Walmajarri language

Walmajarri
Region	Western Australia
Native speakers	500 (2005) to 520 (2006 census)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Ngumpin–Yapa Ngumbin Walmajarri
Dialects	Walmatjarri Tjuwalinj Pililuna
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wmt
Glottolog	walm1241
AIATSIS	A66

Walmajarri (many other names; see below) is a Pama–Nyungan language spoken in Western Australia.

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

The Speakers

Communities with a Walmajarri population are:

• Bayulu
• Djugerari (Cherrabun)
• Junjuwa (Fitzroy Crossing)
• Looma
• 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. Subsequent events 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 polarized by the lack of contact and further influenced by neighbouring languages.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i, iː	u, uː
Low	a, aː

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Stop	p	k	c	t	ʈ
Nasal	m	ŋ	ɲ	n	ɳ
Lateral			ʎ	l	ɭ
Rhotic				r
Approximant	w		j		ɻ

Morphology

Warlmajarri is a suffixing language. There are no prefixes.

Syntax

Warlmajarri has 4 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.

References

• 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)