Ngarla is a
Pama–Nyungan language of coastal
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 possibly
mutually intelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...
with
Panyjima and
Martuthunira, but the three are considered distinct languages.
Ngarla is a member of the
Ngayarda branch of the
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 ...
. Dench (1995) believed there was insufficient data to enable it to be confidently classified, but Bowern & Koch (2004) include it without proviso.
Ngarla is spoken near
Port Hedland
A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...
. The "Ngarla" on the
Ashburton River is a dialect of a different, though possibly related, language,
Yinhawangka.
According to the
Irra Wangga Language Centre, "Ngarla is no longer spoken today, although there remain some community members who know some words and phrases in the language".
[
]
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
The long vowels are rare.
Grammar
Tense markers
Ngarla tense markers for verbs:
Language revival
, Ngarla is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts
The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a Government department, department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs.
In December 2019, prime mi ...
. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".
Notes
References
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External links
Wangka Maya
Ngarla
Endangered indigenous Australian languages in Western Australia
Extinct languages
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