Click on a language name to go to the relevant page.
Introduction
Most of the language work done in this geographical area has been conducted in the past thirty years. Prior to that there was interest in the kinship terminology of languages of the area, reflected in the number of works dealing with Kariyarra kin terms. Hale and O'Grady were the first to study the structure of the languages in the 1960s.
Texts in languages of the area were produced by Brandenstein (1970) and Butler and Austin (1984, 1986).The most detailed studies have been those of Austin, Brandenstein and Dench.
Tindale (1974) reports the following names for which nothing more is known about the language:
Jinigudira: North-West Cape and its peninsula to a line between the bottom of the Exmouth Gulf and Whaleback Hills, at Point Cloates. Austin (p.c.) suggests that Yinikurtira is the name of a local group of Thalanyji speakers living on Yinikurti (Cardabia Creek) and Giralia Range (-ra is a suffix for naming people after places).
Jadira: Middle waters of the Cane and Robe Rivers from south of Mount Minnie north to the Fortescue River.
Jaburara: (Yaburrara) Dampier and Burrup, Nickol Bay,'a dialect related to Ngarluma' (p.242). Austin and Brandenstein (p.c.) both suggest this name is derived from yapurru (north) and the suffix -ra (see the comment for Yinikurtira, above), and hence means 'northerners'.
Mandara: Ophthalmia Range and on the plateau at the head of Turee and Weediwolli creeks; south to Prairie Downs (Mt Newman).
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966) list Wadiwangga on the basis of a vocabulary collected by Paterson in 1960, as a member of the Kanyara subgroup.
General Work
