Walmajarri (many other names; see below) is a Pama–Nyungan language spoken in the Kimberley region of Western Australia by the Walmadjari and related peoples.
Walmajarri is declared a definitely endangered language by UNESCO"UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". UNESCO. Retrieved 2020-12-04. based on their scale of Language Vitality and Endangerment.UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages. 2003. "Language Vitality and Endangerment". Document Adopted by the International Expert Meeting on UNESCO Programme Safeguarding of Endangered Languages. Paris: UNESCO.
Names Names for this language break down along the three dialects: Walmajarri, Walmatjarri, Walmatjari, Walmadjari, Walmatjiri, Walmajiri, Walmatjeri, Walmadjeri, Walmadyeri, Walmaharri, Wolmeri, Wolmera, Wulmari Bililuna, Pililuna Jiwarliny, Juwaliny, Tjiwaling, Tjiwarlin
Speakers
Communities with a Walmajarri population are: Bayulu Djugerari (Cherrabun) Junjuwa (Fitzroy Crossing) Looma Kadjina (Millijidee) Mindibungu (Bililuna) Mindi Rardi (Fitzroy Crossing) Mulan Ngumpan Wangkajungka (Christmas Creek) Yakanarra Yungngora
The Walmajarri people used to live in the Great Sandy Desert. The effects of colonialism took them to the cattle stations, towns and missions in the North and scattered them over a wide area. The geographical distance accounts for the fact that there are several dialects, which have been further polarised by the lack of contact and further influenced by neighbouring languages.
Documentartion Some resources of the language spoken can be found in various archives or databases, such as the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) catalogue.nickT. "Home". PARADISEC. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
Phonology Vowels Front Back High Low
Consonants Peripheral Laminal Apical Bilabial Velar Palatal Alveolar Retroflex Plosive Nasal Lateral Rhotic Approximant
Consonants are allowed as the final sound of a word in most cases.
Morphology Walmajarri is a suffixing language with many english words, especially copula having equivalent Walmajarri words.
Pronouns SingularDualPlural1st Exclusivengalijarra (we)ngalimpa (we)1st Inclusivengaju (I)ngajarra (we)ngamampa~nganimpa (we)2nd Personnyuntu (you)nyurrajarra (y'all)nyrurawarnti (y'all)3rd Personnyantu (he/she/it)nyantujarra (them)nyantuwarnti (they)
Number In Walmajarri has three types of grammatical number: singular, dual, and plural. WalmajarriEnglishparriboyparrijaratwo boysparriawrnti[3 or more] boys
Prepositions WalmajarriEnglish -ngaat, on, in -jangka, -ngurnifrom -kartito -wufor -ngawith
Descriptive Nouns WalmajarriEnglish -muluwithout -jartiwith, having, in possession of -juwalalways, tends to -jilinysimilar, like -warlanyanother
Tenses Past -iPresent -aHabitual -anyFuture -ku
Syntax Warlmajarri has four syntactic cases: nominative, ergative, dative and assessory case. The cases assign different meanings to the noun phrases of a sentence. Therefore, the word order can vary quite freely. Subject, Object or Verb can appear initial, final, medial in sentence.
However, the second position of a sentence is always reserved for the Verbal Auxiliary. Sometimes referred to as a Catalyst, the Verbal Auxiliary indicates the mood of a sentence (similar to the English auxiliaries), but also cross-references its noun phrases. The person and number of the noun phrases in their syntactic cases are shown in the Verbal Auxiliary.
Vocabulary Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981).
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! English !! Walmatjari |- | man || piyirn |- | woman || marnin |- | mother || ngamatyi |- | father || ngarpu |- | head || tyurlu |- | eye || mil |- | nose || punul |- | ear || pina |- | mouth || lirra |- | tongue || tyalany |- | tooth || katiti |- | hand || kurrapa |- | breast || ngamarna |- | stomach || munta |- | urine || kumpu |- | faeces || kura |- | thigh || kantyi |- | foot || tyina |- | bone || kampukampu |- | blood || nungu |- | dog || kunyarr |- | snake || tyilpirtityarti |- | kangaroo || marlu |- | possum || tyampiyirnti |- | fish || kapi |- | spider || purlkartu |- | mosquito || kiwiny |- | emu || karnangantya |- | eaglehawk || wamulu |- | crow || waangkarna |- | sun || purangu |- | moon || yakarn |- | star || wirl |- | stone || pamarr |- | water || ngapa |- | camp || ngurra |- | fire || warlu |- | smoke || nguntyurr |- | food || miyi |- | meat || kuyi |- | stand || karri |- | sit || kirrantya |- | see || nyaka |- | go || yanta |- | get || warnta |- | hit, kill || pungka |- | I || ngatyu |- | you || nyuntu |- | one || layi |- | two || kurriny
Sample text +Genesis 1:1-5WalmatijarriEnglishJarluwarlaŋy pa Kuttu ngartakpani pujurni nguwajaa ngapa yalkirijaa yimpiyimpi. Kujartikarra maŋya ngartakpani Ngarpungu. Jarluwarlaŋy pa yarr ngunaŋani muŋa ngapa mapirri. Ngajirta nguwa ngunarla. Walypa Ngarpukurajaŋka pa kirilyanani ngapaŋarni maɳpa kaŋkarni̱marraŋu. Nyanartijaŋka Ngarpu marni, "Parralanku pa tili". Mapunparnila parralani tili nyanarti. Kurriŋpala pila ngunaŋani tilijarra muŋa. Tili parralani, wali wirri̱yajarri̱nyaɭa Ngarpu. Tiliwu parla wulyumarni. Yini̱jartila pinya yutukani jini̱nyarajarti̱a pukaɳyajarti. Wali kajalkajal Ngarpungu ngartakpani tililny.In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The spirit of God was hovering over the water. Then God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light. God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness. God named the light "day", and the darkness he named "night". There was evening, then morning, the first day.
See also Ngurrara, a grouping of peoples of language groups including Walmajarri
References
Bibliography Hudson, Joyce. (1978). The Walmatjari: An Introduction to the Language and Culture. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics Hudson, Joyce. (1978). The core of Walmatjari grammar. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. New Jersey, U.S.A.: Humanities Press Inc. Hudson, Joyce & Richards, Eirlys. (1969). The phonology of Walmatjari. Hudson, Joyce & Richards, Eirlys. (1990). Walmajarri–English Dictionary. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics
External links Handbook of Western Australian languages South of the Kimberly (Walmajarri)