Y133: Warrungu

AIATSIS code: 
Y133
AIATSIS reference name: 
Warrungu

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Name
Thesaurus heading language
Warrungu language Y133
Thesaurus heading people
Warrungu people Y133
ABN name
Warungu language
ABS name
-
Horton name
Gugu-Badhun (Warungu)
Ethnologue name
Warungu
ISO 639-3 code
wrg
Tindale name
Warungu
Tindale (1974)
? Warrialgona (['warungu] = woman).
O'Grady et al (1966)
Glottocode
waru1264
Other sources
Kuritjal [Tsunoda MS 827] Warrongo [Tsunoda] War-oong-oo (Craig 1898), Bara (Oates & Oates 1970:175), Gobobarra (Alec Collins) [Tsunoda 2011:2]
Synonyms
Warungu, Gugu Badhun, Gudjal, Guridjal, Kokopatun, Kutjala, Bara Warrialgona, Kuritjal, Warrialgona
Comment
Comments: 

Warrungu (Y133) has been classified as a member of the 'Upper Burdekin group' along with Gugu-Badhun Y128 and Gudjal E60 (Sutton, 1973 in Breen 2009:243).

Tsunoda used the written form Warrongo in his 2011 grammar. He notes the phonemic form is /waɾuŋu/, the rhotic is an alveolar tap. Based on limited data, Tsunoda suggests that there were likely two dialects of Warrongo, perhaps a central dialect and eastern dialect (2011:2-3).

 

References: 
  • Breen, Gavan. 2009. The Biri dialects and their neighbours. In Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 133(2):219-256.
  • Terrill, Angela. 1998. Biri: Languages of the world 258. München: Lincom Europa.
  • 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.
  • Tsunoda, Tasaku. 2011. A grammar of Worrongo. Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter Mouton.
Status: 
Confirmed
Location
State / Territory: 
QLD
Location information: 

The locations for the Warungu dialects which Tindale gives are wrong; Warungu is the northernmost dialect, and Gugu Badhun is actually the dialect that borders on the Biri language, with Gudyal slightly to the west of Gugu Badhun (Terrill 1998:96). used to be spoken in the upper Herbert River area (north of Townsville and southwest of Cairns (Tsunoda 2003: V). According to Dixon (1970) and my own sources, the area from Mt. Garnet south-east along the Herbert River was Warungu. The Gugu-Badhun inhabited the upper Burdekin (on both sides of the river), north to Meadowbank, Glenharding and Wairuna Stations, where they had their border with the Warungu (Sutton 1973:14). (i) Mount Garnet, Innot Hot Springs, and close to - but excluding - Ravenshoe on the north, (ii) close to Kirrama Homestead, down the Herbert River Gorge close to Abergowrie, and the Stone River on the east, (iii) Wairuna, Glenharding, and Meadowbank Stations on the south, and (iv) the Great Dividing Range on the west. Warrongo territory seems to have an oblong shape (Tsunoda 2011:5) Contemporary location : Mount Garnet, Palm Island, Townsville, Ingham, Cardwell, Cairns

Maps: 
-
Links

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PDF icon Oates_Y133.pdf
Tindale 1974
OLAC
SIL
Warrungu Stories & Interactive Concordance
Programs
Activities: 

Tasaku Tsunoda and Mie Tsunoda have been involved with language revival activities, including delivering intensive Warungu language courses to Warungu adults and children on five occasions between 2002 and 2006. Among community members language activities have been held on weekends, Warungu names have been given to community members and spontaneous use of the language has been noted (Tsunoda and Tsunoda 2010:14-16).

People: 
Bob Dixon, Tasaku Tsunoda, Rachel Cummins
Indigenous organisations: 
-
Speakers
Year Source Speaker numbers
1975Oates-
1984Senate-
1990Schmidt-
1996Census-
2001Census-
2004NILS1-
2005Estimate-
2006Census-
2011Census-
2014NILS2
2016Census-
2018-2019NILS3

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 Medium (100-200 pages) 3
Text Collection   4 (no translation)
Grammar Large grammar (more than 200 pages) 4
Audio-visual More than 10 3
Manuscript note: 
tape transcription/field note available
Grammar: 

Tsunoda, Tasaku. 1974. A grammar of the Warungu language, north Queensland, Monash University: MA.

Tsunoda, Tasaku. 2011. A grammar of Warrongo. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.

Dictionary: 

Tsunoda, Tasaku. 2003. A provisional Warrungu dictionary. Tokyo : Dept. of Asian and Pacific Linguistics, University of Tokyo.

Classification
Source Family Group Sub-group Name Relationship
Ethnologue (2005) Pama-Nyungan Maric   Warungu Warungu [dialects: Related to Ngaygungu and Yirandhali.]
Dixon (2002)   GREATER MARIC GROUP Maric proper subgroup Warungu Warungu* Sutton (1973), Tsunoda (1974) further dialects: Gugu-Badhun, Gudjal(a)
Wurm (1994) Pama-Nyungan Maric   Warungu  
Walsh (1981) Pama-Nyungan Maric Mari Warungu  
Oates (1975) Pama-Nyungan Maric Mari Warungu  
Wurm (1972)          
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966) Pama-Nyungan Pama-Maric Mari Warungu