N186: BININJ KUNWOK

AIATSIS code: 
N186
AIATSIS reference name: 
BININJ KUNWOK

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Name
Thesaurus heading language
Thesaurus heading people
ABN name
-
ABS name
Kunwinjkuan
Horton name
-
Ethnologue name
-
ISO 639-3 code
-
Tindale name
-
Tindale (1974)
O'Grady et al (1966)
Glottocode
-
Other sources
Bininj Gunwok (Harvey AILEC 802)
Synonyms
Kunwinjkuan, Bininj Gunwok
Comment
Comments: 

Bininj Gun-Wok is a non-Pama Nyungan language of the Gunwinyguan family. Evans introduced this language name to describe relationships between Kunwinjku N65 Gun-djeihmi N71, Kune Narayek and Kune Dulerayek N70, Kuninjku N173, Gun-dedjnjenghmi N171 and Manyallaluk Mayali N44 (v:2003).

However, other writers use Kunwinjku as a language name, that is, an equivalent of Bininj Gun-wok, see Dixon 2002. Note that terms Mayali N44 and Kunwinjku N65, have sometimes been used Interchangeably with Bininj Gun-Wok. Thus documentation on these dialects may be relevant.

 

References: 
  • Dixon, R. M. W. 2002. Australian languages: their nature and development: Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Evans, Nicholas. 2003. Bininj Gun-wok: a pan-dialectal grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune: Pacific Linguistics 541. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  • Harvey, Mark. 2008. Non-Pama-Nyungan Languages: land-language associations at colonisation. AILEC 0802.
Status: 
Confirmed
Location
State / Territory: 
NT
Location information: 

The area roughly bounded by the Stuart Highway to the west, the Arafura Sea to the north, the Goyder River to the east and the Roper River to the south (Evans 2003:6).

Eastern limit: The Cadell River drainage, excluding the mouth area which was associated with Burarra, and the headwaters in the plateau which appear to have been associated with Dalabon. Northern limit: This is negatively defined in terms of the known and estimated extents of the coastal languages. Essentially from the Cadell River to Angularli Creek, but not approaching closer than 10-20km to the coast. Western limit: Tor Rock was associated with Amurdak. The upper Cooper Creek drainage from about 20km upstream of Mt Borrodaile was associated with Bininj Gunwok. Downstream of this point was associated with Amurdak. Nimbabirr Hill was associated with Bininj Gunwok. Upper Tin Camp Creek drainage. Myra Falls was associated with Bininj Gunwok. Mudginberri, Jabiru, Mt Brockman, Koongara, Deaf Adder Creek were all associated wtih Bininj Gunwok. There was no precise information in 2007 on the southern limits of Bininj Gunwok associations. The limits have been extrapolated from drainage basins. The East Alligator and Liverpool appear to have been associated with Bininj Gunwok. It is however possible that the headwaters of the East Alligator were in fact associated with Jawoyn. There is no definitive information on the plateau section of the Mann River. Tindale states that the Dalabon were associated with "East of headwaters of Liverpool River; on headwaters of Cadell and Mann rivers." This argues against associating Bininj Gunwok with the plateau section of the Mann River (Harvey AILEC 0802).

 

Maps: 
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Links
Programs
Activities: 
-
People: 
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Indigenous organisations: 

Bininj Kunwok: kunwok dja mankarre kadberre - our language, our culture http://bininjkunwok.org.au

Bininj Kunwok Online https://bininj-kunwok.cdu.edu.au/ 

Bibinj Kunwok Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bininjkunwok/

 

Speakers
Year Source Speaker numbers
1975Oates-
1984Senate-
1990Schmidt-
1996Census-
2001Census-
2004NILS1-
2005Estimate-
2006Census-
2011Census-
2014NILS21630
2016Census-
2018-2019NILS3>1000

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).

Documentation
Type Documentation Status Documentation Score
Word list None 0
Text Collection None 0
Grammar Large grammar (more than 200 pages) 4
Audio-visual None 0
Manuscript note: 
-
Grammar: 

Evans, Nicholas. 2003. Bininj Gun-Wok: a pan-dialectal grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune: Pacific Linguistics 541, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Dictionary: 
-
Classification
Source Family Group Sub-group Name Relationship
Ethnologue (2005)          
Dixon (2002)          
Wurm (1994)          
Walsh (1981)          
Oates (1975)          
Wurm (1972)          
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966)