Anindilyakwa

Anindilyakwa is a Gunwinyguan language spoken in eastern Arnhem Land (Northern Territory), on the Groote Eylandt archipelago (43 kms east of the Arnhem Land coast). It is a vibrant language, being one of the few Australian languages still being acquired by children, and spoken by over 1,600 people (Marmion et al. 2014: 16).

Anindilyakwa and surrounding languages (Harvey 2008)

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. forthcoming. ' Vowel predictability and omission in Anindilyakwa' in Lori Repetti et al (eds.) Epenthesis and beyond: Recent approaches to insertion in phonology and its interfaces. Language Sciences Press.

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:

• Groote Eylandt Language Centre YouTube channel
• Ekirra-langwa web dictionary
• ALNF web dictionary

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:

• Groote Eylandt Language Centre
• Anindilyakwa Land Council
• Anindilyakwa Safe
• Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages (LAAL)
• Glottolog
• World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS)
• Electronic copy of the Anindilyakwa Bible
• Anindilyakwa AudioBible
• CommDoc Community Consultation Language App

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