L13: ARABANA

AIATSIS code: 
L13
AIATSIS reference name: 
ARABANA

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Name
Thesaurus heading language
Arabana language L13
Thesaurus heading people
Arabana people L13
ABN name
-
ABS name
Arabana
Horton name
Arabana
Ethnologue name
Arabana
ISO 639-3 code
ard
Tindale name
Arabana
Tindale (1974)
Ngarabana, Arabuna, Arrabunna, Arrabonna, Arubbinna, Arapina (Iliaura modern pronunciation), Arapani, Urapuna, Urabuna, Urabunna, Urroban, Rabuna (an aberrant Aranda pronunciation), Wangarabana (['wo?ka] = ['wa?ka] = talk or speech), Wongkurapuna, Wangarabunna, Wonkurabana, Jendakarangu (a horde near Coward Springs), Nulla, Yendakarangu, Peake tribe (a horde), Anna Creek tribe (a horde).
O'Grady et al (1966)
Arabuna, Arrabunna, Arrabonna, Arapani, Urapuna, Urabuna, Urabunna, Ngarabana, Rabuna, Wangarabana, Wongkurapuna, Wangarabunna,
Glottocode
arab1267
Other sources
-
Synonyms
Arabana, Arabana/Wangkangurru, Anna Creek tribe, Arabuna, Arabunna, Arapani, Arapina, Arebana, Arrabonna, Arrabunna, Arubbinna, Jendakarangu, Ngarabana, Nulla, Peake tribe, Rabuna, Urabuna, Urabunna, Urapuna, Urroban, Wangarabana, Wangarabuna, Wangarabunna, Wongkurapuna, Wongpurapuna, Wonkurabana, Yendakarang, Yendakarangu
Comment
Comments: 

Hercus (1994:6) says that, from a speaker perspective, though not technically, there are two distinct languages: Arabana and Wangkangurru L27. For the most part they are mutually intelligible, though they are substantially different.

Arabana has three dialects: Piltapalta L53, which Hercus refers to as 'Arabana Proper', Wangkakupa L52 and Midlaliri L50. Arabana forms part of the Karnic language group and is in a close relationship with Wangkangurru  L27.

 

References: 
  • Hercus, Luise Anna. 1994. A grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia: Pacific Linguistics C-128. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  • 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: 
SA
Location information: 

Neales River on the west side of Lake Eyre west to Stuart Range; Macumba Creek south to Coward Springs; at Oodnadatta, Lora Creek, Lake Cadibarrawirracanna, and the Peake. Their boundary with the Kokata on the west is marked by the margin of the scarp of the western tableland near Coober Pedy (Tindale 1974). the area to the west and north of Lake Eyre (for Arabana and Wangkanguru) (Hercus 1994:6).

Maps: 
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Links

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PDF icon Oates_L13.pdf
Tindale 1974
OLAC
SIL
Mobile Language Team - Arabana
On Country with Arabana
Aboriginal Languages Network
Awaye! Word Up: Annalise and Ambah Kowcan
Sourcebook for Central Australian Languages (1981): 

Badimaya (A14 ) in Sourcebook for Central Australian Languages (1981).

Arabana

Names of the language and different spellings that have been used:

Arabana, Arapana, Ngarapara (Diyari name)

Classification of the language:

Karnic (originally Arabanic) Group, Marla subgroup.

Identification codes:

Oates '73: 73a

AIAS: L.013

Capell: L2

Present number and distribution of speakers:

About 8 speakers (Oates 1973). Traditionally, west side of Lake Eyre (North), south of the Neales to Stuart Range, S.A.

Black, 1979 --

People who have worked intensively on the language:

Hercus.

Practical orthography:

None established. Hercus has an orthography with only one diacritic (for the retroflex flap).

Word lists:

Hale (see Parrish 1980), Hercus.

Grammar or sketch grammar:

Hercus

Material available on the language:

Dixon, R.M.W. 1979. Ergativity. Language 55.1:59-138. (p.89 quotes pronoun forms communicated by L.A. Hercus)

Hale, Kenneth L. 1959. Arabana field notes. (MS 871) AIAS. (See Parrish 1980).

Hercus, Luise A. 1966. Work on Aboriginal languages. Dec. 1965 - April 1966. [Report to AIAS.] 2p. (Doc 66/388) AIAS.

---------- 1971. Arabana and Wanganuru traditions. Oceania 42.2:94-109. (mythological texts, phonemes) n.sp

---------- 1972. The pre-stopped nasal and lateral consonants of Arabana-Wangganguru. Anthropological Linguistics 14.8:293-305.

---------- 1976. Arabana-Wangganguru, pp. in Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, ed by R.M.W. Dixon. AIAS.

---------- 1977. Tales of Ngadu-dhagalhi (Rib-bone Billy). Aboriginal History 1.1:53-76.

---------- 1979. In the margins of an Arabana-Wangganguru dictionary: the loss of initial consonants. Pacific Linguistics C.54:621-52 (Australian Linguistic Studies, ed. by S.A. Wurm.)

---------- 1980. The story of Gudangamba. Adelaide: S.A. Government Printer.

---------- 1980. 'How we danced the Mudlunga': memories of 1901 and 1902. Aboriginal History 4.1(June):5-32.

---------- (forthcoming) Afghan stories. Aboriginal History. (stories in Arabana and Wangkanguru)

O'Grady, G.N. & T.J. Klokeid. 1969. Australian Linguistic Classification: A Plea for Coordination of Effort. Oceania 39.4:298-311. (test list of 100 words in Arabana)

Parrish, Lucy. 1980. Arapana word list. (based on field notes by Ken Hale). 3p. ts. IAD.

Literacy material:

Kathy Menning (comp.) and David Nash (ed.) 1981. © IAD Press

AIATSIS gratefully acknowledges IAD Press for permission to use this material in AUSTLANG.

Programs
Activities: 

South Australia. Dept. of Education and Children's Services produced a language learning CD-ROM (2005). Education Dept. of South Australia produced a teacher's guide (1991). A 500 page teaching framework for years R-10 aimed at revitalizing Arabana was produced in 2004 by the South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services (Troy and Walsh 2010:177).

People: 
Luise Hercus, M. Millward, Bernhard Schebeck
Indigenous organisations: 

Aboriginal Languages Network

Speakers
Year Source Speaker numbers
1975Oates8
1984Senate-
1990Schmidt-
1996Census23
2001Census6
2004NILS1250
2005Estimate6
2006Census21
2011Census8
2014NILS2
2016Census15
2018-2019NILS351-250

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 Small (20-100 pages) 2
Grammar Large grammar (more than 200 pages) 4
Audio-visual More than 10 3
Manuscript note: 
tape transcription/field note available
Grammar: 

Hercus, Luise. 1994. A grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru language Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia: Pacific Linguistics C128. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Dictionary: 

Hercus, Luise. Machine-readable files of Arabana and Wangkangurru vocabulary, ASEDA 0238.

Classification
Source Family Group Sub-group Name Relationship
Ethnologue (2005) Pama-Nyungan Karnic Palku Arabana  
Dixon (2002)   LAKE EYRE BASIN AREAL GROUP North and west Lake Eyre Basin group Blake and Breen (1971) Arabana/Wangkangurru Arabana/Wangkangurru Hercus (1994) further dialects: Pilta-Palta, Wangkakupa, Midlaliri, Mikiri-nganha
Wurm (1994) Pama-Nyungan Karnic   Arabana  
Walsh (1981) Pama-Nyungan Karnic Arabana-Wangganguru Arabana  
Oates (1975) Pama-Nyungan Karnic Narla Arabana  
Wurm (1972) Pama-Nyungan Arabanic   Arabana  
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966) Pama-Nyungan Arabanic   Arabana