Nyungar languages
| Nyungar | |
|---|---|
| Noongar | |
| Region | Western Australia |
|
Native speakers
|
232 (2006 census) |
|
Pama–Nyungan
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Individual codes: |
qsz Juat (Yuat) |
|
| Glottolog | nyun1247 |
| AIATSIS | W41 |
| Neo-Nyungar | |
|---|---|
| Region | SW Australia |
|
Native speakers
|
(undated figure of 8,000) |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
eng-neo |
|
| Glottolog | None |
Nyungar (Nyunga), or Noongar, is an Australian Aboriginal language, or language complex, primarily still spoken by a few hundred members of the Noongar community who live in the southwest corner of Western Australia. The 1996 census recorded 157 speakers, but that number increased to 232 by 2006. The word Noongar means "male" in the language; Yorgah is the word for the female.
Noongar was first recorded in 1801 by Matthew Flinders, who made a number of word lists.
It is generally agreed that there was no single, standard Nyungar (or Noongar) language before European settlement: it was a subgroup (or possibly a dialect continuum) of closely related languages, whose speakers were differentiated geographically (and in some cases, by cultural practices). The dialects merged into the modern Nyungar language following colonisation. A 1990 conference organised by the Nyoongar Language Project Advisory Panel recognised that the Nyungar subgroup included at least three distinct languages. This was highlighted by a 2011 Noongar Dictionary, edited by Bernard Rooney, which was based on the dialect/language of Yuat (Juat), from the north west part of the Nyungar subgroup area.
The highlighted area of the map shown on the right may correspond to the Nyungar subgroup. The subdivisions shown correspond to individual dialects/languages. In modern Nyungar these dialects/languages have merged. There is controversy in some cases regarding whether all of these dialects/languages were part of the original Nyungar subgroup. Some may have been distinct languages and some may have belonged to neighbouring subgroups.
Many linguists believe that the northernmost language shown, Amangu, was not part of the Nyungar subgroup, was instead a part of the Kartu subgroup, and may have been a dialect of the Kartu language Nhanda. (As such, Amangu may have been synonymous with a dialect known as Nhanhagardi, which has also been classified, at different times, as a part of Nhanda, Nyungar, or Widi.)
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