Walmajarri language

Walmajarri (many other names; see below) is a Pama–Nyungan language spoken in the Kimberley region of Western Australia by the Walmadjari and related peoples.

Walmajarri is declared a definitely endangered language by UNESCO^[4] based on their scale of Language Vitality and Endangerment.^[5]

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

Communities with a Walmajarri population are:

• Bayulu
• Djugerari (Cherrabun)
• Junjuwa (Fitzroy Crossing)
• Looma
• Kadjina (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. The effects of colonialism took them to the cattle stations, towns and missions in the North and scattered them over a wide area.^[6] The geographical distance accounts for the fact that there are several dialects, which have been further polarised by the lack of contact and further influenced by neighbouring languages.

Consonants are allowed as the final sound of a word in most cases.^[7]

Warlmajarri is a suffixing language. There are no prefixes.

At least one dictionary of Walmajarri is available online, compiled by Eirlys Richards and Joyce Hudson.^[8]

Warlmajarri has four 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.

Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981).^[9]

English	Walmatjari
man	piyirn
woman	marnin
mother	ngamatyi
father	ngarpu
head	tyurlu
eye	mil
nose	punul
ear	pina
mouth	lirra
tongue	tyalany
tooth	katiti
hand	kurrapa
breast	ngamarna
stomach	munta
urine	kumpu
faeces	kura
thigh	kantyi
foot	tyina
bone	kampukampu
blood	nungu
dog	kunyarr
snake	tyilpirtityarti
kangaroo	marlu
possum	tyampiyirnti
fish	kapi
spider	purlkartu
mosquito	kiwiny
emu	karnangantya
eaglehawk	wamulu
crow	waangkarna
sun	purangu
moon	yakarn
star	wirl
stone	pamarr
water	ngapa
camp	ngurra
fire	warlu
smoke	nguntyurr
food	miyi
meat	kuyi
stand	karri
sit	kirrantya
see	nyaka
go	yanta
get	warnta
hit, kill	pungka
I	ngatyu
you	nyuntu
one	layi
two	kurriny

Some resources of the language spoken can be found in various archives or databases, such as the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) catalogue.^[10]

• Ngurrara, a grouping of peoples of language groups including Walmajarri

• 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

• Handbook of Western Australian languages South of the Kimberly (Walmajarri)