Typologically, Anindilyakwa has been noted for its polysynthetic structure and morphological
complexity. It is a head-marking language, that demonstrates an intricate noun-classifying system, an obligatory system
for cross-referencing and agreement on nominals and verbs, demonstrates productive nominal incorporation, and employs
various argument-changing affixes within the verbal template (Bednall 2020: 6-7).
Anindilyakwa has received a reasonable amount of documentation and description. Below is a list of key linguistic
research that has been undertaken over the last century:
- Tindale, Norman. 1925-1926. Natives of Groote Eylandt and of the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Parts 1-2. Records of the South Australian Museum, 3, 61–143.
- Capell, Arthur. 1942. Languages of Arnhem Land, North Australia. Oceania, 12, 4, 364–392. JSTOR 40327959.
- Moody, Mary L.A. 1954. A descriptive statement of the phonemics and morphology of Anindilyaugwa, the language
of Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory. MA thesis, University of Sydney.
- Worsley, Peter M. 1954. The changing social structure of the Warnindiljaugwa. PhD thesis, Australian National
University, Canberra.
- Heath, Jeffrey. n.d. Draft Grammatical Sketch of Anindhilyagwa (Groote Eylandt, Australia). Canberra: AIATSIS.
- Stokes, Judith. 1981. Anindilyakwa
phonology from phoneme to syllable. In Barbara Waters (ed.) Work Papers of SIL-AAB Series
A volume 5. Australian Phonologies: Collected Papers (pp. 139–81). Darwin: SIL.
- Stokes, Judith. 1982. A Description of the
Mathematical Concepts of Groote Eylandt Aborigines. In Susan Hargrave (ed.) Work Papers of SIL-AAB Series B volume 8. Language and Culture
(pp. 33–152). Darwin: SIL.
- Waddy, Julie Anne. 1984. Classification of plants and animals from a Groote Eylandt Aboriginal point of view. PhD thesis,
Macquarie University.
- Waddy, Julie. 1988. Classification of Plants & Animals from a Groote Eylandt Aboriginal
Point of View. Darwin: Australian National University North Australia Research Unit.
- Leeding, Velma. 1989. Anindilyakwa Phonology and Morphology. PhD thesis,
University of Sydney.
- Leeding, Velma. 1996. Body Parts and Possession in Anindilyakwa. In Hilary Chappell & William McGregor (eds.)
The Grammar of Inalienability. A Typological Perspective on Body Part Terms and the Part-Whole Relation (pp. 193–250).
De Gruyter.
- van Egmond, Marie-Elaine. 2012. Enindhilyakwa phonology, morphosyntax and genetic
position. PhD thesis, University of Sydney.
- Rademaker, Laura. 2014. Language and the mission: Talking and translating on Groote Eylandt
1943-1973. PhD thesis, Australian National University.
- Rademaker, Laura. 2018. Found in Translation: Many Meanings on a North Australian Mission. Hawaii: University of
Hawaii Press.
- Bednall, James. 2020. Temporal, aspectual and modal expression in Anindilyakwa, the language
of the Groote Eylandt archipelago, Australia. PhD thesis, Australian National University & Université de Paris.
- Bednall, James. 2020. Feeling through your
chest: Body-based tropes for emotion in Anindilyakwa. Pragmatics and Cognition 27(1), 139-183.
- van Egmond, Marie-Elaine and Brett Baker. 2020. The genetic
position of Anindilyakwa. Australian Journal of Linguistics 40(4), 492-527.
- Bednall, James. 2021. Identifying salient Aktionsart properties in
Anindilyakwa. Languages 6(4), 164. Download PDF.
- Bednall, James. 2023. ‘Yirriyengburnama-langwa mamawura-langwa: Talking about time in Anindilyakwa’ in A. McGrath, J. Troy & L. Rademaker
(eds.) Everywhen: Conceiving, Knowing, and Narrating the Past of Indigenous Australia
(pp. 127-149). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Caudal, Patrick and James Bednall. 2023. Aspectuo-temporal underspecification in Anindilyakwa: Descriptive,
theoretical, typological and quantitative issues. Languages 8(1), 8. Download PDF.
-
Mansfield, John, Rosey Billington and Hywel Stoakes. 2024.
'Vowel predictability and omission in Anindilyakwa' in Ji Yea Kim, Veronica Miatto, Andrija Petrovic & Lori Repetti (eds.)
Epenthesis and beyond: Recent approaches to insertion in phonology and its interfaces (pp. 57-84). Berlin:
Language Sciences Press.
- Bednall, James. 2024. ‘Onomatopoeia in Anindilyakwa’ in L.
Körtvélyessy & P. Štekauer (eds.) Onomatopoeia in the World’s Languages (pp. 251-263). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Archived language collections are available at:
- Bednall, James (collector) Anindilyakwa language documentation. [JRB1]. Digital
collection managed by PARADISEC. [OpenAccess]
- Stokes, Judith & Julie Waddy (collectors) Digital collection managed
by AIATSIS.
- van Egmond, Marie-Elaine (collector) Digital collection managed by Endangered Languages
Archive (ELAR).
Audio and video language resources are available at:
Useful community-focused language resources are available from the
Groote Eylandt Language Centre:
- Groote Eylandt Linguistics. 1993. Eningerribirra-langwa jurra [=Book about all sorts of things]. Angurugu, Australia.
- Lalara, Rhoda and Alfred Lalara. 2014. When we go walkabout: Yirruwa Yirrilikenuma-langwa. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
- Clan songs, church songs, band music and educational CDs.
Other useful websites relating to Anindilyakwa language include:
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