Gaagudju is a non-Pama Nyungan language of the Northern Territory. The Top End Handbook lists this as an isolate language. Harvey names four clans who own this language and hold primary affiliation: Bunidj, Djindibi N51 and Mirarr (with two clans); and four language groups with secondary affiliation to Gaagudju language (through marriage and other social networks): Amurdak N47, Giimbiyu N220, Gundjeihmi N71 and Umbugarla N43 (2002:1, 5). The evidence for dialectal difference in Gaagudju is restricted to Berndt and Berndt as well as Spencer (in Harvey, 2002:12) who refer to a variety called Wada N51 (Watta ~ Wetta), which was 'close to Gagadju' (Berndt and Berndt in Harvey, 2002:12). The evidence from place names provided by the Berndts' consultant leads Harvey to hypothesise that Wada N51 is a western dialect of Gaagudju associated with the Djindibi clan (2002:12).
Floodplains north of Cannon Hill and the Arnhem Highway (Top End Handbook). The general association was to the plain country between the South and East Alligator Rivers. Eastward limit: Jabiru and Mudginberri were associated with Bininj Gunwok. Ja-Ja and Jabiluka were associated with Gaagudju. Cannon Hill was associated with Giimbiyu. North-eastern limit: The East Alligator. Northern limit: To within about 10-15km of the coast. Western limit: The South Alligator. Southern limit: The Arnhem Highway is a reasonable approximation to the southern limit (Harvey ASEDA 802).
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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).
Harvey, Mark. 1992. The Gaagudju people and their language. University of Sydney: PhD.
Harvey, Mark. 2002. A Grammar of Gaagudju. Berlin,New York:Mouton de Gruyter.
