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Ngarrindjeri, also written Narrinyeri, Ngarinyeri and other variants, is the language of the Ngarrindjeri and related peoples of southern South Australia. Five dialects have been distinguished by a 2002 study: Warki, Tanganekald, Ramindjeri, Portaulun and Yaraldi (or Yaralde Tingar).

Ngarrindjerri is Pama–Nyungan. McDonald (2002) distinguishes five dialects: Warki, Tanganekald, Ramindjeri, Portaulun and Yaraldi. Bowern (2011) lists the Yaraldi, Ngarrindjeri, and Ramindjeri varieties as separate languages.

Tanganekald, also known as Thangal, is now extinct.

Name

Linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann suggests that the original pronunciation of Ngarrindjeri had two distinct rhotic consonants: the first was rr (as in Italian) and the second was r (as in English). However, in revitalized Ngarrindjeri, both rhotics "are pronounced unlike English". Zuckermann analyses this phenomenon as over-applied, hypercorrect "emblematicity" due to Othering: the Ngarrindjeri revivalists are trying to define themselves vis-à-vis the "Other", distancing themselves from "the colonizers' mother tongue, Australian English" (even at the expense of losing one of their own original rhotics).

Other names include Jarildekald, Jaralde, Yarilde, Yarrildie, Jaraldi, Lakalinyeri, Warawalde, Yalawarre, Yarildewallin (although as mentioned above, Yaraldi is regarded as a dialect).

Berndt, Berndt & Stanton (1993) wrote: "The appropriate traditional categorisation of the whole group was Kukabrak: this term, as we mention again below, was used by these people to differentiate themselves from neighbours whom they regarded as being socio-culturally and linguistically dissimilar. However, the term Narrinyeri has been used consistently in the literature and by Aborigines today who recognise a common descent from original inhabitants of this region-- even though their traditional identifying labels have been lost."

Status and revival

In 1864, the publication of the Ngarrindjerri Bible was the first time portions of the Bible were translated into an Aboriginal language. 8 Genesis 2:8 follows in Ngarrindjerri from the 1864 translation and a literal English translation. "Jehovah winmin gardenowe Edenald, kile yuppun ityan korn gardenungai." "Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed."

The last fluent speaker of Ngarrindjerri died in the 1960s, but there have been attempts to revive the language in the 21st century, including the release of a Ngarrindjeri dictionary in 2009. The work of Lutheran missionaries Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schürmann in the early days of the colonisation of South Australia have contributed enormously to the revival of both Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna.

There were 312 speakers of Ngarrindjerri recorded in the 2016 Australian census.

A second edition of the dictionary was published in 2019, with 500 additional words, bringing the total to 4,200. Ngarrindjeri elder Phyllis Williams has been collaborating with linguist Mary-Anne Gale for many years, teaching the language to adults and developing resources to aid language revival.

The third, expanded edition of the dictionary, again compiled by Gale and Williams, was published by AIATSIS in 2020. Hundreds of new words have been added, including words for items which did not exist in the 19th century, such as "solar panel".

In 2021 the first students of the first training course to be specially tailored to the teaching of Aboriginal language, run by Tauondi Aboriginal College in Port Adelaide, graduated, and are now able to pass on their skills to the community. University of Adelaide linguist Robert Amery and his wife, Mary-Anne Gale, have helped to drive the project.

The musical group Deadly Nannas (Nragi Muthar) have been writing and singing songs in Ngarrindjerri and English, and using them to help teach the language in schools and other venues.

Sign language

The Yaralde had the southernmost attested Australian Aboriginal sign language.

Phonology

Consonants

• /r/ can be heard as a tap and approximant, as allophones .

Vowels

• /i/ when preceding retroflex consonant, can be heard as central
• /u/ when occurring after a trill consonant in closed syllables can be heard as central
• A mid sound /ə/ can also be heard in various syllabic positions.

Vocabulary

The following words are from the Ngarrindjeri language:

• kondoli – 'whale'
• korni/korne – 'man'
• kringkari, gringari – 'white man'
• muldarpi/mularpi – 'travelling spirit of sorcerers and strangers'
• yanun – 'speak, talk'

These are words for animals extinct since European colonisation:

• maikari – Eastern hare-wallaby
• rtulatji – Toolache wallaby
• wi:kwai – Pig-footed bandicoot

References

1. ABS. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
2. ^ S69 Ngarrindjeri at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
3. Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, December 23, 2011 (corrected February 6, 2012)
4. "Thangal/Tanganekald". Mobile Language Team. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
5. S11 Tanganekald at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
6. ^ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2020), Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199812790 / ISBN 9780199812776
7. Berndt & Berndt (1993), p. 19.
8. Gale (1997), p. 71.
9. University of South Australia, "Preserving Indigenous culture through language", 16 May 2008, Archived 5 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 15 January 2010.
10. Amery, Rob; Gale, Mary-Anne (2014). "They came, they heard, they documented: the Dresden missionaries as lexicographers" (PDF). In Zuckermann, Ghil'ad; Miller, Julia; Morley, Jasmin (eds.). Endangered Words, Signs of Revival. Papers presented at the conference Australex 2013: Endangered Words, and Signs of Revival at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, 25 to 28 July 2013. Australian Association for Lexicography (Australex). pp. 1–19. ISBN 978-0-646-92900-2.
11. "Ngarrindjeri Concise 2nd edition Dictionary launched". AIATSIS. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
12. Gale, Mary-Anne; Williams, Phyllis (2019). Ngarrindjeri dictionary (2nd (concise) ed.). Miwi-Inyeri Pelepi-Ambi Aboriginal Corporation (MIPAAC). ISBN 978-0-9946336-3-7.
13. Gale, Mary-Anne; Williams, Phyllis (2020). Ngarrindjeri dictionary (3rd (complete) ed.). Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Press. ISBN 978-0-9946336-4-4.
14. ^ Marchant, Gabriella (12 July 2021). "Aboriginal languages making comeback through new training program and dictionaries". ABC News. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
15. Skujins, Angela (13 August 2019). "Rhyme and reclamation with the Deadly Nannas". InDaily. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
16. Evins, Brittany (11 April 2021). "Aboriginal singers the Deadly Nannas are breathing new life into an ancient language". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
17. Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18. Bell, Diane (1998). Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A World that Is, Was, and Will be. Spinifex Press. pp. xiii–xiv. ISBN 978-1-875-55971-8.
19. Hobson, John Robert (2010). Re-awakening Languages: Theory and Practice in the Revitalisation of Australia's Indigenous Languages. Sydney University Press. p. 398. ISBN 978-1-920-89955-4.

• Berndt, Ronald M.; Berndt, Catherine H. (1993). A World That Was: The Yaraldi of the Murray River and the Lakes, South Australia. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press. ISBN 0-7748-0478-5.
• Berndt, R. M. (1940). "Notes on the sign-language of the Jaralde tribe of the Lower River Murray, South Australia". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 64: 267–272.
• Cerin, Mark (1994). The pronominal system of Yaraldi (BA honours thesis). University of Melbourne. hdl:11343/285608.
• Gale, Mary-Anne (1997). Dhanum Djorra'wuy Dhawu: A history of writing in Aboriginal languages. Underdale: Aboriginal Research Institute. doi:10.1017/S031058220000612X. NLA 180661.
• McDonald, Maryalyce (1977). A study of the phonetics and phonology of Yaraldi and associated dialects. Australian National University. ProQuest 2598642936. NLA 2555049.
• Meyer, H. A. E. (1843). Vocabulary of the language spoken by the Aborigines of the southern and eastern portion of the settled districts of South Australia (PDF). Adelaide: James Allen. hdl:2440/15074. NLA 1207234.
• Taplin, George (1879). The Folklore, Manners, Customs, and Languages of the South Australian Aborigines. Adelaide: Government Printer. NLA 223327.
• Taplin, George (1892). "Grammar of the language spoken by the Narrinyeri tribe in S. Australia". In Fraser, John (ed.). An Australian Language. Sydney: Government Printer. pp. 28–43 of appendix.
• Yallop, Colin; Grimwade, Gordon (1975). Narinjari: an outline of the language studied by George Taplin, with Taplin's notes and comparative table. Vol. 2. University of Sydney.

Further reading

• "Aboriginal people of South Australia: Ngarrindjeri". LibGuides at State Library of South Australia.
• "Ngarrindjeri". Mobile Language Team.
• "Yaraldi". Mobile Language Team.

• Lower Murray languages
• Ngarrindjeri
• Language revival