Wambaya is a Non-Pama-Nyungan West Barkly Australian language of the Mirndi language group[4] that is spoken in the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Territory, Australia.[5] Wambaya and the other members of the West Barkly languages are somewhat unusual in that they are suffixing languages, unlike most Non-Pama-Nyungan languages which are prefixing.[4]
| Wambaya | |
|---|---|
| McArthur River | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Barkly Tableland, Northern Territory |
| Ethnicity | Wambaya, Gudanji, Binbinga |
Native speakers | 43 (2021 census)[1] (24 Wambaya; 19 Gudanji) |
Language family | |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:wmb – Wambayanji – Gudanji |
| Glottolog | wamb1258 |
| AIATSIS[2] | C19 Wambaya, C26 Gurdanji, N138 Binbinga |
| ELP | Wambaya |
| Binbinka[3] | |
The language was reported to have 12 speakers in 1981, and some reports indicate that the language went extinct as a first language.[6] However, in the 2011 Australian census 56 people stated that they speak Wambaya at home.[7] That number increased to 61 in the 2016 Census.[8]
Rachel Nordlinger notes that the speech of the Wambaya, Gudanji and Binbinka people "are clearly dialects" of a single language, which she calls "McArthur", while Ngarnga is closely related but is "probably best considered a language of its own".[9]
Australian Aboriginal and Tasmanian languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pama–Nyungan subgroups |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tangkic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Garrwan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Macro-Gunwinyguan ? |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iwaidjan |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marrku–Wurrugu ? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darwin Region ? |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Daly River Sprachbund |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mirndi |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jarrakan |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bunuban |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Worrorran | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nyulnyulan |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| isolates | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tasmanian family-level groups |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This Australian Aboriginal languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |