Mbara (also known as Midjamba, Mitjamba, Ambara, Balgalu, or Bargal), and Yanga (also known as Jangaa, Janggal, Janga, Yangaa, Purkaburra) are

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

but separate Aboriginal language of Queensland, both now

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

Glottolog ''Glottolog'' is a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, developed and maintained first at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (between 2015 and 2020 at the Max Planck Institute for ...

assigns a code to a group level as Mbara-Yanga (mbar1254). Yanga is not to be confused with the

Yangga language Biri, also known as Biria, Birri Gubba, Birigaba, Wiri, Perembba and other variants, is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Mackay area of Queensland spoken by the Birri Gubba people. There are at least eight languages regarded as dialec ...

, a dialect of Biri. The Mbara and Yanga people were traditionally neighbours, along with the

Gugu-Badhun The Gugu Badhun are an Aboriginal nation whose country is located in the Upper Burdekin region of northern Queensland. Gugu Badhun country is approximately 220 km northwest of Townsville and includes the small township of Greenvale as we ...

Yirandali The Yirandhali are an indigenous Australian people, who lived in the area of the present day Shire of Flinders in the state of Queensland. Language Yirandhali may possibly. according to Robert Dixon, belong to the Maric branch of the Pama–Ny ...

Wunumara Ngawun is an extinct Mayi language once spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, by the Wunumara and Ngawun peoples. The last speaker of the language was Cherry O'Keefe (or ''Tjapun'' in the language) who died of pneumonia o ...

and

Ngawun The Ngaun were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland. Country Norman Tindale calculated that the Ngaun had a territorial estate extending over . They were present at Iffley, and eastwards as far as the Gregory Range and Saxb ...

peoples. The expansion of cattle farming and gold rushes in the second half of the nineteenth century affected the habitat of these groups. According to

AUSTLANG The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

, Yanga may be the same as

Nyangga language The Yukulta language, also spelt Yugulda, Yokula, Yukala, Jugula, and Jakula, and also known as Ganggalidda (Kangkalita, Ganggalida), is an extinct Tangkic language spoken in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia. It was spoken by the Y ...

and

Ganggalida The Yukulta people, also spelt Jokula, Jukula, and other variants, and also known as Ganggalidda or Gangalidda, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland. They may be the same as the Yanga group. Country Norman Tindale ( ...

References

{{Pama–Nyungan languages, Paman Extinct languages of Queensland Southern Pama languages