Arrernte language

File:Languages of Central Australia - map.jpg

"Aranda" is a simplified, Australian English approximation of the traditional pronunciation of the name of Arrernte {{IPA|aus|ˈarəɳ͡ɖa|}}.{{sfn|Turpin|2004}}

Glottolog defines the Arandic group of languages/dialects as comprising 5 Aranda (Arrernte) dialects, plus two distinct languages, Kaytetye (Koch, 2004) and Lower Southern (or just Lower) Aranda, an extinct language.{{cite web|website=Glottolog|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/aran1267|title=Arandic|access-date=11 June 2019}} Ethnologue defines 8 Arandic languages and classifies them slightly differently.{{cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/arandic|website=Ethnologue|title=Arandic|access-date=11 June 2019}}

Two dialects are more widely spoken than any of the others:

• Eastern Arrernte (also known as Central Arrernte) dialects include Akarre, Antekerrepenh, Ikngerripenhe, Mparntwe Arrernte.{{cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/ikng1238|website=Glottolog|title=Ikngerripenhe|access-date=10 June 2019}} Spoken in the Alice Springs area and others, there were 1,910 speakers in the 2016 census,{{cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/aer|website=Ethnologue|title=Eastern Arrernte|access-date=11 June 2019}} making it the most widely spoken Arrernte, and Australian Aboriginal, language. This is the dialect most often referred to as "Arrernte" and the strongest of all in the group. There is a project encouraging its use, Apmere angkentye-kenhe,{{cite web|url=https://www.apmere-angkentye-kenhe.com/|website=Apmere angkentye-kenhe|title=Home page|access-date=15 June 2019}}
• The Alyawarra dialect is spoken by the Alyawarra people, in the Sandover and Tennant Creek areas as well as Queensland. In 2016 there were 1,550 speakers of the language, giving it a status of "Developing".{{cite web|website=Ethnologue|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/aly|title=Alyawarr|access-date=10 June 2019}} It is similar to Western Arrernte. (Kaytetye is related to this dialect, but is classed as a separate language.{{cite book|chapter=Chapter 4: The wonders of Arandic phonology|first=Gavan|last=Breen| date=2001|title=Forty years on: Ken Hale and Australian languages|editor1-last=Simpson|editor1-first=Jane|editor2-first=David|editor2-last=Nash|editor3-first=Mary|editor3-last=Laughren|editor4-first=Peter|editor4-last=Austin|editor5-first=Barry |editor5-last=Alpher|publisher=ANU. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. (Pacific Linguistics)|chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43456489|chapter-format=pdf|series=Pacific Linguistics 512|isbn=085883524X|pages=45–69}})

All of the other dialects are either threatened or extinct:

• Andegerebinha (or Antekerrepenhe or Ayerrerenge) was spoken in the Hay River area (east of Alice Springs), but is now extinct.{{cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/ande1247|website=Glottolog|title=Andegerebinha|access-date=10 June 2019}}
• Ayerrerenge, (also known as Yuruwinga, Bularnu and other variations) was spoken by the Yuruwinga/Yaroinga people{{cite web|url=https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/g12|website=Austlang|title =G12: Ayerrerenge|access-date =11 June 2019}} is the north-easternmost member of the Arrernte group of languages, and the least studied. It was spoken across the Queensland border in the Headingly, Urandangi, Lake Nash, Barkly Downs and Mount Isa areas, and near Mount Hogarth, Bathurst,NOTE: Cannot find reference to a Bathurst in this region, but [http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=35644&cmd=sp this map of Mt Hogarth] shows a "Bathurst Bore". and Argadargada{{cite web|url=http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&cmd=sp&zix=r&p=163041&st=&s=%20Argadargada |title=Argadargada Waterhole (with map)|website=Bonzle|access-date=12 June 2019}} in the NT.{{cite web|website=Ethnologue|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/19/language/axe/|title=Ayerrerenge|access-date=10 June 2019}} It is now extinct.{{efn|According to Glottolog: "E17/E18/E19 has a separate entry for Ayerrerenge [axe]. But Ayerrerenge is an Arandic variety subsumed under the entry Andegerebinha [adg] (Breen, Gavan 2001, Breen, J. Gavan 1971)".}} Breen (2001) says that the language was regarded as the same or similar to Andegerebinha/Antekerrepenhe by some speakers, and Glottolog regards it as a dialect of it.

Image:Namatjira govt house sydney.jpg was a Western Arrernte man.]]

• Anmatyerr (also spelt Anmatyerre and other variations),{{AIATSIS|C8.1|Anmatyerr}} divided into Eastern and Western, is spoken by the Anmatyerr (or Anmatjirra) people.{{cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/anma1239|website=Glottolog|title=Anmatyerre|access-date=10 June 2019}} The Eastern form seems more closely related to Eastern Arrernte and Southern Alywarre than Western Anmatyerre, which is noticeably different phonetically from other Arandic languages. it is spoken in the Mount Allan and northwest Alice Springs regions. With only 640 speakers in the 2016 census, it is regarded as threatened.{{cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/amx |website=Ethnologue|title=Anmatyerre|access-date=11 June 2019}}

• Western Arrarnta (Western Arrernte, Western Aranda, Akara, Southern Aranda, possible sub-dialect Akerre{{cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/aker1238|website=Glottolog|title=Akerre|access-date=10 June 2019}}), spoken west of Alice Springs, is nearly extinct, being only spoken by 440 people in 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/are|website=Ethnologue|title= Western Arrarnte|access-date=11 June 2019}} Other terms are Tyuretye Arrernte and Arrernte Alturlerenj.{{sfn|Dixon|2002|p=xxxix}}{{efn|In Western Arrernte lands the preferred spelling for their language is 'Arrarnta' or 'Aranda'.{{sfn|Kenny|2017|p=xvii}}}}{{efn|'The Arandic group whose culture Carl Strehlow documented in great detail identify themselves today as Western Aranda or Arrarnta. They call themselves sometimes Tyurretyerenye, meaning 'belonging to Tyurretye', and refer to their Arandic dialect as Western or Tyurretye Arrernte.'{{sfn|Kenny|2017|p=6}}}} Breen distinguishes Tyurretye Arrernte (which he initially called Mbunghara) from Western Arrernte, saying that two speakers first recorded, from the Standley Chasm and Mbunghara, was not known until the mid-1980s, and that it may have been the "real" Western Arrernte, before the latter was mixed with Southern Arrernte (Pertame) at the Hermannsburg Mission. Anna Kenny has noted that the people of the Upper Finke River prefer their language to be known as Western Aranda.{{cite journal|journal=Oceania|title=Aranda, Arrernte or Arrarnta? The Politics of Orthography and Identity on the Upper Finke River|first=Anna|last=Kenny|volume=87|issue=3|pages=261–281|date=17 November 2017|doi=10.1002/ocea.5169}} This dialect has similarities with Alyawarre and Kaytetye.

The Arrernte also have a highly developed Arrernte sign language,{{sfn|Kendon|1988|pp=49–50}} also known as Iltyeme-iltyeme.

There is also an Anmatyerr sign language called iltyem-iltyem which is used by many Anmatyerr speakers to communicate non-verbally; the word iltja means 'hand, finger' and the term translates as 'signaling with hands'.{{Cite web |title=Iltyem-iltyem – Australian Indigenous Sign Languages |url=https://www.iltyemiltyem.com/ |access-date=2024-06-24 |website=www.iltyemiltyem.com}}{{Cite web |title=Iltyem-iltyem Indigenous Sign Languages of Central Australia |url=https://healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/programs-and-projects/ |access-date=2024-06-24 |website=Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet |language=en-US}} Sign language is used when Anmatyerr people when hunting, when talking to the deaf, when somebody passes away and when talking to elders.{{Cite news |date=2018-04-22 |title=Central Australian Aboriginal sign language shared in Tasmania |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-22/central-australian-aboriginal-sign-language-shared-in-tasmania/9685370 |access-date=2024-06-24 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}

The Northern Territory Department of Education has a program for teaching Indigenous culture and languages, underpinned by a plan entitled Keeping Indigenous Languages and Cultures Strong – A Plan for Teaching and Learning of Indigenous Languages and Cultures in the Northern Territory with the second stage of the plan running from 2018 to 2020.{{sfn|Northern Territory Government, April 2018}}{{sfn|Northern Territory Government|2017}}

The Alice Springs Language Centre delivers language teaching at primary, middle and senior schools, offering Arrernte, Indonesian, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese.{{sfn|Schools}}

There are two courses teaching Arrernte at tertiary level: at the Batchelor Institute and at Charles Darwin University.{{sfn|ULPA search}}

There are books available in Arandic languages in the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.{{sfn|Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages}}

Projects are being run to revive dying dialects of the language, such as Southern Arrernte/Pertame.{{sfn|Pertame Project}}

{{Cleanup lang|date=November 2024|iso=aer}}

This description relates to Central or Eastern Arrernte.

{{IPA|/ɰ ~ ʁ̞/}} is described as velar {{IPAblink|ɰ}} by {{harvtxt|Breen|Dobson|2005}}, and as uvular {{IPAblink|ʁ̞}} by {{harvtxt|Henderson|2003}}.

Stops are unaspirated.{{sfnp|Green|2005}} Prenasalized stops are voiced throughout; prestopped nasals are voiceless during the stop. These sounds arose as normal consonant clusters; Ladefoged states that they now occur initially, where consonant clusters are otherwise forbidden, due to historical loss of initial vowels;{{SOWL|129}} however, it has also been argued that such words start with a phonemic schwa, which may not be pronounced (see below).

File:Central Arrernte vowel chart.svg of Central Arrernte, from {{Harvcoltxt|Breen|Dobson|2005|p=251}}. The positioning of the vowels is only approximate, as they possess a wide range of allophones. {{IPA|/u/}} may not be a phoneme but rather just one of the allophones of {{IPA|/ə/}}.]]

All dialects have at least {{IPA|/ə a/}}.

The vowel system of Eastern/Central Arrernte is unusual in that there are only two contrastive vowel phonemes, {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/ə/}}. Two-vowel systems are very rare worldwide, but are also found in some Northwest Caucasian languages. It seems that the vowel system derives from an earlier one with more phonemes, but after the development of labialised consonants in the vicinity of round vowels, the vowels lost their roundedness/backness distinction, merging into just two phonemes. There is little allophonic variation in different consonantal contexts for the vowels. Instead, the phonemes can be realised by various different articulations in free variation. For example, the phoneme {{IPA|/ə/}} can be pronounced {{IPA|[ɪ ~ e ~ ə ~ ʊ]}} in most contexts. However, it is required to be [ʊ] when phrase-initial before a labialized consonant (see below).Ladefoged and Maddieson (1996)

The underlying syllable structure of Eastern/Central Arrernte is argued to be VC(C), with obligatory codas and no onsets.{{sfnp|Breen|Pensalfini|1999}} Underlying phrase-initial {{IPA|/ə/}} is realised as zero, except before a rounded consonant where, by a rounding process of general applicability, it is realised as {{IPA|[ʊ]}}. It is also common for phrases to carry a final {{IPA|[ə]}} corresponding to no underlying segment.{{sfnp|Breen|Pensalfini|1999|pp=2–3}}

Among the evidence for this analysis is that some suffixes have suppletive variants for monosyllabic and bisyllabic bases. Stems that appear monosyllabic and begin with a consonant in fact select the bisyllabic variant. Stress falls on the first nucleus preceded by a consonant, which by this analysis can be stated more uniformly as the second underlying syllable.

And the frequentative is formed by reduplicating the final VC syllable of the verb stem; it does not include the final {{IPA|[ə]}}.

Central/Eastern Arrernte orthography does not write word-initial {{IPA|/ə/}}, and adds an e to the end of every word.{{Cite web |title=Arrernte language, alphabet and pronunciation |url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/arrernte.htm |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=www.omniglot.com}}

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File:Kai Kai Western Arrernte.jpg

Eastern and Central Arrernte has fairly free word order but tends towards SOV. It is generally ergative, but is accusative in its pronouns. Pronouns may be marked for duality and skin group.{{sfnp|Green|2005}}

File:Hut Eastern Arrernte Basedow.jpg

Pronouns decline with a nominative rather than ergative alignment:

Body parts normally require non-possessive pronouns (inalienable possession), though younger speakers may use possessives in this case too (e.g. {{lang|aer|akaperte ayenge}} or {{lang|aer|akaperte atyinhe}} 'my head').{{sfnp|Green|2005|p=55}}

• Peter Sculthorpe's music theatre work Rites of Passage (1972–1973) is written partly in Arrernte and partly in Latin.
• Western and Southern Arrernte were used in parts of the libretto for Andrew Schultz' and Gordon Williams' Journey to Horseshoe Bend, based on the novel by Ted Strehlow.

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Breen |first=Gavan |year=2000 |title=Introductory Dictionary of Western Arrernte |location=Alice Springs |publisher=IAD Press |isbn=978-0-949659-98-9}}
• {{cite book |last=Breen |first=Gavan |year=2001 |chapter=The wonders of Arandic phonology |editor=Simpson, Jane |editor2=Nash, David |editor3=Laughren, Mary |editor4=Austin, Peter |editor5=Alpher, Barry |title=Forty Years On: Ken Hale and Australian Languages |pages=45–69 |location=Canberra |publisher=Pacific Linguistics}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Breen |first1=Gavan |last2=Dobson |first2=Veronica |year=2005 |title=Illustrations of the IPA: Central Arrernte |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=249–254 |doi=10.1017/S0025100305002185|doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Breen |first1=Gavan |last2=Pensalfini |first2=Rob |year=1999 |title=Arrernte: A Language with No Syllable Onsets |journal=Linguistic Inquiry |volume=30 |issue=1 |doi=10.1162/002438999553940 |pages=1–25|s2cid=57564955 |url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:209796/UQ209796_OA.pdf }}
• {{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |author-link=R. M. W. Dixon |year=2002 |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0-521-47378-0 |isbn=978-0-521-47378-1}}
• {{cite book |last=Green |first=Jenny |year=2005 |title=A learner's guide to Eastern and Central Arrernte |location=Alice Springs |publisher=IAD Press |isbn=978-1-86465-081-5}}
• {{cite book |last=Henderson |first=John |year=1988 |title=Topics in Eastern and Central Arrernte grammar |others=PhD dissertation. University of Western Australia}}
• {{cite book |last=Henderson |first=John |author2=Veronica Dobson |year=1994 |title=Eastern and Central Arrernte to English Dictionary |location=Alice Springs |publisher=IAD Press |isbn=978-0-949659-74-3}}
• {{cite book |last=Henderson |first=John |year=2003 |chapter=The word in Eastern/Central Arrernte |editor=R. M. W. Dixon |editor2=Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald |title=Word: A Cross-Linguistic Typology |pages=100–124 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
• {{Cite book| title = Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives

| last = Kendon | first = Adam

| year = 1988

| publisher = Cambridge University Press

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YonNUqqnIRkC&pg=PA49

| isbn = 978-0-521-36008-1

}}

• {{cite book |last=Ladefoged |first=Peter |author2=Ian Maddieson |year=1996 |title=The Sounds of the World's Languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishers Ltd |isbn=978-0-631-19815-4}}
• {{Cite web

| title = Lower Arrernte

| website = Mobile Language Team

| url = http://www.mobilelanguageteam.com.au/languages/lower_arrernte

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180930012019/http://www.mobilelanguageteam.com.au/languages/lower_arrernte

| archive-date = 30 September 2018

| access-date = 9 June 2019

| url-status = dead

}}

• {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=R. H. |author-link=R. H. Mathews |date=Oct–Dec 1907 |title=The Arran'da Language, Central Australia |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=46 |issue=187 |pages=322–339}}
• {{cite web|author=Northern Territory Government. Dept of Education|url=https://education.nt.gov.au/education/statistics-research-and-strategies/indigenous-education-strategy/indigenous-education-strategy-issue-17/keeping-arrernte-strong|website=NT Government|title=Indigenous Education Strategy - Issue 17: Keeping Arrernte strong|date=5 April 2018 |ref={{sfnRef|Northern Territory Government, April 2018}} }}
• {{cite web|author=Northern Territory Government. Dept of Education|url=https://education.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/471712/indigenous-languages-and-cultures-guidelines.pdf|website=NT Government|title=Guidelines for the implementation of Indigenous languages and cultures programs in schools|date=2017 |ref={{sfnRef|Northern Territory Government|2017}} }}
• {{cite web|title=Pertame Project|website=Call for Australian languages and linguistics|url=https://call.batchelor.edu.au/project/pertame-southern-arrernte/|access-date=9 June 2019|archive-date=1 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401080640/https://call.batchelor.edu.au/project/pertame-southern-arrernte/|url-status=dead |ref={{sfnRef|Pertame Project}} }}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.alicespringslanguagecentre.com/schools|website=Alice Springs Language Centre|title=Schools|access-date=10 June 2019|ref={{sfnRef|Schools}} }}
• {{cite book |last=Strehlow |first=T. G. H. |year=1944 |title=Aranda phonetics and grammar |location=Sydney |publisher=Oceania Monographs}}
• {{cite news|title=To save a dying language|publisher=Alice Springs News Online|date=23 May 2019|url=http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2018/05/23/to-save-a-dying-language/|access-date=9 June 2019}}
• {{Cite web| title = Have you ever wondered why Arrernte is spelt the way it is?

| last = Turpin | first = Myfany

| publisher = Central Land Council

| url = https://www.clc.org.au/index.php?/articles/info/have-you-ever-wondered-why-arrernte-is-spelt-the-way-it-is/

| date = August 2004

}}

• {{cite web|url=https://www.ulpa.edu.au/subjects/search_results/?language=Arrernte|title=ULPA search|website=University Languages Portal Australia |ref={{sfnRef|ULPA search}} }}
• {{cite web|url=http://laal.cdu.edu.au/|title=LAAL|website=Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages|ref={{sfnRef|Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages}}|access-date=8 December 2019|archive-date=14 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314105952/http://laal.cdu.edu.au/|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book |last=Wilkins |first=David P. |year=1988 |chapter=Switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda): form, function, and problems of identity |editor=Austin, P. K. |title=Complex sentence constructions in Australian languages |pages=141–176 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins}}
• {{cite book |last=Wilkins |first=David P. |year=1989 |title=Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda): studies in the structure and semantics of grammar |others=PhD dissertation, Australian National University}}
• {{cite journal |last=Wilkins |first=David P. |year=1991 |title=The semantics, pragmatics and diachronic development of "associated motion" in Mparntwe Arrente |journal=Buffalo Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=91 |pages=207–257}}
• {{cite book |last=Yallop |first=C. |year=1977 |title=Alyawarra, an Aboriginal language of central Australia |url=https://archive.org/details/alyawarraaborigi0000yall |url-access=registration |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies |isbn=978-0-85575-062-6}}

• [http://www.sorosoro.org/en/arrernte/ Arrernte: Data collected on the Arrernte language] (Sorosoro program for linguistic diversity, 2015)
• [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arrernte.htm Arrernte (Arrernte angkentye)] (Omniglot.com)
• [http://aboriginalart.com.au/culture/languages.html Arrernte language] - with map. (Aboriginal Art and Culture, Alice Springs)
• [http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/GB38 Gavan Breen Eastern Arrernte collection - written materials] (PARADISEC open-access collection)
• {{Citation | author1=Green, Jenny (Jennifer Anne) | author2=Institute for Aboriginal Development (Alice Springs, N.T.) | title=Alyawarr to English dictionary | date=1992 | publisher=Institute for Aboriginal Development | isbn=978-0-949659-66-8 }}
• {{cite book|chapter-url=http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p17331/html/ch13.xhtml?referer=81&page=23|title= Aboriginal Placenames: Naming and re-naming the Australian landscape|editor1=Harold Koch|editor2=Luise Hercus|first=Richard|last=Kimber |isbn=9781921666087|series=Aboriginal History Monograph|issue=19|chapter=Chapter 13. Placenames of central Australia: Early European records and recent experience|page=23|publisher=Australian National University. Aboriginal History Incorporated|date=2009|access-date=15 May 2019}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061205052533/http://bri.net.au/spokenword.html Keeping The Aboriginal Language Strong] (The Spoken Word)
• [http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/arrernte_aranda_published.pdf Published] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092539/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/arrernte_aranda_published.pdf |date=18 May 2015 }}, [http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/arrernte_aranda_rare.pdf rare items] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092612/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/arrernte_aranda_rare.pdf |date=18 May 2015 }} and [http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/arrernte_aranda_special.pdf special materials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092557/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/arrernte_aranda_special.pdf |date=18 May 2015 }} on Arrernte language and people: bibliographies of items held in the AIATSIS library
• {{cite web | title=Western Arrarnta picture dictionary |others= Compiled by David Roennfeldt with members of the communities of Ntaria, Ipolera, Gilbert Springs, Kulpitarra, Undarana, Red Sand Hill, Old Station and other outstations. - Version details |first=David|last=Roennfeldt| website=Trove | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/44950969 }}

{{Languages of Australia}}

{{Pama–Nyungan languages|Central}}

Category:Arandic languages

Category:Alice Springs

Category:Arrernte

Category:Indigenous Australian languages in the Northern Territory

Category:Endangered indigenous Australian languages in the Northern Territory

Category:Vertical vowel systems