the verb took place.
* a long time (, "ate a long time ago")
*a short time (, "ate a little while ago")
*just now (, "just ate")
Nouns
There are no articles in Noongar.
Nouns (as well as adjectives) take a variety of suffixes which indicate
grammatical case
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals) that corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a Nominal group (functional grammar), n ...
, specifically relating to motion or direction, among other distinctions.
The direct object of a sentence (what might be called the dative) can also be expressed with the locative suffix -''ak''.
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a Feature (linguistics), feature of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement (linguistics), agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more"). English and many other ...
is likewise expressed by the addition of suffixes. Nouns that end in vowels take the plural suffix -''man'', whereas nouns that end in consonants take -''gar''. Inanimate nouns, that is, nouns that do not denote human beings, can also be pluralized by the simple addition of a numeral.
Pronouns
Noongar pronouns are declined exactly as nouns, taking the same endings. Thus, possessive pronouns are formed by the addition of the regular genitive suffix -''ang''. Conversely, object pronouns are formed by the addition of the -''any'' suffix. Notably, there does not appear to be a great deal of pronominal variation across dialectal lines.
::
Noongar features a set of
dual number
In algebra, the dual numbers are a hypercomplex number system first introduced in the 19th century. They are expressions of the form , where and are real numbers, and is a symbol taken to satisfy \varepsilon^2 = 0 with \varepsilon\neq 0.
D ...
pronouns which identify interpersonal relationships based on
kinship
In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
or marriage. The "fraternal" dual pronouns are used by and for people who are siblings or close friends, "paternal" dual pronouns are used by and for people who are paternal relatives (parent-child, uncle-niece and so forth), and "marital" pronouns are used by and for people who are married to each other or are in-laws.
::
Typically, if the subject of a sentence is not qualified by a numeral or adjective, a subject-marker pronoun is used. Thus: (lit. "kangaroo it on-rock standing"), "the kangaroo is standing on the rock."
Adjectives
Adjectives precede nouns. Some adjectives form the comparative by addition of the suffix -''jin'' but more generally the comparative is formed by
reduplication
In linguistics, reduplication is a Morphology (linguistics), morphological process in which the Root (linguistics), root or Stem (linguistics), stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.
The cla ...
, a common feature in Pama-Nyungan languages. The same is also true for intensified or emphatic adjectives, comparable to the English word ''very''. The superlative is formed by the addition of -''jil''.
Negation
Statements are negated by adding the appropriate particle to the end of the sentence. There are three negation particles:
*used generally with verbs
*used generally with adjectives
There is also an adverbial negation word, , roughly equivalent to the English ''less'' or ''without''.
Interrogatives
Questions are formed by the addition of the interrogative interjection alongside the infinitive root of the verb.
Vocabulary
Many words vary in a regular way from dialect to dialect, depending on the area. For example: the words for
bandicoot include (south) and (west); the word for water may be (south) or (west), or the word for fire may vary from to .
A large number of modern place names in Western Australia end in ''
-up'', such as
Joondalup
Joondalup () is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth central business district, Perth's central business district. It contains the central business district of the regional City of Joondalup and acts as the primar ...
,
Nannup and
Manjimup. This is because in the Noongar language, ''-up'' means "place of". For example, the name
Ongerup means "place of the male kangaroo". The word , or in Noongar meant "a gathering". Daisy Bates suggests that central to Noongar culture was the , referring to those that gather around the hearth ().
Noongar words which have been adopted into
Western Australian English, or more widely
in English, include the given name Kylie, "boomerang", or , the freshwater
crayfish
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...
''
Cherax quinquecarinatus'', and or , "spear". The word for smoke, , was adopted for the family of compounds known as
karrikins. The word ''
quokka'', denoting a type of small
macropod, is thought to come from Noongar.
See also
*
Boodjar Nyungar Placenames
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Bibliography of Bibbulman language and people resources at the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Noongarpedia word list(under construction)
Billardong Noongar Waangkany Ballardong Noongar dictionaryDigital Daisy Bates digitised and geo-tagged lists of Aboriginal words, including Noongar
{{Pama–Nyungan languages, South
Pama–Nyungan languages