Source: Diana Eades
Background issues, vocab, sounds, grammar etc.
Update 2024
This site is no longer current and is not being updated. Since 2016, happily, the number of online sources of knowledge about Australian Indigenous languages exploded in number and diversity of sources, especially from Indigenous organisations and individuals. As a result, it became impossible to keep ALoA up to date. It is no longer a key resource.
As the main web portal for Australian Aboriginal languages on the web (part of Tim Berners-Lee’s official W3C Virtual Library (now defunct at https://www.vlib.org/ - see its history) this site provided summaries, guidance and links to quality resources on Aboriginal languages, especially those produced from communities and by community members. It was listed in most of the major international libraries and other institutions as a key site for Australian languages, and attracted over 500,000 hits a year.
Approximately half of the linked sites still exist and the site’s back-end database remains valuable because it contains data which tracks 20 years of the emergence, expansion and changes in the online presence of Australian First Nations languages from the birth of the web.
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RESULTS: 20 ITEMS FOR CATEGORY Description, grammar, analysis
Aboriginal English [aus-x-aeq] see all Aboriginal English
Bigambul [xbe] see all Bigambul
Source: R.H. Matthews
This 1902 document has grammatical and vocabulary description for some languages of southern Queensland, central NSW, and northern Victoria, including (as Matthews spelt them) Yualeai, Pikumbil, Kawambarai, Kurnu, Tyake (Mystic), Dyirringan, Yota-yota, and Bureba. [PDF 190 pages]
Dhudhuroa [ddr] see all Dhudhuroa
Source: Barry J Blake / Julie Reid / VACL
Dhudhuroa, a language of northeast Victoria, was spoken by the Dyinningmiddhang tribe on the Mitta Mitta and Kiewa rivers, and along the Murray valley from Albury to Jingellic. Includes a descriptve grammar and a wordlist. See also the VACL page. [PDF 34 pages]
Dyirbal [dbl] see all Dyirbal
Source: Jan Wohlgemuth
Discussion on Dyirbal grammatical and sociolinguistic topics, focusing on changes and decline over the last 30 years; in German and English.
Jiwarli [mem] see all Jiwarli
Source: Dept Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, University of Melbourne
Introduction to the Jiwarli language, culture and region of NW Western Australia: about Mr Jack Butler, the last native speaker of Jiwarli; photos, maps, texts, hear spoken Jiwarli etc.
This site is no longer live but is held in the NLA's Pandaora archive.
Source: Peter K. Austin
Slides from Peter’s LSA Summer Institute course on Jiwarli, covering its social and historical contexts, kinship, fieldwork, corpus, language typology, phonology, morphology and syntax.
Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay [kld] see all Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay
Source: Peter K. Austin
A downloadable academic grammar, complied from historical sources, with introduction to the people and language, and notes on the closely related Yuwaalaraay and Yuwaaliyaay languages. Published 1993.
Lardil [lbz] see all Lardil
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Linngithigh [lnj] see all Linngithigh
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Malyangapa [yga] see all Malyangapa
Source: Peter Austin
Using intensively annotated data from Malyangapa, the paper describes the implementation of a database model in Shoebox to provide a hypertext exploration environment. [In order to download the paper you may need to set up a (free) account with academia.edu.]
Martuthunira [vma] see all Martuthunira
Source: Alan Dench
A facsimile version of the Martuthunira grammar as a set of linked PDF files. The Table of Contents, Index entries, and cross references to the grammar, the bibliography, and language examples are links allowing easy navigation. Published as Pacific Linguistics C:125.
Mawng [mph] see all Mawng
Source: Sam Hellmuth, Frank Kügler & Ruth Singer
Descriptive and theoretical results of a corpus-based phonetic study of pitch accent in Mawng (Goulburn Islands, NT).
Ngarluma [nrl] see all Ngarluma
Source: Alison Kohn
A formal description of the linguistic morphology of Ngarluma [PDF, 77 pages]
Pitjantjatjara [pjt] see all Pitjantjatjara
Source: Wilfried Baumgarten
Two short articles on Pitjantjatjara demonstratives and transitivity
Pitta Pitta [pit] see all Pitta Pitta
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Warlpiri [wbp] see all Warlpiri
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Warumungu [wrm] see all Warumungu
Source: Jane Simpson
This article describes strategies used by Warumungu speakers to create new words and ways of expressing new concepts. Originally published as: Simpson, Jane. 1985. How Warumungu people express new concepts. Language in Central Australia 4:12-25
Wergaia [weg] see all Wergaia
Source: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
A description of Aboriginal languages’ history and situation in Victoria. It also lists Victorian languages and their regions and contains a brief description of Wergaia.
Wik Ngathan [wig] see all Wik Ngathan
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Wik Yi’anh [wij] see all Wik Yi’anh
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Wik-Mungkan [wim] see all Wik-Mungkan
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Wik-Ngatharr [wik] see all Wik-Ngatharr
Source: Ken Hale/MIT Linguistics
A collection of Ken Hale's papers and some of his unpublished teaching materials. Ken was an icon for endangered languages and also worked in Australia - papers here include ones on Warlpiri, Linngithigh, Pittapitta, Lardil, Wik (Cape York) languages
Worrorra [wro] see all Worrorra
Source: Mark Clendon
A detailed linguistic description of the Worrorra language (PDF, 494 pages).
Yorta Yorta [xyy] see all Yorta Yorta
Source: R.H. Matthews
This 1902 document has grammatical and vocabulary description for some languages of southern Queensland, central NSW, and northern Victoria, including (as Matthews spelt them) Yualeai, Pikumbil, Kawambarai, Kurnu, Tyake (Mystic), Dyirringan, Yota-yota, and Bureba. [PDF 190 pages]
Yuwaalaraay [aus-x-yuq] see all Yuwaalaraay
Source: R.H. Matthews
This 1902 document has grammatical and vocabulary description for some languages of southern Queensland, central NSW, and northern Victoria, including (as Matthews spelt them) Yualeai, Pikumbil, Kawambarai, Kurnu, Tyake (Mystic), Dyirringan, Yota-yota, and Bureba. [PDF 190 pages]
Source: Peter K. Austin
A downloadable academic grammar, complied from historical sources, with introduction to the people and language, and notes on the closely related Yuwaalaraay and Yuwaaliyaay languages. Published 1993.
Yuwaaliyaay [aux-x-ywq] see all Yuwaaliyaay
Source: Peter K. Austin
A downloadable academic grammar, complied from historical sources, with introduction to the people and language, and notes on the closely related Yuwaalaraay and Yuwaaliyaay languages. Published 1993.
Many languages or language not specified
Source: Jenny Green
Video clips with explanations, and project notes. The Iltyem-Iltyem project aims to record and document traditional handsigns used by people in Central Australia.
Source: AuSIL
A large collection of research papers and other language documentation produced by SIL members. Includes nearly 100 papers on topics such as Alyawarra Phonology, Iwaidja Narrative Discourse, Gugu-Yalanji Clause Types, Ngaanyatjarra Sentences etc.
Source: Peter K. Austin
Peter’s web page has many downloadable publications and links to blog posts representing his long involvement with Aboriginal languages in NSW, SA and WA. See also Peter’s page on Academia.edu.
Source: Jonathan Harrington, Macquarie University
Summary of phonetic and phonological characteristics of Australian languages.
