Y60: Ayapathu

AIATSIS code: 
Y60
AIATSIS reference name: 
Ayapathu

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Name
Thesaurus heading language
Thesaurus heading people
ABN name
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ABS name
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Horton name
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Ethnologue name
Ayabadhu
ISO 639-3 code
ayd
Tindale name
Ajabatha
Tindale (1974)
Aiabadu, Aiyaboto, Jabuda, Koka Ai-ebadu, Aiebadu,(with glottal stop), Koko Aiebadu, Kikahiabilo (presumably i = diphthong, 1 = typographical error for t).
O'Grady et al (1966)
Glottocode
ayab1239
Other sources
Ayapathu [Rigsby 1992] Ayabadu [Sommer MS 809] Yintjinggu [Oates 1975:283] Yintjingga (Thomson) [Rigsby 2005 p.c.] Eastern Ayapathu, Coastal Ayapathu [Rigsby];Yintjingka [Thompson PMS 1825] Koko Ie-ebadoo (Thomson) [Rigsby 2005:137]
Synonyms
Ayabadhu, Abadja, Ai ebadu, Aiabadu, Aiyabotho, Aiyaboto, Ajabadha, Ajabatha, Ajibyrdu, Apatya, Badja, Baldya, Balfja, Jabuda, Kikahiabilo, Koka Ai ebadu, Koka aiebadu, Koko Aiebadu, Koko Badja, Koko Baldya, Koko Baltja, Aiebadu
Comment
Comments: 

Rigsby (2005 p.c.) says there appears to be two languages that go by the name Ayapathu: Ayapathu (Y60) and Western Ayapathu Y181. Western Ayapathu only recently became known. According to Rigsby (2005), Yintjingka, a language name reported by Thomson, is the Indigenous name for the area around Port Stewart and the language Thomson reported in this area is coastal Ayapathu.

Previously, coastal Ayapathu was not included as a separate record in AUSTLANG but it now has a distinct code Y236.

Verstraete and Rigsby adopt the use of Yintyingka as the name of both the variety previously identified as coastal Ayapathu and as the language name, of which Ayapathu and Yintyingka (previously Coastal Ayapathu) Y236 are dialects. They reason that Yintyingka is connected with the 'earliest and largest body of work', it is 'best established in ethnographic literature', and it avoids ambiguity with the 'structurally different' Western Ayapathu Y181 (2015:14-15). 

 

References: 
  • Rigsby, Bruce. 1992. The languages of the Princess Charlotte Bay region. In The language game: papers in memory of Donald C. Laycock, eds Tom Dutton, Malcolm Ross and Darrell Tryon, 353-360. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  • Rigsby, Bruce. 2005. The languages of Eastern Cape York Peninsula and linguistic anthropology. In Donald Thomson: the man and the scholar, eds Bruce Rigsby and Nicolas Peterson, 129-142. Canberra: Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
  • 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: 
QLD
Location information: 

The inland, centering around Ebagoola and extending north towards Coen along the range, also along the coast from Running Creek to the Stewart River (Rigsby 1992:357). It is the language whose speakers are said to have lived mainly from Coen south to around Ebagoola and on the upper Holroyd River (Rigsby 2005:footnote). Port Stewart is situated in the estate of the coastal Ayapthu-speaking clan and the neighbouring coastal estates to the north and south were owned by other coastal Ayapathu-speaking clans (Rigsby 2005:footnote 27). The indigenous language with the widest use at Port Stewart in 1928 seems to have been Impila (Rigsby 2005:135).

From north of Ebagoola south to Musgrave; west to headwaters of Coleman and Holroyd rivers; east to Dividing Range and Violet Vale (Tindale 1974).

 

Maps: 
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Links
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-
2005Estimate0
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 Less than 1 1
Manuscript note: 
tape transcription/field note available (vocabulary)
Grammar: 
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Dictionary: 
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Classification
Source Family Group Sub-group Name Relationship
Ethnologue (2005) Pama-Nyungan Paman Middle Pama Ayabadhu  
Dixon (2002)   NORTH CAPE YORK SUBGROUP* Wik subgroup* Ayabadhu Ayabadhu
Wurm (1994) Pama-Nyungan Paman   Ayabadhu  
Walsh (1981) Pama-Nyungan Paman Middle Pama Ayabadhu  
Oates (1975) Pama-Nyungan   Middle Pama Ayabadhu  
Wurm (1972)          
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966)