Yalarnga is a Pama-Nyungan language which shares lexical items and some affixes with neighbouring Kalkatungu G13, but they are not close enough to form a sub-group. Yalarngu has complex verbal morphology including marking associated motion, number and a variety of aspects; only a few common verbs are irregular. The nominals do not have declensions; differences in suffixes are based on the length of the stem; there are no bound pronouns. Yalarngu has six points of articulation for stops and nasals, three of four of these for laterals. Two rhotics, a tap and a glide, and three vowels, possibly distinction in length for the low vowel (Breen & Blake, 2007:1).
On Wills Creek from south of Duchess to Fort William; on Burke River and Mort River to north of Chatsworth; at Noranside and Buckingham Downs (Tindale 1974).
Tindale's location leaves a sustantial gap between Yalarnnga and its western neighbour Warluwarra and it seems likely that Yalarnnga country extended further west, perhaps to Ardmore and certainly including Dajarra. Warluwarra speakers consulted by Breen did not know names of places in that area and seemed to regard it as Yalarnnga or Kalkutungu; the latter is unlikely because it is too far south (Breen & Blake 2007:2).
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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).
Breen, Gavan & Blake, Barry. 2007. The Grammar of Yalarnnga: a language of Western Queensland. Pacific LInguistics PL 584. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Sullivan, Lance. 2005. Ngiaka Yalarrnga. Townsville: Lance Sullivan.
