See and use Nyangumarta A61.
'Most Nyangumarta speakers and others who study this language recognise two main dialects: inland or southern Nyangumarta (sometimes called Ngurlipartu) and coastal or northern Nyangumartu (sometimes called Walyirli). Though certain words are different between these two dialects, it's important to remember that they are very much alike and that Nyangumarta speakers still think of them as being part of the same language' (Geytenbeek et. al. 2015: viii).
Sharp's (2004:4) informants identify Ngurlipartu as one of four Nyangumarta A61 dialects, the others being Pijikala A104 to the north near Lake Waukarlykarly, Kuntal A98 and Walyirli A73, the dialect spoken at Yandeyarra and the Twelve Mile Reserve on the outskirts of Port Hedland, where it is also referred to as 'coastal' by some people. From a linguistic perspective Sharp recognises two distinct varieties, Ngurlipartu and Walyirli A73, which she refers to as northern coastal Nyangumarta and southern inland Nyangumarta respectively.
Tindale (1974) treats Ngolibardu (A72) as a separate group from Njangamarda A61.
Sharp, Janet. 2004. Nyangumarta: a language of the Pilbara region of Western Australia: Pacific Linguistics 556. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. 429 pp.
Sutton, Peter. 1995. Country: Aboriginal boundaries and land ownership in Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal History Inc.
Nyangumarta: Traditional: an area that stretched from south and east of lake Waukarlykarly (towards Telfer) northwards to a long string of claypans that lie east of Sandfire, and which reach over 120 km into the Great Sandy Desert. Many of the northern Nyangumarta people occupied the Eighty Mile Beach area (Sharp 2004:4) Nyangumarta: Present: northern Pilbara and southern Kimberley areas. The area extends to La Grange (Bidyadanga) and Broome and south-west to Port Hedland Also Marble Bar (Sharp 2004:12) In early historical time the Iparuka Njangamarda usurped the territory of the Ngolibardu tribe around Thros-sell Range. Including this, their territory extends from Rudall River northeast to ['Karbardi] near Swindell Field east of ['Tjandalkuru], (Tindalgoo on maps), thence west to near the eastern border of Warrawagine Station. The Kundal Njangamarda go from this line northwest to ['Man-da] (Munda Well on Munro Station) and west to Anna Plains Station, just south of Cape Missiessy, where ['Jawinja], situated beside the present Station homestead, was their northernmost water. Their southwestern boundary lay along the edge of the tableland north of de Grey and Oakover rivers to ['Jalalo] (Ulalling Hills on maps). (Tindale) According to the map in the biography of Billy Dunn, who is about the only descendant left of the Ngulipartu mob, their territory stretched from just east of the Rabbit Proof Fence (RPF), at a point east of Skull Springs at its most northerly, and east of a line drawn from Roy Hill Statation at its south end near the RPF, east to Lake Dora on the northern side, not as far east as the Ruddal River (where Davis has it), and back towards the west as Davis does show it, in a west-north-west direction to the RPF. It centres on theuplands south of the Throssell Range and I doubt that it goes as far east into the sandhill country as Billy Dunn's map shows (Tonkinson in Sutton 1995:156)
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McGregor, William. 1988 Handbook of Kimberley Languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. © Author.
AIATSIS gratefully acknowledge William McGregor for permission to use his material in AUSTLANG.
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).
Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre. 2008. Nyangumarta dictionary 2008. South Headland: Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre.
