| Ngura | |
|---|---|
| Ngurawarla | |
| (spurious?) | |
| Geographic distribution | NorthwestNew South Wales, southwestQueensland, Australia |
| Ethnicity | various (Wongkumara,Ngandangara,Punthamara,Kalali, ?Bidjara, ??Thereila,Karendala,Ngurawola, etc.) |
| Linguistic classification | Pama–Nyungan; some languages may beKarnic, someMaric, some unclassified or spurious |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | (nbx splitted in 2013) |
| Glottolog | ngur1261 (Wilson River (Grey Range)) |
Ngura is a disputed and possibly spurious ethnic and language designation of central Australia. The name 'Nura', short forNgurawarla, means 'empty camp', referring to lands abandoned after a massacre. It is not a language or ethnic designation.[1]
Of the various language varieties that have gone by this name, all of which are extinct, Bowern (2001) classifies theWilson River language of the 'modern' Galali/Garlali and Wangkumara-plus-Bundhamara/Punthamara (also known as or closely related to Ngandangara/Yarumarra) peoples as anEastern Karnic language, while theBulloo River language of the 'old' Garlali and Wangkumara remains an unclassifiedKarna–Mari 'fringe' language. Bidjara or less ambiguously 'Bitharra' (not to be confused with theBidjara language of theMaric languages) may be another variety of Bulloo River, but there is not enough data to be sure. Bowern believes thatBadjiri was probably aMaric language. Bowern (2001) said the data is too sketchy to be sure, but Bowern (2011) simply assigned it to Maric.
There seems to be enough data to establish three "Ngura" languages, which do not form a coherent group:
In 2013, the old ISO code for 'Ngura', [nbx], was split, with new codes established for these languages, namely for (old?) Garlali, Punthamara, (old and modern?) Wangkumara and Badjiri. A fifth code, [ekc] (the 'Eastern Karnic' language, not to be confused with the 'Eastern Karnic' languages of Bowern, which are Wilson River), was assigned to those names that were too poorly attested to establish as actual language varieties.[3] It was retired in 2020.
Besides those names covered above, there is no data associated with the name 'Garandala' (Karendala), apart from a few words of 'Kunandaburi' that may be Kungadutji (Wilson River).[4]
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