D3: Ngunawal / Ngunnawal

AIATSIS code: 
D3
AIATSIS reference name: 
Ngunawal / Ngunnawal

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Name
Thesaurus heading language
Thesaurus heading people
ABN name
-
ABS name
-
Horton name
Ngunawal
Ethnologue name
-
ISO 639-3 code
-
Tindale name
Ngunawal
Tindale (1974)
Ngunuwal, Ngoonawal, Wonnawal, Nungawal, Yarr, Yass tribe. Lake George, Five Islands tribe, Molonglo tribe, ['gur:agang = no], Gurungada.
O'Grady et al (1966)
Ngaonawal, Nungawal, Yarr, Ngennigenwurro, Yiilima
Glottocode
-
Other sources
Ngunnawal [ACT government]
Synonyms
Gundungurra, Burragorang, Gurungada, Ngaonawal, Ngennigenwurro, Ngoonawal, Nungawal, Wonnawal, Yarr, Yiilima
Comment
Comments: 

Robinson called the language 'O.ner.wul', missing the word initial sound /ng/; Mathews wrote 'Ngunawal' for the name in his sketch grammar and vocabulary (1904 in Koch, 2010:135).

Mathews published separate grammars for the Gundungurra S60 and Ngunawal but both of these grammars are drawn from the same material in his notebooks headed 'Gundungurra' (Mathews, 1901 and 1904 in Eades 1976:6).

Koch concludes that Ngunawal (D3) is in a dialectal relationship with Gundungurra S60  (2010:149).

 

 

References: 
  • Dixon, R. M. W. 1980. The languages of Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Eades, Diana. 1976. The Dharawal and Dhurga languages of the New South Wales south coast: Australian Aboriginal Studies, Research and Regional Studies 8. Canberra: AIAS.
  • Flood, Josephine. 1984. Recent research on traditional Aboriginal society of the Canberra area. Canberra Historical Journal 13:17-25.
  • Koch, Harold. 2010. Aboriginal languages and social groups in the Canberra region : interpreting the historical documentation. In Brett Baker, Ilana Mushin, Mark Harvey and Rod Gardner (eds) Indigenous Language and Social Identity: papers in honour of Michael Walsh. Canberra : Pacific Linguistics. pp. 123-144. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/57031.
  • Mathews, R.H. 1880-1912. [Australian languages material : field notes]. (MS 3179)
  • Mathews, Robert Hamilton. 1901. The Gundungurra language. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 40(167):140-148.
  • Mathews, Robert Hamilton. 1904. The Ngunawal language. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society 34:294-299.
  • 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: 
NSW
Location information: 

Queanbeyan to Yass, Tumut to Boorowa, and east to beyond Goulburn; on highlands west of the Shoalhaven River (Tindale 1974).

... from Goulburn to Yass and Burrowa, extending southerly to Lake George and Goodradigbee (Mathews 1904 in Koch : 2010: 135).

 

Maps: 
-
Links
Programs
Activities: 

The Journey of Healing facilitated several Ngunawal Elders Camps in 2006 and 2007. The programs included the teaching of language (Wafer and Lissarrague 2008:117).

People: 
Janet Mathews, Jutta Besold, Harold Koch
Indigenous organisations: 

Winanggaay Ngunnawal Language group

Ngaiyurija

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 Less than 20 pages 1
Text Collection None 0
Grammar None 0
Audio-visual None 0
Manuscript note: 
tape transcription/field note available
Grammar: 
-
Dictionary: 
-
Classification
Source Family Group Sub-group Name Relationship
Ethnologue (2005)          
Dixon (2002)   SOUTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES GROUP Southern tablelands group Gundungurra (or Ngunawal, or Burragorang) Gundungurra (or Ngunawal, or Burragorang)
Wurm (1994) Pama-Nyungan Yuin-Kuric   Ngunawal  
Walsh (1981) Pama-Nyungan Yuin-Kuric Yuin Ngunawal  
Oates (1975) Pama-Nyungan Yuin-Kuric Yuin Ngunawal  
Wurm (1972) Pama-Nyungan Yuin-Kuric Yuin Ngunawal  
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966) Pama-Nyungan Yuin-Kuric Yuin Ngunawal