Ngiyambaa language

Ngiyambaa
Region New South Wales
Native speakers
2 (2005)[1]
Dialects
  • Wangaaybuwan
  • Wayilwan (Wailwan)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 wyb
Glottolog wang1291[2]
AIATSIS[1] D22

The Ngiyambaa language is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup. It was the traditional language of the Wangaaybuwan and Wayilwan peoples of New South Wales, Australia, but is now moribund; according to Donaldson by the 1970s there were only about ten people fluent in Wangaaybuwan, whilst there were only a couple of Wayilwan speakers left.

Ngiyambaa (meaning language), or Ngiyambaambuwali, was also used by the Waangaybuwan and Wayilwan to describe themselves, whilst 'Waangaybuwan' and 'Wayilwan' (meanining 'With Waangay/Wayil' (for 'no') were used to distinguish both the language and the speakers from others who did not have wangaay/wayil for no.

Other Names

Other names for Ngiyambaa are: Giamba, Narran, Noongaburrah, Ngampah, Ngemba, Ngeumba, Ngiamba, Ngjamba, Ngiyampaa, Ngumbarr; Wangaaybuwan is also called Wongaibon, and Wayilwan is also called Wailwan, Weilwan or Wailwun.

References

  1. 1 2 Ngiyambaa at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Wangaaybuwan-Ngiyambaa". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.



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