According to Breen (2006 p.c.), Mandandanyi (D44), Gunggari D37 and Kogai D38 could all refer to the same language, spoken roughly in the area where Tindale located Mandandanji and Kunggari D37. The names Gunggari and possibly Kogai originate in a Wangkumara L25 word for 'east', 'kungkari', while Mandandanyi comes from the word 'manda' meaning 'go', a word found in the Maranoa-Balonne-Nebine area.
From the location of Kogai D38 given by Ridley (1875) and Mathews (1904), it appears 'Kogai tribes' might include Guwamu (Kooma) D33.
Tindale uses Kogai D38 as the name of the language spoken by the Mandandanji, Kunggari D37 and Barrungam D40, but Kite (2004) treats Barunggam as a dialect of Waga-Waga E28.
In this database, Kogai is treated as a language name and Mandandanyi D44, Gunggari D37 and Guwamu D33 are treated as potential dialects of Kogai, although as Breen says, these terms could just be alternative names of Kogai.
Tindale says that the Mandandanji were amalgamated with the Kunggari D37 in the early days of white occupation.
Mandandanyi (D44), an alternative spelling of Tindale's spelling of Mandandanji, provides a better guide to the original pronunciation (Breen, p.c. April 2019).
Maranoa and Balonne rivers north of St. George; west to Bollon and Wallam Creek; north to Donnybrook, Orallo, Yuleba, and the Dividing Range; east to Alton and Glenmorgan; at Mitchell, Roma, and Surat (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).
