N73: Rembarrnga | AIATSIS Collection

AIATSIS code:

N73

AIATSIS reference name:

Rembarrnga

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Name

Thesaurus heading language	Rembarrnga language N73
Thesaurus heading people	Rembarrnga people N73
ABN name	Rembarrnga language
ABS name	Rembarrnga
Horton name	Rembarnga
Ethnologue name	Rembarunga
ISO 639-3 code	rmb
Tindale name	Rembarunga
Tindale (1974)	Rembarrnga, Rembaranga, Rembarnga, Rem-branga, 'Ranjbarngo, Rainbarngo, Reinbaranga, Rem-barrna, Maia:li (alternative name), Maieli, Majali, Maiali (collective name in Rembarunga area), Maielli, Gunwinyguan
O'Grady et al (1966)	Rainbarngo
Glottocode	remb1249
Other sources	Rembarrnga, Rembarnga, Rainbarno, Ranjbarngu, Remberanga, Rambarrna, Rembarunga, Rembranga [Top End Handbook]
Synonyms	Rembarunga, Rembarnga, Rainbarngo, Rambarrnga, Ranjbarngo, Ranjbarngu, Reinbaranga, Rembaranga, Rembarn nga, Rembarrna, Rembarrngu, Rembranga, Rainbarno, Remberanga, Rambarrna, Rem branga, Rem barrna, Maia:li, Maieli, Majali, Maiali, Maielli, Gunwinyguan

Comment

Comments:

Rembarrnga is a non-Pama Nyungan language of the Gunwinyguan language family in the Norrthern Territory.

McKay describes two dialects of Rembarnga: the south-western dialect, Galduyh N175, and the north-eastern dialect, which has no specific name (1975:9).

Rembarrnga is most closely related to Ngalakgan N77 within the Gunwinyguan family, and both languages are quite closely related to Bininj Gun-wok N186 (Baker, 2008:3).

References:

Baker, Brett. 2008. Word structure in Ngalakgan. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

Harvey, Mark. 2008. Non-Pama-Nyungan Languages: land-language associations at colonisation. AILEC 0802.

McKay, Graham R. 1975. Rembarnga: a language of central Arnhem Land, Australian National University: PhD. (MS 958).

Tindale, Norman B. 1974. Aboriginal tribes of Australia: their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits, and proper names. Berkeley: University of California Press/Canberra: Australian National University Press.

Status:

Confirmed

Location

State / Territory:

Location information:

The traditional territory of the Rembarnga people is located in an area between the Cadell River and the edge of the escarpment country beginning just east of Guyuyu Creek and the Blyth River. This territory reached northwards down the Blyth River to the extreme upper limits of tidal influence, and reached southwards as far as the source of Guyuyu Creek, which the Rembarnga people call in English 'Blyth River' (McKay 1975:1).

Headwaters of Mann, Cadell, Wilton, and Blyth rivers, extending south to an inhospitable and arid plateau seasonally very short of water (Tindale 1974).

There was no precise information on the limits of Rembarrnga associations in 2007. The general associations were to the middle and upper Blyth River drainage, but not including any of the headwaters in the plateau country, and to the upper Goyder, most probably including and above the junction of Annie Creek and the Goyder (Harvey AILEC 802).

Maps:

Links

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Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages

Programs

Activities:

Diwurrwurru-jaru Aboriginal Corporation produced a teacher's guide in 1998 as well as several materials (including video materials) early 2000's. Ngukurr Community Education Centre is running a language program (2006).

People:

Carolyn Coleman, Sarah Cutfield, Graham McKay, Adam Saulwick, Lamont West, Ngkurr Language Centre, Maningrida Literature Production Centre

Indigenous organisations:

Ngukurr Language Centre https://ngukurrlc.org.au/

Speakers

Year	Source	Speaker numbers
1975	Oates
1984	Senate	-
1990	Schmidt	150
1996	Census	75
2001	Census	11
2004	NILS1	175
2005	Estimate	10
2006	Census	38
2011	Census	124
2014	NILS2
2016	Census	-
2018-2019	NILS3	11-50

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	Large (more than 200 pages)	4
Text Collection	Large (more than 200 pages)	4
Grammar	Large grammar (more than 200 pages)	4
Audio-visual	More than 10	3

Manuscript note:

tape transcription/field note available

Grammar:

McKay, Graham. 1975 Rembarnga: a language of central Arnhem Land, Australian National University: PhD.

Saulwick, Adam. 2003. Aspects of the verb in Rembarrnga: a polysynthetic language of northern Australia: grammatical description, texts and dictionary. University of Melbourne: PhD.

Dictionary:

Saulwick, Adam et al. 2003. A first dictionary of Rembarrnga. Maningrida, NT: Maningrida Arts & Culture. McKay, Graham. Rembarrnga Dictionary and Grammar, ASEDA 0607.

Classification

Source	Family	Group	Sub-group	Name	Relationship
Ethnologue (2005)	Gunwingguan	Rembargic		Rembarunga
Dixon (2002)		ARNHEM LAND GROUP	Rembarrnga/Ngalakan subgroup*	Rembarrnga	Rembarrnga McKay (1975) dialect: Kaltuy'
Wurm (1994)	Gunwinyguan	Rembarrnga		Rembarrnga
Walsh (1981)	Gunwinyguan	Rembarrngic		Rembarrnga
Oates (1975)	Gunwingguan	Rembarngic		Rembarnga
Wurm (1972)	Gunwingguan	Rainbarngic		Rainbarngo
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966)	Gunwingguan	Rainbarngic		Rembarunga