The status of Widi with respect to the name Wirtimaya (and variants Witimay, Widimay) is uncertain.
Some sources have treated them as the same (Wurm 1972, Thieberger 1993) while others only use one form (O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin 1966 and Capell 1963 use Widi) or the other (Walsh 1981 and Wurm 1994 use 'Wirdimay', Douglas 1976 uses Witimay (wirdimai), and von Brandenstein 1991 and Douglas 1981 use Wirtimaya).
Oates and Oates (1970:59) list 'Witimay' as an alternative name of Widi (A13) but Oates (1975:89) treats Wirtimay as a distinct variety. Of Widi, Oates (1975:87) comments that Douglas treats it as part of Watjarri A39, whereas Wirtimay is listed as a Njungar W41 variety.
Douglas (1981 and MS 1369) comments that 'Wirtimaya' was called 'Watjanmay' by the Nyungars W41. However, Douglas's 1976 map locates 'Watjanmay' south-east of Patimay A14 while his 1981 map locates 'Wirtimaya' north-west of Patimaya A14.
The identity of Widi with respect to other language names has also been uncertain. According to the WA Handbook, the comparison of Badimaya A14 vocabulary to Widi vocabulary by Morphy (1985, 'Working notes on Western Australian languages') suggests they are two separate languages.
On the other hand, Marmion's view (2007 p.c.) is that 'Widi' (Wirtimaya, Wirdimaya or Wirdi) as far as it refers to a language is another name for Badimaya A14, based on the word for 'no', 'wirdi'. Widi may refer in particular to the western Badimaya (around Mingenew and Morowa), where it might have been a name used by the coastal neighbours to refer to the Badimaya.
O'Grady et al. (1966) treat Cheangwa A97 as an alternative name of Widi while Tindale treats Nanakati A93 as an alternative name of Widi. These are names Blevins (2001) refers to as possible languages spoken in the area between the eastern extent of Nhanda W13 and the western extent of Badimaya A14.
In this database, Widi and Widimay/Wirtimaya etc. are treated as alternative names of the one language, while Cheangwa A97, Nhanhagardi A93, Badimaya / Badimia A14 and Wajarri / Wadjarri are treated as separate languages.
From between Lakes Monger and Moore north to Yuin, Talleringa Peak, and Nalbarra; west to Mullewa and Morawa (Morowa); east to Paynes Find and Wogarno, south of Mount Magnet; at Yalgoo and upper Greenough River (Tindale 1974).
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Speaker numbers were measured differently across the censuses and various other sources listed in AUSTLANG. You are encouraged to refer to the sources.
Speaker numbers for ‘NILS 2004’ and ‘2005 estimate’ come from 'Table F.3: Numbers of speakers of Australian Indigenous languages (various surveys)' in 'Appendix F NILS endangerment and absolute number results' in McConvell, Marmion and McNicol 2005, pages 198-230 (PDF, 2.5MB).
