Nyangumarta is spoken by Indigenous Australians in the region of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 to the south and east of Lake Waukarlykarly, including Eighty Mile Beach, and part of the Great Sandy Desert

Great Sandy Desert

The Great Sandy Desert is a desert located in the North West of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions. It is the second largest desert in Australia after the Great Victoria Desert and encompasses an area of...

 inland to near Telfer

Telfer

Telfer is a surname, principally of Scottish origin, with the name deriving from Taille-fer , the Old French nickname for a strong man or ferocious warrior...

.

Classification

Nyangumarta is a member of the Marrngu subgroup of the Nyungic branch of Pama–Nyungan languages. The other members of this group are Mangarla and Karajarri, with which it shares more features and vocabulary.

Variation/Dialects

Nyangumarta has two main dialects: Ngurlipartu, spoken in the southern, inland region, and Wanyarli, spoken in the northern, coastal region.

Sounds/Phonology

• Nyangumarta words are at least disyllabic.
• CV (Consonant, vowel) structures are strongly preferred.
• Nyangumarta does not permit consonant clusters (CC) in the onset of a syllable.
• Nyangumarta has no fricative sounds.
• Nyangumarta has a very limited inventory of vowel sounds

External links

• Language of the Month:15 - A Nyangumarta text.