Ngunnawal/Ngunawal is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

, the traditional language of the

Ngunnawal The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Language Ngunnawal and Gundungurra are Australian Aboriginal languages from the Pama-Nyungan ...

. Ngunnawal is very closely related to the Gandangara language and the two were most likely highly mutually intelligible. As such they can be considered dialects of a single unnamed language, but this is the technical linguistic usage of these terms and Ngunnawal people prefer to describe their variety as a language in its own right, as also do the Gandangara.

Classification

Gundungurra/Ngunawal is generally classified to fall within the tentative (and perhaps geographic) Yuin–Kuric group of the Pama–Nyungan family.

Location

The traditional country of the Ngunnawal is generally thought to have extended from near

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

, west to

Boorowa Boorowa () is a farming village in the Hilltops Region in the south west slopes of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in a valley southwest of Sydney around above sea-level. The town is in Hilltops Council local government area. H ...

, south through Canberra, perhaps to Queanbeyan, and extending west to around the Goodradigbee River.

Sounds

Ngunawal vowels

Current status

The Ngunnawal community has for some years been engaged in work to revive the language with the aim being to bring it back into daily use within the community. They have been working with

AIATSIS 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, ...

linguists to assist them with this work, and with identifying historical records that can be used for this work.

Ngunawal words

More words are compiled online in ''The Wiradyuri and Other Languages of New South Wales'', an article by Robert H. Mathews first published in the

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute The ''Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute'' (JRAI) is the principal journal of the oldest anthropological organization in the world, the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Articles, at the forefront of the di ...

in 1904.

References

* {{Pama–Nyungan languages, East Yuin–Kuric languages Canberra Extinct languages of Australian Capital Territory Extinct languages of New South Wales https://aiatsis.gov.au/research/research-themes/ngunawal-language-revival-project