Ngardi, also spelt Ngarti or Ngardilj, 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 ...

that is considered

moribund Moribund refers to a literal or figurative state near death. Moribund may refer to: * ''Moribund'' (album), a 2006 album by the Norwegian black metal band Koldbrann * " Le Moribond", a song by Jacques Brel known in English as "Seasons in the Sun ...

. It was previously thought to be an alternative name for the Bunara language, but these are now classified as separate languages. It was/is spoken by the Ngarti people of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and northern

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 ...

Classification

Capell (1962) considered Ngardi, Warlpiri, and

Warlmanpa The Warlmanpa are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Name and people The Warlmanpa were long missing from the map of Australian aborigines, – there is no direct mention of them in Norman Tindale's survey of Australian tr ...

to be dialects of a single language. R. M. W. Dixon (2002) grouped Ngardi together with Warlpiri and Warlmanpa in the Yapa group, but admitted that this was based on limited data. McConvell and Laughren (2004) showed that it was in Ngumbin, a closely related group, and this was followed in Honeyman (2005). However, Bowern (2011) listed it as a more distant

Wati language The Western Desert language, or Wati, is a dialect cluster of Australian Aboriginal languages in the Pama–Nyungan family. The name ''Wati'' tends to be used when considering the various varieties to be distinct languages, ''Western Desert'' w ...

. Tindale shows Ngardi as an alternative name for Bunara language, but Lynette Oates and

Arthur Capell Arthur Capell (28 March 1902 – 10 August 1986) was an Australian linguist, who made major contributions to the study of Australian languages, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages. Early life Capell was born in Newtown, New South W ...

showed that Bunara was a separate language. The two languages have now been assigned separate code in

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, ...

AUSTLANG 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, ...

database.

Waringari

Some old recordings and manuscripts refer to Waringari (or Waiangara) as a language related to Ngardi, but linguists have agreed that it is a geographical name and not the name of a language.

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

listed Waringari as a pejorative name for the Ngarti people, as well as for the

Yeidji The Yeidji, also spelt Yiiji and other variants, commonly known as Gwini or Kwini, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley area of Western Australia, who also self-identify as . Name In contemporary accounts, the Yeidji are often ...

, the Worla and the Warlpiri, suggesting that they were

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecology, ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well ...

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

References

Sources

* * * *McConvell and Laughren (2004) "The Ngumpin-Yapa subgroup". In Claire Bowern & Harold Koch, ''Australian Languages: Classification and the Comparative Method.'' Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. * Ngumbin languages Ngarrkic languages Wati languages {{ia-lang-stub