4.4.13 Thalanyji

Location: Head of Exmouth Gulf, North-West Cape, inland to the Ashburton River about Nanutarra. Tindale shows Thalanyji extending along the coast east and west of Onslow.
1. Names of the language and different spellings that have been used:
Djalandji
Djalandji
Mulgarnu
Talaindji
Talanjee
Tallainga
Tallainji (Bates)
Thalanyji (Austin)
2. Classification of the language:
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966): Kanyara
Identification codes:AIATSIS:W 26
Capell (1963):A.7 and W.10
Oates (1975):51.1a
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966) say that Thalanyji and Purduna are dialects of a single language.
3. Dialects of the language:
Austin (1987 p.c.) says there are two main dialects of Thalanyji, northern and southern, on the basis of some lexical difference and of different allative suffixes (north -karta, south -pura).
Yinikurtira are associated with North-West Cape and Cape Range.
4. Present number and distribution of speakers:
Austin (1988 p.c.) says there are 12 speakers of Thalanji and many partial speakers.
5. People who have worked intensively to record the language:
Peter Austin (1978 to the present)
6. Practical spelling system:
Austin has developed one.
7. Word lists:
Austin (1979a, 1984b, 1990)
Brandenstein (1973a)
Davidson (1932)
O'Grady (1959)
Paterson (1957)
Tindale (1957b)
8. Texts:
Austin (1986g)
Brandenstein (1973a)
O'Grady (n.d.c)
9. Grammar or sketch grammar:
Austin (n.d.a)
10. Language programmes:
Onslow High School has run language programmes using Thalanyji.
11. Language learning material:
Austin (1990)
12. Literature in the language:
The Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre has been preparing material.
13. Material available:
(see section 5 (Bibliography) for annotations on the following works)
Austin, P. (1978) Fieldnotes - Dargari, Dhalandji, Yinggarda, Bayungu, Burduna, Dyiwarli, Binigura, Dyururu., MS.
Austin, P. (1979a) A word list of the Kanyara languages, ts.
Austin, P. (1981a) 'Case marking in southern Pilbara languages', pp.211-226 in Australian Journal of Linguistics, Vol.1, no.2.
Austin, P. (1981d) Southern Pilbara fieldnotes - Notebook 7.
Austin, P. (1982c) Southern Pilbara phonology revisited. Paper presented at the ALS Annual Conference, Sydney, ts.
Austin, P. (1983a) 'Southern Pilbara dictionaries', pp.1-17 in P. Austin, (ed.) Papers in Australian linguistics No.15: Australian Aboriginal lexicography, Pacific Linguistics, A-66, Canberra.
Austin, P. (1983b) Southern Pilbara fieldnotes - Notebook 8.
Austin, P. (1984b) An introductory dictionary of Thalanji, ts.
Austin, P. (1984c) Southern Pilbara fieldnotes - Notebooks 9-11.
Austin, P. (1985c) Classification of Southern Pilbara languages. Revised version of a paper presented to the Pacific Science Congress, Dunedin, New Zealand, ts.
Austin, P. (1985d) Southern Pilbara fieldnotes - Notebooks 12-14.
Austin, P. (1986c) Comparative list of Pilbara languages (computer file and ts).
Austin, P. (1986d) Database reports (computer file and ts).
Austin, P. (1986e) Gascoyne-Ashburton languages project, Project Report 4, Annotated bibliography, ts.
Austin, P. (1986g) Kanyara languages: glossed sentences and texts (computer file and ts).
Austin, P. (1986j) Project report 1: placenames, ts.
Austin, P. (1986k) Southern Pilbara phonology, ts.
Austin, P. (1987d) Gascoyne-Ashburton Project, Project Report 6, Spelling of language names, Linguistics Division, La Trobe University.
Austin, P. (1988b) 'Classification of Southern Pilbara languages', pp.1-17 in Papers in Australian linguistics No.17, Pacific Linguistics, A-71, Canberra. [Also Austin (1985c).]
Austin, P. (1990) A learner's reference dictionary of Thalanji, Western Australia, ts.
Austin, P. (n.d.a) A reference grammar of the Kanyara languages, ts.
Austin, P. (n.d.b) Vocabulary, songs, audiotapes in languages of the West Pilbara (audiotapes).
Bates, D.M. (n.d.106) Native vocabularies - Roebourne, Gascoyne, Ashburton, De Grey, ts, Section 12, 2D, ANL - MS 365 Box 48-51 (especially 2d, 4a, 4b).
Brandenstein, C.G. von (1973a) AIAS questionnaire, MS.
Brandenstein, C.G. von (1982a) Eighty-eight grammar text sheets, exemplifying grammatical, lexical and phraseological diversities as well as links of 25 Aboriginal languages from Western Australia, ts.
Brandenstein, C.G. von (n.d.b) General report on linguistic fieldwork, ts.
Carter, T. (1903) 'Birds occurring in the region of the North-West Cape', pp.30-38, 89-96, 171-177, 207-213 in Emu, Vol.3.
Davidson, D.S. (1932) Comparative vocabularies of 19 Western Australian languages, ts.
Merlan, F.C. (1979) 'On the prehistory of some Australian verbs', pp.33-112, Oceanic Linguistics, Vol.18.
Morphy, F. (1985) Working notes on Western Australian languages. Part of an ARGS project directed by R.M.W. Dixon.
O'Grady, G.N. (1957-58) Materials on the suffixing languages of Western Australia, MS.
O'Grady, G.N. (1959) Significance of the circumcision boundary in Western Australia, BA thesis, University of Sydney.
O'Grady, G.N. (1967i) Talandji, Yinggarda, Warrienga, Purduna, Warnman, Nyangumarda. Tape transcriptions, MS.
O'Grady, G.N. (n.d.c) Dalandji text, ts.
Paterson, A. (1957) Buduna, Talandji, Noala and Jindjibandi lexical test lists.
Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. (n.d.) North-west division short vocabulary, ts.
Tindale, N.B. (1957b) Talandji lexical list, MS.
Yabaroo (A.S.Cameron) (1899) Aborigines of North-West Australia: a Vocabulary etc., J.W.Barnard, Perth.

Go Back to Contents