Rembarunga language

Last updated
Rembarrnga
Rembarunga
Native to Australia
Region Northern Territory
Ethnicity Rembarrnga
Native speakers
43 (2016 census) [1]
Arnhem
Dialects
  • NE Rembarunga
  • Kaltuy (Galduyh)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 rmb
Glottolog remb1249 [2]
AIATSIS [3] N73

Rembarrnga (Rembarunga) is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Northern Non-Pama–Nyungan languages, spoken in the Roper River region of the Northern territory. There are three dialects of Rembarrnga, namely Galduyh, Gikkik and Mappurn. It is a highly endangered language, with very few remaining fluent speakers. It is very likely that the language is no longer being learned by children. Instead, the children of Rembarrnga speakers are now learning neighbouring languages such as Kriol in south central Arnhem Land, and Kunwinjku, a dialect of Bininj Gunwok, in north central Arnhem Land.

Roper River river in Australia

The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Fluent speakers of Rembarrnga currently (2015) live in the remote towns of Maningrida and Ramingining, and in nearby outstations such as Borlkdjam, Buluhkaduru and Malnyangarnak. Some other communities associated with Rembarrnga are Ankebarrbirri, Barunga, Beswick and Bulman. Neighbouring languages include Dalabon, Burarra, Ngalakan, Ngandi and the Bininj Gunwok dialects Kunwinjku and Kune.

Maningrida is an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is 500 km (311 mi) east of Darwin, and 300 km (186 mi) north east of Jabiru. At the 2016 census, Maningrida had a population of 2,308.

Ramingining is an Indigenous community in the Northern Territory, Australia, 560 km east of Darwin. It is on the edge of the Arafura Swamp in Arnhem Land. The population is approximately 800 people, though this fluctuates and there is a significant housing shortage.

Linguists who have worked with Rembarrnga speakers to produce language materials include Graham McKay, Carolyn Coleman and Adam Saulwick. Principal works on Rembarrnga include a grammar, [4] [5] a dictionary [6] and a learner's guide. [7]

Related Research Articles

Ngalakan (Ngalakgan) is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Ngalakgan people. It has not been fully acquired by children since the 1930s. It is one of the Northern Non-Pama–Nyungan languages formerly spoken in the Roper river region of the Northern Territory. It is most closely related to Rembarrnga.

Iwaidjan languages

The Iwaidjan or Yiwaidjan languages are a small family of non-Pama–Nyungan Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land.

Kunwinjku, also known by the cover term Bininj Gunwok or Mayali, is an Australian Aboriginal language in northern Australia. The Bininj Gun-Wok peoples live primarily in western Arnhem Land. There are perhaps two thousand fluent speakers in an area roughly bounded by Kakadu National Park to the west, the Arafura Sea to the north, the Blyth River to the east, and the Katherine region to the south.

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Dalabon language language

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Paakantyi (Darling language) language

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Ndjébbana, also known as Djeebbana, Kunibidji, Gunavidji, Gunivugi, or Gombudj, is a Burarran language spoken by the Kunibidji people of North-central Arnhem Land, Australia.

Gunwinggu Australian Aboriginal tribe

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Burarra is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Burarra people of Arnhem Land. It has several dialects.

Maung is an Australian aboriginal language spoken by the Maung people on the Goulburn Islands, off the north coast of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Maung is closely related to Iwaidja language which occupies the northwestern corner of the opposite mainland. This is a language that belongs to the Iwaidjan language family of Non-Pama–Nyungan languages. As of 1983, there were 200 speakers of the language.(Ethnologue)

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Macro-Gunwinyguan languages Australian Aboriginal languages

The Macro-Gunwinyguan languages, also called Arnhem or Gunwinyguan, are a family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken across eastern Arnhem Land in northern Australia. Their relationship has been demonstrated through shared morphology in their verbal inflections.

The Giimbiyu were an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their descendants having adopted the Kunwinjku language.

The Bininj Gunwok, alternatively Bininj Kunwok, a recent term referring to speakers of a dialect cluster of several mutually intelligible languages, are an indigenous Australian people of Western Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. In 2015 a spelling change was agreed to standardise the spelling across all Bininj Kunwok languages, using the 'k' instead of 'g' form, though older documents still use the 'g' form.

The Warndarang (waɳʈaraŋ) were a predominantly coastal indigenous Australian people of eastern Northern Territory. Though extinct as a distinct ethnolinguistic group, their descendants survive among the neighbouring Nunggubuyu

The Rembarrnga, otherwise known as the Rembarunga, are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.

The Dalabon or Dangbon are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.

The Gungorogone are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.

References

  1. ABS. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Rembarrnga". Glottolog 3.0 . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Rembarrnga at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  4. McKay, Graham (1975). Rembarnga : a language of central Arnhem Land. Canberra: PhD Thesis, Australian National University.
  5. Saulwick, Adam (2003). Aspects of the verb in Rembarrnga, a polysynthetic language of northern Australia: grammatical description, texts and dictionary. Melbourne: PhD Dissertation, University of Melbourne.
  6. Saulwick, Adam (2003). A first dictionary of Rembarrnga - compiled by Adam Saulwick; incorporating material recorded by Carolyn Coleman and Graham McKay. Maningrida: Maningrida Arts and Culture.
  7. Saulwick, Adam (2003). A learner's guide to the Rembarrnga language. Maningrida: Maningrida Arts and Culture.