Western Desert Language Totally Explained

Everything about Western Desert Language totally explained

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.

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 doesn't have its own name it's 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:

Pintupi

Luritja

Warnman

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 [squarebrackets].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i [i], ii [iː]		u [u], uu [uː]
Open		a [a], aa [aː]

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 [p]	t [t]	rt [ʈ]	tj [c]	k [k]
Nasal	m [m]	n [n]	rn [ɳ]	ny [ɲ]	ng [ŋ]
Trill		rr [r]
Lateral		l [l]	rl [ɭ]	ly [ʎ]
Approximant	w [w]		r [ɻ]	y [j]

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're 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.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Western Desert Language'.

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