Nyangumarta language

Nyangumarta
Spoken in	Australia
Region	Western Australia
Native speakers	520  (1991)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Nyungic Marrngu Nyangumarta
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nna

Nyangumarta is spoken by Indigenous Australians in the region of Western Australia to the south and east of Lake Waukarlykarly, including Eighty Mile Beach, and part of the Great Sandy Desert inland to near Telfer.

Classification

Nyangumarta is a member of the Marrngu subgroup of the Nyungic branch of Pama–Nyungan languages. The other members of this group are Mangarla and Karajarri, with which it shares more features and vocabulary.

Geographic distribution

Variation/Dialects

Nyangumarta has two main dialects: Ngurlipartu, spoken in the southern, inland region, and Wanyarli, spoken in the northern, coastal region.

Sounds/Phonology

• Nyangumarta words are at least disyllabic.
• CV (Consonant, vowel) structures are strongly preferred.
• Nyangumarta does not permit consonant clusters (CC) in the onset of a syllable.
• Nyangumarta has no fricative sounds.
• Nyangumarta has a very limited inventory of vowel sounds^[specify]

References

• Janet Catherine Sharp. (2004). Nyangumarta, A Language of the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics

External links

• Language of the Month:15 - A Nyangumarta text.