Marbal (Marbul) is a dialect of the

Yugambal language Yugambal (Yugumbal, Jukambal), or Yugumbil (Jukambil), is an Australian Aboriginal language of northern New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in Austr ...

that was spoken around

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. At the , Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to its development as a ...

in northern New England, Australia. Macpherson (1905) describes the Marbal language as being spoken around Tenterfield, and notes that it is closely related to Ngarrabul and Yugambal. Tindale (1974) speculates that Marbal or Marbul is in fact a mishearing of

Ngarabal The Ngarabal are an Aboriginal people of the area from Ashford, Tenterfield and Glen Innes in northern New South Wales, Australia. Language Ngarabal was still spoken in the area around Glen Innes, Stonehenge and Emmaville when John MacPherson p ...

and not a separate language dialect. There is very little surviving information about Marbal, although Curr (1886–1887) does provide an anonymous word list for the Tenterfield region, that is presumed by Dixon (1976) among others to be a basic Marbal vocabulary.Wafer, J.W., Wafer, J., Lissarrague, A., Harkins, J. (2008). A Handbook of Aboriginal Languages of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative

References

{{reflist Extinct languages of New South Wales Yuin–Kuric languages