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'Western Desert Language' is the name used to refer to an otherwise un-named Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama-Nyungan family.

Contents

Location and list of communities

Dialect continuum

Dialects

Language

Status of the language

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Orthography

References

External links

Location and list of communities

The speakers of the various dialects of the Western Desert Language traditionally lived across much of the desert areas of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Most Western Desert people live in communities on or close to their traditional lands, although some now live in one of the towns fringing the desert area such as Kalgoorlie, Laverton, Alice Springs, Port Augusta, Meekatharra, Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing.
The following is a partial list of Western Desert communities:

★ Kintore, Northern Territory

★ Docker River, Northern Territory

★ Ernabella, South Australia

★ Amata, South Australia

★ Fregon, South Australia

★ Pipalyatjara, South Australia

★ Kalka, South Australia

★ Warburton, Western Australia

★ Kiwirrkura, Western Australia

★ Balgo, Western Australia

Dialect continuum

The Western Desert Language consists of a chain of closely related dialects; the names of some of these have become quite well-known (such as Pitjantjatjara) and are often referred to as 'languages'. As the whole group of dialects which constitutes the language does not have its own name it is usually referred to as the ''Western Desert Language''. WDL speakers referring to the overall language use various terms including ''wangka'' 'language' or ''wangka yuti'' 'clear speech'. For native speakers this language is mutually intelligible across its entire range.

Dialects

Some of the named varieties of the Western Desert Language are:

★ Pitjantjatjara

★ Yankunytjatjara

★ Ngaanyatjarra

★ Ngaatjatjarra

★ Pintupi

★ Pintupi Luritja

★ Luritja

★ Titjikala Luritja

★ Manyjilyjarra

★ Warnman

★ Kartutjarra

★ Watha

★ Wawula

★ Kukatja

★ Kukatj

★ Martu Wangka

★ Yulparirra

★ Putitjarra

★ Wangkatjunga

Language

Status of the language

The Western Desert Language has thousands of speakers, making it one of the strongest indigenous Australian languages. The language is still being transmitted to children and has substantial amounts of literature, particularly in the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara dialects in South Australia where there was formerly a long-running bilingual program.

Phonology

In the following tables of the WDL sound system, symbols in 'boldface' give a typical practical orthography used by many WDL communities. Further details of orthographies in use in different areas is given below. Phonetic values in IPA are shown in [square brackets].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	'i' , 'ii'		'u' , 'uu'
Open		'a' , 'aa'

The Western Desert Language has the common (for Australia) three-vowel system with a length distinction creating a total of six possible vowels.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	'p'	't'	'rt'	'tj'	'k'
Nasal	'm'	'n'	'rn'	'ny'	'ng'
Trill		'rr'
Lateral		'l'	'rl'	'ly'
Approximant	'w'		'r'	'y'

As shown in the chart, the WDL distinguishes five positions of articulation, and has oral and nasal stops at each position. The oral stops have no phonemic voice distinction, but display voiced and unvoiced allophones; stops are usually unvoiced at the beginning of a word, and voiced elsewhere. In both positions they are usually unaspirated. There are no fricative consonants.

Orthography

While the dialects of the WDL have very similar phonologies there are several different orthographies in use, resulting from different histories of language research and educational policies.

References

★ Goddard, C. 1985. ''A Grammar of Yankunytjatjara''. Alice Springs: IAD.

External links

★ Ngapartji Online course of Pitjantjatjara language, and related performance event 2006.
Ethnologue does not have an entry for the Western Desert Language, but has a number of entries which deal with one of the dialects.

★ Ethnologue report on Antikirinya

★ Ethnologue report on Kokata

★ Ethnologue report on Kukatja

★ Ethnologue report on Martu Wangka

★ Ethnologue report on Ngaanyatjarra

★ Ethnologue report on Pintupi-Luritja

★ Ethnologue report on Pitjantjatjara

★ Ethnologue report on Yankunytjatjara

★ 'Western Desert' section of ''Handbook of Western Australian Aboriginal Languages South of the Kimberley''