Tjupan (Tjupany) is one of the

Wati languages The Wati languages are the dominant Pama–Nyungan languages of central Australia. They include the moribund Wanman language and the Western Desert dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics) ...

of the large Pama–Nyungan family of Australia. It is sometimes counted as a dialect of the

Western Desert 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 ...

, but is classified as a distinct language by Bowern. The spelling "Tjupan" follows the Goldfields Language Centre and is used for a small dictionary published by the Ngalia Heritage Research Council. "Madoidja" (Madoitja) is a location name. Extinct Birniridjara ("Pini") was close geographically and was reported to be

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 ...

, but is undocumented and it is not known if it was closer to Tjupan than to other Western Desert languages. Tjupan is classed as a highly

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

language, with only 6 fully fluent speakers remaining.

References

Endangered indigenous Australian languages in Western Australia {{ia-lang-stub Western Desert language