Ngaanyatjarra

Ngaanyatjarra

Ngaanyatjarra children, 2006
Total population
1,600-2,700
Regions with significant populations
Australia (Northern Territory)
Languages
Ngaanyatjarra language, English, Pitjantjatjarra language, Yankunytjatjara language
Religion
Aboriginal mythology

The Ngaanyatjarra are an Indigenous Australian cultural group of Western Australia.

Ngaanyatjarra is a Western Desert language belonging to the Wati branch of the Pama-Nyungan languages.Ngaanya literally means "this" (that is, the demonstrative pronoun) and -tjarra means "with/having" (the comitative suffix); the compound term means "those that use 'ngaanya' to say 'this'". Some neighbouring dialect groups are the Ngaatjatjarra and the Nyangatjatjarra, who use ngaatja and nyangatja respectively for "this". Many Ngaanyatjarra are multilingual, not only speaking English but also a number of other dialects in the area.

Ngaanyatjarra lands cover roughly 3% of the Australian landscape, a territory as large as that of the United Kingdom. Predominantly desert, they lie 1,000 kilometres away from the two nearest towns of Alice Springs and Kalgoolie. The neighbouring tribes are the Martu and the Pitjantjatjara. They extend through parts of the North Western and Little Great and Little Sandy Deserts, the southeast Gascoyne region, the Gibson Desert, the Central Central Great Victoria Desert and the Western Central Ranges There are 10 small local centres where the Ngaanyatjarra live include Irrunytju (Wingellina), Papulankutja(Blackstone), Mantumaru(Jameson), Warburton, Wanarn, Warakurna, Tjukurla, Kiwirrkura, Tjirrkarli, Patjarr, Kanpa, Cosmo Newberry.