Yintyingka

Last updated

The Yintyingka, now extinct, were an Indigenous Australian people of central and eastern Cape York Peninsula.

Contents

Language

The Yintyingka language belonged to the Middle Paman language branch [1] of the Pama-Nyungan language family, and was closely related to the Ayabadhu language, to the point that they are regarded as dialects of the one language.

Ecology and society

The Yintyingka broke down into two distinct blocks, those clan groups, often referred to as Sandbeach people, with a maritime economy living off coastal estates on the plains and savannahs near or along the eastern shores of the Cape York Peninsula, and inland clans, across the Great Dividing Range, constituted by the Ayapathu, centering around the headwaters of the Lukin and Holroyd rivers, whose economy was based on the hinterland's riverine ecology. [2] To the north of the Yintyingka people were the Umpila people, while to their west, north of the Ayapathu, were the Kaantju tribe. On the coast to their south were the Umpilthamu, and further inland, the Olkola and the Rimanggudinha. [2]

History

The traditional tribal areas of the coast were deeply affected by the rapid development of the beche-de-mer and pearling industries after the 1860s, when men, women and children from the tribe were recruited to work on the luggers that plied the waters offshore. In the 1880s, a gold boom, pastoralist expansion and the arrival of many labourers to build the Cape York Peninsula telegraph line, also contributed to a disintegrating impact. The first pastoralists, the Massey brothers, Glen Harry and Charlie, had repeated clashes with the indigenous estate owners, whom they regarded as pilferers of the cattle stock they had introduced in the region. They and the native troopers recruited to that end, exacted revenge by clearing out districts. The male line of the coastal Yintyingka became extinct by the end of the first half of the 20th century, their territorial rights shifting by descent and succession rights to the Lamalama people living in Port Stewart. [3]

Ethnography

The earliest anthropologists to take notes down on the Yintyingka were Norman B. Tindale in 1927 and Donald Thomson in 1928 and 1929, [4] the fieldwork notes made by the latter in particular being considered 'the single most important source of material' on the language. [5] The only sound recordings made that supply scholars with audio evidence for language's precise phonology were made by La Mont West, Jr on two occasions, in 1961 and 1965.

Notes and references

Notes

Related Research Articles

Kuku-Thaypan is an extinct Paman language spoken on the southwestern part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia, by the Kuku-Thaypan people. The language was sometimes called Alaya or Awu Alaya. Koko-Rarmul may have been a dialect, though Bowern (2012) lists Gugu-Rarmul and Kuku-Thaypan as separate languages. The last native speaker, Tommy George, died on 29 July 2016 in Cooktown Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dharawal</span> Australian Aboriginal people of southern and south western areas of Sydney

The Tharawal people and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Yuin language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, scattered along the coastal area of what is now the Sydney basin in New South Wales.

The Wik peoples are an Indigenous Australian group of people from an extensive zone on western Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, speaking several different languages. They are from the coastal flood plains bounding the Gulf of Carpentaria lying between Pormpuraaw and Weipa, and inland the forested country drained by the Archer, Kendall and Holroyd rivers. The first ethnographic study of the Wik people was undertaken by the Queensland born anthropologist Ursula McConnel. Her fieldwork focused on groups gathered into the Archer River Mission at what is now known as Aurukun.

The Burarra people, also referred to as the Gidjingali, are an Aboriginal Australian people in and around Maningrida, in the heart of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Opinions have differed as to whether the two names represent different tribal realities, with the Gidjingali treated as the same as, or as a subgroup of the Burarra, or as an independent tribal grouping. For the purposes of this encyclopedia, the two are registered differently, though the ethnographic materials on both may overlap with each other.

Umpithamu, also spelt Umbindhamu, is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.

Ayabadhu (Ayapathu), or Badhu, is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Paman family spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of North Queensland, Australia by the Ayapathu people. The Ayabadhu language region includes the Cook Shire and the areas around Coen and Port Stewart.

The Ayapathu people, otherwise known as the Ayabadhu or Aiyaboto, were an Indigenous Australian group, living on the western side of the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.

Bruce Rigsby was an American-Australian anthropologist specializing in the languages and ethnography of native peoples on both continents. He was professor emeritus at Queensland University, and a member of both the Australian Anthropological Society and the American Anthropological Association.

The Pakadji people, also known by the southern tribal exonym as the Koko Yao, are an Aboriginal Australian group of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. The ethnonym Koko Yaʼo is said literally to mean " talk, speech" (koko/kuku) 'this way' (yaʼo), though this has been questioned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uutaalnganu</span> Group of Aboriginal Australians

The Uutaalnganu people, also known as Night Island Kawadji, are an Aboriginal Australian group of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. The name is also used collectively for several peoples in this area, such as the Pontunj / Jangkonj (Yanganyu), whose language is unconfirmed.

The Umpila people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. The majority of the remnant of the Umpila now live in Lockhart.

The Lama Lama, also spelt Lamalama, are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. The term was formerly used as one of the ethnonyms associated with a distinct tribe or clan group, the Bakanambia. They are today an aggregation of remnants of several former tribes or clan groups.

The Umpithamu, also once known to ethnographers as the Koko Ompindamo, are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. Norman Tindale, transcribing their ethnonym Umpithamu as Umbindhamu, referred to them as a horde of the Barungguan.

The Pontunj, also called the Yankonyu, are a contemporary Indigenous Australian people of the eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.

The Kokokulunggur are an indigenous Australian people of North Queensland.

The Ajabakan were an indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland.

The Mutumui were an indigenous Australian people of northern Queensland.

The Dingaal people, also known as Walmbarddha or Walmbaria, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.

The Wikatinda were an indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland. They were one of the Wik peoples, but their language is unattested.

The Wuthathi, also known as the Mutjati, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland. Anthropologist Norman Tindale distinguished the Mutjati from the Otati, whereas AIATSIS treats the two ethnonyms as variants related to the one ethnic group, the Wuthathi.

References

  • Rigsby, Bruce (1999). "Genealogies, kinship and local group composition: Old Yintjingga (Port Stewart) in the late 1920s" (PDF). In Finlayson, Julie D.; Rigsby, Bruce; Bek, Hilary (eds.). Connections in Native Title: Genealogies, Kinship and Groups. Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research. pp. 107–123. ISBN   0-7315-5100-1.
  • Verstraete, Jean-Christophe; Rigsby, Bruce (2015). A Grammar and Lexicon of Yintyingka. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   978-1-614-51900-3.