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Location: South of Fitzroy Crossing and Christmas Creek valleys from Noonkanbah; east to Cummins Range; south on the line of the Canning Stock Route to Well 47 (Tindale).
1. Names of the language and different spellings that have been used:
Bililuna dialect
Jiwarliny
Juwaliny
Tjiwaling (Tindale)
Tjiwarlin
Walmadjari (Capell)
Walmadjeri (Worms)
Walmadyeri
Walmaharri (Matthews)
Walmatjari (Hudson)
Walmatjiri (Douglas)
Wolmatjeri (Kabery)
Wolmera
Wolmeri (O'Grady, Oates)
Wulumari
2. Classification of the language:
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966): Ngumpin
Identification codes:AIATSIS:A.66
Capell (1963):A.35
Oates (1975):59.7b
3. Dialects of the language:
Juwarliny (west) (Hudson 1990 p.c.)
Bililuna /Lake Gregory (east)
4. Present number and distribution of speakers:
Hudson (1978): over 1,000 speakers at Fitzroy Crossing, Looma, East Kimberleys.
Around 2,000 speakers altogether.
5. People who have worked intensively to record the language:
Joyce Hudson and Eirlys Richards (since the late 1960s)
6. Practical spelling system:
Hudson and Richards have developed a practical spelling system. The same one is used at La Grange School for Juwarliny.
7. Word lists:
Hudson (1978)
Hudson and Richards (1978)
Richards and Hudson (1991)
8. Texts:
See section 12 below for a partial list of texts available.
Hudson (1970,1978)
9. Grammar or sketch grammar:
Hudson (1978)
10. Language programmes:
Kulkarriya Community School (Noonkanbah) has included a language programme for several years. Fitzroy Crossing State School has had a small segment of Walmajarri language learning, as has Nulungu College in Broome. Lake Gregory, Billiluna, Gogo and La Grange also use Walmajarri in their school programmes.
11. Language learning material
Hudson, J. and M.Chuguna (1977) Oral Walmatjari language learning course (31 lessons), ts.
Hudson, J. and E. Richards (1984) Walmatjari language learning drills, SIL, Darwin.
Hudson, J. and E. Richards (1974) Some introductory drills for learning Walmatjari, SIL, Fitzroy Crossing.
12. Literature in the language:
A great deal of literature in Walmajarri has been produced. The following list is just some of them (not all are available).
Bieundurry, O. (1974) Kartiyawarnti ngayiwarnti: Walmatjari, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. (1973) Ruwa kuyingalyanu, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. (1974a) Kalpiya, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. (1974c) Minaji, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. (1974d) Nyiman, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. (1974e) Wanyjirri kamparnuwu, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. and O. Bieundurry (1973) Purlumanu mungkurrpungu, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. and P. Siddon (1973) Wangkiwanti kutawanti Walmatjari, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J. and P. Siddon (1974) Wangkiwanti kutawanti, SIL, Darwin.
Charles, J., P. Siddon and O. Bieundurry (1973) Kuyiwanti, SIL, Darwin.
Hudson, J., E. Richards, M. Chuguna and T. May (1977a) Read Walmajarri 1: Wangki man Walmajarri ririmmalku 1, SIL, Darwin.
Hudson, J., E. Richards, M. Chuguna and T. May (1977b) Read Walmajarri 2: Wangki man Walmajarri ririmmalku 2, SIL, Darwin.
Hudson, J., J. Charles, P. Siddon, P. Skipper and T. May (n.d.)Wangki votingpurru, WA Education Department, Perth.
King, F. (1973) Linykurrarula pa piyirn ngarni.
May, T. (1976) Jawanti (translated into Walmajarri by O. Bieundurry), SIL,Darwin.
May, T. (1982) 'Ngalimpakurra ngurra', pp.20-21 in Ngali.
Malapuka, L. and J. Charles (1973) Manawanti ngartakpanujangka, SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. and J. Hudson (1970a) Mayaruwanti, SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. and J. Hudson (1970b) Pampita, SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. and J. Hudson (1971) Kuyi payipulajangka, SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. and J. Hudson (1976) Linykurra, SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. and J. Hudson (n.d.) Wangki (Word), SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. and J. Hudson with M. Chuguna and T. May (1977) Read Walmajarri, wangki man Walmajarri ritimmalku 1 and 2 and 3, SIL, Darwin.
Siddon, P. (1978) Wangki jiljingajangka mayarujangka, SIL, Darwin.
Siddon, P. and Charles, J. (1973) Ruwa yanu, SIL, Darwin.
Skipper, P. (1973) Yawatalu piyin tarapinya, SIL, Darwin.
Skipper, P. (1974) Purlumanu parayyanany piyirntu, SIL, Darwin.
Skipper, P. (1978) Nganpayi pujman, SIL, Darwin.
Skipper, P. (1979) Wangkiwarnti jiljingajangkawarnti, SIL, Darwin.
Skipper, P. and P. Siddon (1975) Mirrijin, SIL, Darwin.
Summer Institute of Linguistics-AAB (1984a) Kurumpa jujujati, SIL, Darwin.
Summer Institute of Linguistics-AAB (1984b) Read Walmajarri 2, SIL, Darwin.
Summer Institute of Linguistics-AAB (n.d.) Jiriki pinanguru, SIL, Darwin.
United Aborigines Mission (1964a) Kurumpa kayan (book one in Walmatjiri), UAM, Kalgoorlie.
United Aborigines Mission (1965a) Kurumpa kuring (book two in Walmatjiri), UAM, Kalgoorlie.
United Aborigines Mission (1965b) Kurumpa kuring kuring (book four in Walmatjiri), UAM, Kalgoorlie.
United Aborigines Mission (1965c) Ngatjukura kurumpa kutatjati wangki (My book of short stories in Walmatjiri), UAM, Kalgoorlie.
Vanbee, A. (1978) Manga yurrantinya, WA Education Department, Perth.
Wanangini, A. (1978) Marnin pa lurrujarti yani, WA Education Department, Perth.
White, P.H.H. (1970) Mangki tatatwantinya (translated from White's English text), WBT, Darwin.
White, P.H.H. (1971) Nguriji (translated from White's English text), WBT, Darwin.
White, P.H.H. (1972) Mangki pajanujuwal (translated from White's English text), WBT, Darwin.
There are also religious materials, including a volume of translations from the Bible: Wycliffe Bible Translators (1985) Wangki wulyu jirrkirlikanjuwal, Scripture selections in Walmajarri, WBT, Darwin.
13. Material available:
(see section 5 (Bibliography) for annotations on the following works)
Berndt, R.M. (1972) 'The Walmadjeri and Gugadga' in M.G. Bicchieri, (ed.) Hunters and gatherers today, Holt, Rhinehart and Wilson, New York.
Bieundurry, O. (1980a) 'Claiming a pension', p.13 in Ngali, SAL, Batchelor.
Bieundurry, O. (1980b) 'Mother-in-law in court', pp.10-12 in Ngali, SAL, Batchelor.
Bieundurry, O. (1980c) 'The Aboriginal Development Commission Bill', pp.21-28 in Ngali, SAL, Batchelor.
Brandenstein, C.G. von (1985) Totemic affiliations to sections and subsections in the Fitzroy Basin, MS.
Capell, A. (1940a) 'The classification of languages in North and North-west Australia', pp.241-272, in Oceania, Vol.10, no.3; pp.404-433 Vol.10, no.4.
Hale, K.(n.d.b) Language elicitation (audiotapes).
Hudson, J. (1970) Walmatjari paragraph types, ts.
Hudson, J. (1973b) Walmatjari word list, SIL, Darwin.
Hudson, J. (1976a) 'Simple and compound verbs: conjugation by auxiliaries in Australia verbal systems; 82: Walmatjari', pp.653-667 in R.M.W. Dixon, (ed.) Grammatical categories in Australian languages, AIAS, Canberra.
Hudson, J. (1976b) 'The derivational affix 'having'; 10: Walmatjari', pp.205-208 in R.M.W. Dixon, (ed.) Grammatical categories in Australian languages, AIAS, Canberra.
Hudson, J. (1976c) 'Walmatjari: nominative-ergative or nominative-accusative?', pp.1-30 in Papers in Australian linguistics No.9, Pacific Linguistics, A-42, Canberra.
Hudson, J. (1978a) The core of Walmatjari grammar, AIAS, Canberra.
Hudson, J. (1980) A tentative analysis of illocutionary verbs in Walmatjari, ts.
Hudson, J. (1981b) Grammatical and semantic aspects of Fitzroy Valley Kriol, MA thesis, ANU.
Hudson, J. (1981c) 'Some features of high level phonology in Walmatjari', pp.245-257 in B. Waters, (ed.) Australian phonologies: collected papers, Work papers of SIL-AAB, Series A 5, SIL, Darwin.
Hudson, J. (1983a) Grammatical and semantic aspects of Fitzroy Valley Kriol, SIL-AAB, Darwin.
Hudson, J. and W. McGregor (1986) How to spell words in South Kimberley languages, Catholic Ed/ KLRC.
Hudson, J. and E. Richards (1969) 'The phonology of Walmatjari', pp.171-189 in Oceanic Linguistics, Vol.8.
Hudson, J. and E. Richards (1978) Dictionary Walmatjari to English and English to Walmatjari, ts.
Hudson, J. and E. Richards (1984) Walmatjari language learning drills, SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. and J. Hudson (1990) Walmajarri - English Dictionary, SIL, Darwin.
Hudson, J., E. Richards, P. Siddon and P. Skipper (1976) The Walmatjari: an introduction to the language and culture, Work papers of SIL-AAB B 1, SIL, Darwin.
Kaberry, P.M. (1937) 'Notes on the languages of east Kimberley, north-Australia' pp.90-103 in Oceania, Vol.8, no.1.
Kolig, E. (1972) 'Bi:n and Gadeja', pp.1-18 in Oceania, Vol.43, no.1.
Kolig, E. (1981) The silent revolution: the effects of modernization on Australian Aboriginal religion, Institute for the Study of Human Issues, Philadelphia.
Mathews, R.H. (1901) 'Some Aboriginal tribes of Western Australia', pp.217-222 in Royal Society of New South Wales, Journal and Proceedings, Vol.35.
McKelson, K.R. (1983) [Languages spoken at La Grange, Fitzroy Crossing, Broome, Port Hedland areas of Western Australia], ts.
McKelson, K.R. (n.d.a) A comparative study of pronouns, ts.
Menning, K. and D. Nash (1981) Sourcebook for Central Australian languages, IAD, Alice Springs.
Merlan, F.C. (1979) 'On the prehistory of some Australian verbs', pp.33-112, Oceanic Linguistics, Vol.18, no.1.
Moyle, A.M. (n.d.) Songs (audiotape).
Nekes, H. (1939) 'The pronoun in the Nyol-Nyol (Nyul-Nyul) and related dialects', in A.P. Elkin, (ed.) Studies in Australian linguistics, Oceania Linguistic Monographs No.3.
O'Grady, G.N. (1967a) [Audiotape recordings from Carnarvon, La Grange, Marble Bar and De Grey River area] ( audiotape ).
O'Grady, G.N. (1968) Notes, MS.
O'Grady, G.N., C.F. Voegelin and F.M. Voegelin (1966) 'Languages of the world: Indo-Pacific fascicle 6', pp.1-197 in Anthropological Linguistics, Vol.8, no.2.
Peile, A.R. (1965c) [Letter to AIAS], Beagle Bay Mission, 27 June 1965.
Peile, A.R. (1968) Linguistic routine report, January 1968.
Richards, E. (1979a) Scripture cassettes (in Walmajarri).
Richards, E. (1979b) 'The Walmatjari noun phrase', pp.93-128 in C.A. Kilham, (ed.) Work Papers of SIL-AAB, SIL, Darwin.
Richards, E. (1982) 'Walmajarri language and the Noonkanbah community', pp.43-46 in J. Bell, (ed.) A collection of papers presented at the second meeting of the Aboriginal Languages Association, IAD/ALA, Alice Springs.
Richards, E. (n.d.) Pinarri: introducing Aboriginal languages in Kimberley schools KLRC/ SIL, Berrimah.
Richards, E. and J. Fraser (1975) 'A comparison and contrasting of the noun phrases of Walmatjari with the noun phrases of Fitzroy Crossing children's pidgin'. Paper presented to the 7th meeting of the ALS, Sydney, MS.
Tindale, N.B. (1952-54) Field journal of Norman B. Tindale: 18th expedition under the auspices of Board for Anthropological Research, University of Adelaide and the University of California at Los Angeles, 1952-1954 (ts and MS).
Worms, E.A. (1937-38) 'Onomatopoeia in some Kimberley tribes of North-West Australia', pp.453-457 in Oceania, Vol.8.
Worms, E.A. (1950) 'Feuer und Feuererzeuger in Sage und Brauch der Nordwest Australier', pp.145-164 in Anthropos, Vol.48.
Wycliffe Bible Translators (1985) Wangki wulyu jirrkirlikanjuwal, WBT, Darwin.