Yinhawangka is a Pama Nyungan language from Western Australia.
There is some confusion between Yinhawangka and Ngarla A48. The code A48 was originally assigned to Ngalawonga, which later became Yinhawangka as it was thought to be an alternative (and preferred) name for the same language. An additional code, A79, was created when it became apparent that the two are likely distinct language varieties, but this was originally applied to Ngalawonga (now Ngarla). The two codes have now been reversed to reflect the original assignment. As a consequence material labelled as Ngarla A48 may in fact be Yinhawangka A79.
Von Brandenstein spoke to people in Onslow, who told him that Ini-warngga (or Ina-warngga) (A79) is the same as Niinanu, noting 'nina- is the Ina-warngga word for "to see" '. This name is associated with country south of the Pandjima and east of the Tjururu, implying this country is identified as Inawarngga [?] on Radcliffe-Brown's map1912 and Tindale's map of 1940 (1968:3). He notes that Ina-warngga spoken at Onslow was infulenced by Pandjima.
Oates (1975:76) lists Ninaanu as an alternative name of Inawanga (A79) following von Brandenstein. Therefore, Tindale's Ninanu is listed under Yinhawangka.
Jones and Denniss report that, although Yinhawangka has been classified within the Wati subgroup by O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin, the variety of Yinhawangka described in the Wangka Maya 2008 publication is very similar to Banyjima A53 which is part of the Ngayarda subgroup (Wangka Maya PALC 2008:iii).
On Hardey River south of Rocklea; southeast along upper Ashburton River from Turee Creek upstream to Kunderong Range and Angelo River; south only a short distance from the main Ashburton River channel to the north of Mount Vernon Station (Tindale 1974).
On Lyons and North Lyons rivers west to near Mount Phillips and to Peedawarra Bluff; east to eastern end of Teano Range; south to about Mount Augustus (Tindale 1974 for Ninanu).
... in the inland Ashburton region on the upper plateau of the Hamersley Ranges. Nowadays traditional country includes low-lying areas from Palm Springs, to Bellary Springs and on to Paraburdoo, including sites near Seven Mile Creek and the Ashburton River. (Wangka Maya PALC 2008:iv).
Contemporary location: Onslow, Bellary Springs community, Warrkuthurni community. (Wangka Maya PALC 2008:iv). Tom Price, Ballary Springs, Port Hedland, Woodstock (Dixon 2011:44).
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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).
