S6: Ngangaruku

AIATSIS code: 
S6
AIATSIS reference name: 
Ngangaruku

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Name
Thesaurus heading language
Ngangaruku language S6
Thesaurus heading people
Ngangaruku people S6
ABN name
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ABS name
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Horton name
Meru (Nganguruku)
Ethnologue name
-
ISO 639-3 code
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Tindale name
Nganguruku
Tindale (1974)
Meru (in part).
O'Grady et al (1966)
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Glottocode
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Other sources
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Synonyms
Meru, Nganguruku, Ngawait, Erawirungand, Rankbirit, Ngintait, Ngaralta, Ngaiawung, Nkanguru, Ngangurugu
Comment
Comments: 

There is some uncertainty around the nature of the relationship between languages around the lower Murray River. According to Tindale (1974), Nganguruku was sometimes grouped with Ngaiawang S7 but the vocabularies show differences.

McDonald (2002:15) comments that Nganguruku, Ngaiawang, Ngaralti S4 and Ngawait S10 seem to be closely related each other, and Wafer and Lissarrague (2008) group them together under the 'Lower Riverland language'. Wafer and Lissarrague (2008:31) also note that these names are likely to be dialects rather than 'alternative designations', citing the distinct locations and differences in kinship terms described in Radcliffe-Brown (1918:243).

The Mobile Language Team treats Ngangaruku, Ngayawang S7 and Ngawadj S10 as distinct languages.

The term Meru is sometimes applied to Ngangaruku and several other languages in the area, being the word for 'man' in those languages. Radcliffe-Brown (1918:246) notes that this includes the 'Nganguruku and Ngaiyan S7? languages, and probably those of the Nanait S10?, Yiran S12, Yuyu S19 and Ngintait S18 also'. Dowling (1990:25) remarks that 'the Jirawirung S12 and Ngawait S10 were part of a major linguistic group, the Meru, which extended west along the Murray River from the Pyap Bend and south towards Lake Alexandrina (Tindale 1974) and included the Ngaiawang, Nganguruku and Ngintait speakers'.

 

References: 
  • Dowling, Peter J. 1990. Violent epidemics: disease, conflict and Aboriginal population collapse as a result of European contact in the Riverland of South Australia, Australian National University, MA. (MS 2837)
  • McDonald, Maryalyce. 2002. A study of the phonetics and phonology of Yaraldi and associated dialects. München: Lincom Europa.
  • Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred R. 1918, 1923. Notes on the social organization of Australian tribes. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 48:222-253; 53:424-447.
  • 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.
  • Wafer, Jim, and Amanda Lissarrague. 2008. A handbook of Aboriginal languages of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Nambucca Heads: Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative.
Status: 
Confirmed
Location
State / Territory: 
SA
Location information: 

On Murray River from Mannum to south Rhine River junction; west to scarp of Mount Lofty Ranges (Tindale 1974). ... the banks of the Murray River from Mannum to about Herman's Landing (Radcliffe-Brown 1918:243).

Maps: 
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Links

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PDF icon Oates_S6.pdf
Tindale 1974
Mobile Language Team
Programs
Activities: 
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People: 
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Indigenous organisations: 
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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 None 0
Text Collection None 0
Grammar None 0
Audio-visual None 0
Manuscript note: 
not available
Grammar: 
-
Dictionary: 
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Classification
Source Family Group Sub-group Name Relationship
Ethnologue (2005)          
Dixon (2002)          
Wurm (1994)          
Walsh (1981) Pama-Nyungan Ngarinyeric-Yithayithic   Ngangurugu Ngayawung [dialects; Ngayawung, Ngangurugu]
Oates (1975) Pama-Nyungan Narrinyeric Mirili Ngangurugu  
Wurm (1972) Pama-Nyungan Narrinyeric Mirili Nganguruku  
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966) Pama-Nyungan Narrinyeric Mirili Nganguruku