Yankunytjatjara language
Encyclopedia
Yankunytjatjara is an Australian Aboriginal language
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...

. It is one of the Wati languages
Western Desert Language
Western Desert Language is the name used to refer to an otherwise un-named Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family.-Location and list of communities:...

, belonging to the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. It is one of the many varieties of the Western Desert Language
Western Desert Language
Western Desert Language is the name used to refer to an otherwise un-named Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family.-Location and list of communities:...

, all of which are mutually intelligible.

Dialects

Yankunytjatjara is one of the many dialects of the Western Desert language and is very similar to the better known and more widely spoken Pitjantjatjara. Young speakers of Yankunytjatjara often borrow words from English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and also from Pitjantjatjara (which has expanded eastwards into Yankunytjatjara country and beyond), according to a study carried out mainly in Coober Pedy where many speakers of both varieties reside (although the town is on what was traditionally Arabana
Arabana language
Arabana is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Karnic languages of the Pama–Nyungan family....

 lands). Yankunytjatjara shows some variation across its range with, for example, Northern Yankunytjatjara sharing features with Southern Luritja
Luritja
Luritja is a name used to refer to several dialects of the Indigenous Australian Western Desert Language, and thereby also to the people who speak these varieties, and their traditional lands.-Origin and meaning of Luritja:...

.

Naming

The name used for Yankunytjatjara (and for Pitjantjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra
Ngaanyatjarra
Ngaanyatjarra is an Indigenous Australian cultural group in the Western Desert, Central Australia.-Meaning and origin of the name:Ngaanya literally means 'this' and -tjarra means 'with/having' ; the compound term means 'those that use "ngaanya" to say "this"'...

, and others) is relative, being based on a single prominent word which distinguishes it from its near neighbour Pitjantjatjara. The latter has pitjantja (in the present tense pitjanyi) for 'coming/going' while Yankunytjatjara has yankunyta (present tense yananyi). The ending -tjara is the comitative suffix and means 'having'. Thus Yankunytjatjara means 'to have yankunytja ' as opposed to Pitjantjatjara which has pitjantja.

Alternatively, the northernmost Yankunytjatjara and parts of Southern Luritja both have the word maṯu 'true' and so are sometimes grouped together as Maṯutjara to contrast with the Southern Yankunytjatjara who use mula for 'true' and so can be referred to as Mulatjara.

Pronunciation of the name

The name Pitjantjatjara is usually pronounced (in normal, fast speech) with one of the repeated syllables -tja- deleted, thus: pitjantjara. In slow, careful speech all syllables will be pronounced.

Location

Yankunytjatjara is found in the north-west of South Australia and is one of the most easterly of the Western Desert dialects, being spoken around the communities of Mimili, Indulkana and Fregon and across to Oodnadatta and Coober Pedy (although this latter is not on traditional Yankunytjatjara land).

Vitality

There seems to be no exhaustive evidence on the vitality of Yankunytjatjara. McConvell & Thieberger found Yankunytjatjara to be endangered based mainly on the Census of 1996. In 2005 the National Indigenous Language Survey, based on a more comprehensive survey, concluded that Yankunytjatjara was ‘definitely endangered’.
Naessan, using the 2003 UNESCO framework, gave a mark of 22/23 out of 35 (in its most condensed spot), quite a low score. If some factors that Naessan feels are unimportant in most indigenous languages are ignored, Yankunytjatjara scores 14/15 out of 20 (in its densest area). However he argues that since recent surveys have included these factors, to include them may be more helpful for cross referencing. To a lesser extent he feels that, since Western Desert people own some media sources (radio station etc.), such factors should be included. He concludes a 57-65% vitality.

Both schemas indicate that Yankunytjatjara shows symptoms of endangerment (although how endangered is a subject of debate), which agrees with the Yankunytjatjara elders that Naessan spoke with, as well as with the assessments of most linguists who have worked in the area.

External links

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