Yankunytjatjara (also Yankuntatjara, Jangkundjara, or Kulpantja) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

. It is one of the

Wati languages The Wati languages are the dominant Pama–Nyungan languages of central Australia. They include the moribund Wanman language and the Western Desert dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties sp ...

, belonging to the large Pama–Nyungan family. It is one of the many varieties of the Western Desert Language, all of which 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 ...

. Yankunytjatjara is spoken in the north-west of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and is one of the most easterly of the Western Desert dialects, being spoken around the communities of Mimili, Indulkana and Fregon and across to

Oodnadatta Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback road ...

and Coober Pedy (although this latter is not on traditional Yankunytjatjara land).

Dialects

Yankunytjatjara is one of the many dialects of the Western Desert language and is very similar to the better known, more widely spoken

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...

. According to a study carried out mainly in

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...

where many speakers of both varieties reside (although the town is on what was traditionally

Arabana The Arabana, also known as the Ngarabana, are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia. Name The older tribal Exonym and endonym, autonym was Ngarabana, which may have been misheard by white settlers as Arabana, the term now generall ...

lands), young speakers of Yankunytjatjara often borrow words from

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and also from Pitjantjatjara (which has expanded eastwards into Yankunytjatjara country and beyond).Naessan, Petter (2008) 'Some tentative remarks on the sociolinguistic vitality of Yankunytjatjara in Coober Pedy, South Australia', ''Australian Journal of Linguistics'', 28:2,103 — 138 Yankunytjatjara shows some variation across its range with, for example, Northern Yankunytjatjara sharing features with Southern

Luritja The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte p ...

.Goddard, Cliff (1987) A Basic Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara to English dictionary, N.T.: Institute for Aboriginal Development

Phonology

Vowels

* are realized as when preceding laminal consonants.

Consonants

* can be trilled when pronounced emphatically, or may also occur as voiceless in word-final position.

Name

The name used for Yankunytjatjara is based on a single prominent word, the verb for 'come/go', which distinguishes it from its near neighbour, Pitjantjatjara. The latter has (in the present tense ) for this verb while Yankunytjatjara has (present tense ).Goddard (1996) The ending is the

comitative In grammar, the comitative case (; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case that denotes accompaniment. In English, the preposition "with", in the sense of "in company with" or "together with", plays a substantially similar role (other uses of "with", l ...

suffix, and means 'having' or 'with'. Thus Yankunytjatjara means 'to have ' as opposed to Pitjantjatjara which has . Alternatively, the northernmost Yankunytjatjara and parts of Southern Luritja both have the word 'true' and so are sometimes grouped together as Maṯutjara to contrast them with the Southern Yankunytjatjara who use for 'true' and so can be referred to as Mulatjara. Another classification used by speakers groups Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara together as Nyangatjatjara as they both use for the demonstrative 'this' or 'this one'; this contrasts them with Ngaanyatjara, which has for the demonstrative and Nyanganyatjara varieties (still further west) which have .

Pronunciation

The name ''Yankunytjatjara'' is usually pronounced (in normal, fast speech) with one of the repeated syllables deleted, thus: . In slow, careful speech all syllables will be pronounced.Goddard (1985)

Status

There seems to be no exhaustive evidence on the vitality of Yankunytjatjara. McConvell & Thieberger found Yankunytjatjara to be endangered based mainly on the Census of 1996. In 2005 the National Indigenous Language Survey, based on a more comprehensive survey, concluded that Yankunytjatjara was 'definitely endangered'.McConvell, Patrick, D. Marmion and S. McNichol. (2005) 'Report of the National Indigenous Language Survey of Australia ' Canberra: DCITA/AIATSIS/FATSIL Naessan, using the 2003 UNESCO framework, gave a mark of 22/23 out of 35 (in its most condensed spot), quite a low score. If some factors that Naessan feels are unimportant in most indigenous languages are ignored, Yankunytjatjara scores 14/15 out of 20 (in its densest area). However, he argues that since recent surveys have included these factors, they may be more helpful for cross referencing. To a lesser extent he feels that, since Western Desert people own some media sources (radio station etc.), such factors should be included. He concludes a 57–65% vitality. Both schemas indicate that Yankunytjatjara shows symptoms of endangerment (although ''how'' endangered is a subject of debate), which coincides with the beliefs of the Yankunytjatjara elders that Naessan spoke with, as well as with the assessments of most linguists who have worked in the area.

Notes

References

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