Nyigina language

Nyikina
Nyikina
Region	Lower Fitzroy River, Western Australia
Ethnicity	Nyigina
Native speakers	61 (2016 census)
Language family	Nyulnyulan Eastern Nyikina; ;
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nyh
Glottolog	nyig1240
AIATSIS	K3
ELP	Nyikina

Last updated January 02, 2026

Nyikina (also Nyigina, Njigina) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Western Australia, spoken by the Nyigina people.

Classification

R. M. W. Dixon (2002) regards Nyikina, Warrwa, Yawuru and Jukun as a single language.

Nyikina is placed in the Nyulnyulan family of non-Pama–Nyungan languages.

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal	Apical
	Labial	Velar	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	b	ɡ	ɟ	d	ɖ
Nasal	m	ŋ	ɲ	n	ɳ
Lateral			ʎ	l	ɭ
Tap				ɾ
Approximant	w		j		ɻ

Sounds /ɟ, ɡ/, when following /l/ or in intervocalic positions, can be heard as [j, ɣ].
/ɾ/ can also occasionally occur as a trill [r].^[4]

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low	a

Phoneme	Allophones
/i/	[ i ], [ ɪ ]
/a/	[ ä ], [ ɑ ], [ ʌ ], [ æ ]
/u/	[ u ], [ ʊ ]

References

↑ "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
↑ K3 Nyikina at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
↑ This map is indicative only.
↑ Stokes, Bronwyn (1982). A Description of Nyigina, A Language of West Kimberley, Western Australia. Canberra: Australian National University.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)

Capell, A. (1952–1953). "Notes on the Njigina and Warwa tribes, N.W. Australia". Mankind. 4 (9): 351–360, 450–496. doi:10.1111/j.1835-9310.1952.tb00261.x.
Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press.
Muecke, Stephen (2004). "A Chance to Hear a Nyigina Song" . In Ryan, J. (ed.). Imagining Australia: Literature and Culture in the New New World. Wallace-Crabbe, C. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Committee on Australian Studies. pp. 123–135. ISBN 978-0-674-01573-9.
Stokes, B. (1982). A description of Nyigina, a language of the West Kimberley, Western Australia. PhD dissertation. Australian National University.

External links

The film "Mad Bastards" (2010) depicting Nyikina language and culture

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[1] "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. ABS. Retrieved 30 October 2017.

[AIATSIS-2] K3 Nyikina at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

[3] This map is indicative only.

[4] Stokes, Bronwyn (1982). A Description of Nyigina, A Language of West Kimberley, Western Australia. Canberra: Australian National University.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)

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