N75: Gurr-goni | AIATSIS Collection

AIATSIS code:

N75

AIATSIS reference name:

Gurr-goni

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Name

ABN name	-
ABS name	Gurr-goni
Horton name	Gungurugoni
Ethnologue name	Guragone
ISO 639-3 code	gge
Tindale name	Gungorogone
Thesaurus heading language	Gurr-goni language N75
Thesaurus heading (old)	Gurrgoni / Guragone / Gungurugoni language (N75) (NT SD53-02)
Tindale (1974)	Gungoragone, Gungoro:lgo:ngi, Gungarawoni, Gungurulgungi
O'Grady et al (1966)
Glottocode	gura1252
Other sources	Gurrgoni, Gurugoni, Gungoragoni, Gungorragonni [Top End Handbook]
Synonyms	Gurrgoni, Gungorrogone, Gudjartabiyi, Guragone, Gungurugoni, Gungorogone, Gorogone, Gungarawoni, Gungoragone, Gungoro:lgo:ngi, Gungurulgungi, Gutjertabia, Gurugoni, Gungoragoni, Gungorragonni

Comment

Comments:

Gurr-goni (N75) is a non-Pama Nyungan language from north central Arnhem Land. There are three Gurr-goni clans, two from the Yirrtjinga moiety, An-dirrdjalaba and Boburerre and one from the Djowunga moiety, Gurlumarrarra. There are two dialects (distinguished by vocabulary) in Gurr-goni, one spoken by An-dirrdjalaba and Boburerre and one by Gurlumarrarra ... Language and personal identity is affiliated with father's language ... (Green and Nimbadja, 2015:1-2). Based on a comparison of verb tense/status suffixes, Green classifies Burarra N82, Gurr-goni (N75), Ndjebbana N74 and Nakkara N80 as a 'Maningrida subgroup' of the larger Gunwinjguan language family, a refinement of the earlier classification of Gurr-goni as a member of the 'Bureran' family (Capell, Voegelin and Voegelin in Green, 1995:4-5). Glasgow describes Gurrgoni or Gun-gurrgoni (N75) as a dialect of the Burarra N82 Language Family (1994:7).

References:

Coleman, Carolyn. Comparative wordlists in Top End Languages, ASEDA 0632.
Glasgow, Kathleen. 1994. Burarra-Gun-nartpa dictionary : with English finder list. Berrimah, NT: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Green, Rebecca, Leila Nimbadja.2015. Gurr-goni to English dictionary. Batchelor: Batchelor Press.
Green, Rebecca. 1995. A grammar of Gurr-goni (north central Arnhem Land). Australian National University, PhD thesis.https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/9278?mode=full
Harvey, Mark. 2008. Non-Pama-Nyungan Languages: land-language associations at colonisation. AILEC 0802.

Status:

Confirmed

Location

State / Territory:

Location information:

Eastern side of Tonkinson River (Glasgow 1994 Burarra-Gun-nartpa dictionary ) traditional territory - inland from and south of the settlement of Maningrida. Its western border lies along the Tomkinson River. To the north, bordered by Ndjebbana country and Nakkara. In the east, it meets Burarra country just short of the Bitjuwu/Binyjawa swamp, and the Gurr-goni/Burarra border runs south roughly in line with the Cadell River. To the south lie the lands of the Kuninjku speaking Kardbam clan (Green 1995:3-4). The general association was to the floodplain of the Tomkinson River from just behind the coast, but not as far south as the road to Oenpelli, and to the higher country eastwards to the western side of the Cadell River (Harvey ASEDA 802).

Maps:

Catalogue

Links

Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages

Programs

Activities:

People:

Rebecca Green, Vanessa Elwell, Maningrida Literature Production Centre

Indigenous organisations:

Speakers

Year	Source	Speaker numbers
1975	Oates	-
1984	Senate	-
1990	Schmidt	20
1996	Census	-
2001	Census	-
2004	NILS	-
2005	Estimate	-
2006	Census	0
2011	Census	35
2016	Census	46

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		1?
Text Collection	Small (20-100 pages)	2
Grammar	Large grammar (more than 200 pages)	4
Audio-visual	1-10	2

Manuscript note:

tape transcription/field note available

Grammar:

Green, Rebecca. 1995. A grammar of Gurr-goni (North Central Arnhem Land), Australian National University: PhD.

Dictionary:

Coleman, Carolyn. Comparative wordlists in Top End Languages, ASEDA 0632.

Classification

Source	Family	Group	Sub-group	Name	Relationship
Ethnologue (2005)	Gunwingguan	Burarran		Guragone
Dixon (2002)		ARNHEM LAND GROUP	Maningrida subgroup*	Gurrgoni (or Gungorrogone or Gudjartabiyi)	Gurrgoni (or Gungorrogone or Gudjartabiyi) R. Green (1995)
Wurm (1994)	Burarran	Guragone		Guragone
Walsh (1981)	Burarran	Guragonic		Guragone
Oates (1975)	Bureran	Gorogonic		Gorogone
Wurm (1972)	Bureran	Gorogonic		Gorogone (Gungorogone)
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966)	Bureran	Gorogonic		Gorogone