CLASSIFICATION OF SOUTHERN PILBARA LANGUAGES Peter Austin 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Th is paper is an attempt to provide evidence for a genetic classification of the Au stralian Aboriginal languages originally spoken in the area between the Ashburton and Gascoyne rivers in northern Western Australia. Following von Brandenstein 1967, I will refer to this area as the southern 'Pilbara region ', using the geographical term 'pilbara ' in a slight ly wider than normal sense . Traditionally , there were ten languages spoken in the southern Pilbara, some of them showing a degree of dialectal differentiation . These languages will be classified into four first-order genetic groups as follows (for language 2 locations , see map) : 1. Kartu - Yingkarta 2. Kanyara - Payungu , Purduna , Thalanyji, Pinikura 3. Mantharta - Tharrkari , Warriyangka , Thiin , Jiwarli 4. Ngayarta - Jurruru The higher-order relationships between these language groups , and other languages outside the southern Pilbara region , have yet to be fully established (but see O'Grady et al 1966, Wurm 1972) . Data sources for this study are as follows : (1) for Yingkarta: Dench 1979 , unpublished fieldnotes and recordings collected by G.N. O'Grady ; (2) for Payungu , Purduna, Thalanyj i, Tharkari , Thiin and Jiwarli: material collected by the author during fieldwork in 1978 and 1985 (supported by grants from the Department of Anthropology , University of Western Australia, the Au stralian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, La Trobe University and the Au stralian Research Grants Scheme) ; (3) for Payungu , Thalanyj i, Tharrkari, Warriyangka , Thiin and Jurruru : unpub­ lished notes and recordings made available by G.N. O'Grady ; (4) for Tharrkari : Klokeid 1969 and unpublished fieldnotes; (5) for Jurruru : notes made available by A. Dench and C.G. von Brandenstein; (6) for Warriyangka , Thiin and Pinikura : notes from C.G. von Brandenstein . In some cases , source transcriptions and analysis have been altered in minor ways . None of the scholars who kindly made their material available can be he ld responsible for errors of fact or interpretation in this paper . Papers in Australian linguistics No .17, 1-17. Paci fi c Linguistics , A-71, 1988. © Peter Austin 1 Austin, P. "Classification of Southern Pilbara Languages". In Dunn, L., Geytenbeek, H., Glasgow, K., McGregor, W., Oates, L. and Swartz, S. editors, Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 17. A-71:1-17. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1988. DOI:10.15144/PL-A71.1 ©1988 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. 2 PETER AUSTIN INDIAN OCEAN o 50 , , Kilometres NGAYART A KURRAMA THALANYJI , PINIKURA KANYARA }.. PANYJIMA ,," " , ," PURDUNA " , " JIWARLI , " ... \, " " JURRURU .............., , MANTHART A THIIN \ I I I WARRIYANGKA I " ... , ... ... ... " ........ __ ....-- KARTU WAJARRI Map: Location of languages menti oned in the text 2. PREV IOUS CLASSIFICATIONS The earliest published classification mentioning southern Pilbara languages is O'Grady et al 1966 . In this lexicostatistical classification , there are four subgroups of the Nyungic group of the Pama-Nyungan family represented in the southern Pilbara region: 3 Kanyara - Payungu , Purduna , Thalanyji, Tharrkari , Watiwangka Mantharta - Warriyangka , Thiin, Jiwarli Kartu - Yingkarta 4 Ngayarta - Jurruru , Pinikura O'Grady (1966:121) presents a cognate density matrix for some of these languages . This was used by O'Grady to support the proposed classification (figure s repre­ sent percentage cognates on a standard wordlist) : CLASSIFICATION OF SOUTHERN PILBARA LANGUAGES 3 Thalanyji 79 Purduna 43 46 Tharrkari 31 36 45 Harriyangka 63 59 35 37 Payungu 36 36 36 33 51 Yingkarta The lexicostatistical classification was later amended by O'Grady with respect to Tharrkari, as Klokeid (1969:1) notes: according to comparisons made by G.N. O'Grady and the author in July 1967 , Thargari is a member of the Mantharda subgroup , Nyungic group of the Pama-Nyungan family. In his earlier classification in 1966 , p.37 and p.lll , O'Grady had tenta­ tively placed Thargari in the Kanyara subgroup . The reasons for th is amendment are not spe lled out by Klokeid and have not appeared in print (in the published matrix (see above ), Tharrkari shares 45% with Warriyangka but 46% with Purduna) . For evidence that the reassignment of Tharrkari is correct , see section 5 below. Wurm (1972 :125) adopts this revised classification and presents a listing identical to O'Grady et al 1966 , except that Tharrkari is assigned to the Mantharta subgroup . Austin 1981 accepts the lexically based classification of Kanyara and Mantharta groups , but , using an unpublished vocabulary from O'Grady , places Jurruru with the Mantharta languages . Grammatical criteria supporting such a classification are also invoked (op.cit. 298-299) . Data recently made available shows that Jurruru meets none of the distinguishing criteria and hence cannot be classed as a Mantharta language . The data points to an affiliation to the north with 5 the Ngayarta languages (see 3.4 below) . Wordick (1982:7) , in fact , lists Jurruru and Pinikura as Ngayartic languages , stating that they "apparently resemble Yindj ibarndi and Kurrama ." A somewhat different classification has been devised by von Brandenstein and reported in Oates (1975:65) . It dismantles the Mantharta grouping and sub­ divides Ngayarta into coastal and inland sections . The classification is as follows (von Brandenstein 's spelling of language names is retained here) : Kanyara subgroup - Bainggu , Dalandji, Burduna , Dargud i Coastal Ngayarda subgroup - Dj iwarli , Binigura , Nuala , Gurama , Jindj ibarndi Inland Ngayarda subgroup - Njamal , Bandjima , Djururu , Warianga , Inawanga Notice that Tharrkari , Jiwarli and Warriyangka are here classified into three 6 separate subgroups . Oates (1975:72) notes that Tharrkari was : classified by O'Grady et al as belonging to the Mantharta subgroup , but von Brandenstein says it is an AVC dialect so has been reclassified here , together with Denma , a sub- group. Also , she states (ibid. 76) that Warriyangka was: originally classified by O'Grady and Wurm as part of the Mantharta subgroup , but von Brandenstein shows it is linked with Bandjima , being basically an AVC language with PVC intrusions . 4 PETER AUSTIN For reasons detailed below (see 3.3 and Appendix), I believe these revisions are incorrect and that the Mantharta group must stand as a genetic unity . Unfortu­ nately , von Brandenstein's errors have been reproduced by Wurm and Hattori eds 1981 , in their Map 20, which appears to be based on the same classification as that described by Oates . 3. TOWARDS A GENETIC CLASSIFICATION In the following sections , I will present evidence which could be used to sup­ port the genetic picture set out in the introduction . According to the compar­ tive method (see Greenberg 1972 : 46-55) , in order to demonstrate genetic connec­ tions and prove the proposed subgrouping , it would be necessary to : (a) reconstruct the putative ancestor of all four subgroups ; and (b) describe the shared innovations which distinguish members of one sub- group from those of another. I am not in a position to undertake the necessary reconstruction required by (a) at this time . The following sections must be taken as suggestive of shared innovations and retentions which may ultimately be used to prove the genetic hypothesis . 3. 1 Yingkarta The position of Yingkarta in their lexicostatistical classification is outlined by O'Grady et al (1966 :114) as follows : Although the available evidence from cognate densities points to a closer relationship between Inggarda and its northern neighbour , Bayungu (51 percent) , than between Inggarda and any other language , we classify Inggarda as belonging to the Kardu subgroup because of the large areas to its east and southeast wh ich remain linguistically unknown , but which are probably occupied by languages or dialects linking Inggarda with the main group of Kardu languages. Inggarda is structurally more similar to Kardu languages to its east and south than to the Kanyaric lan­ guages to its north and northeast . O'Grady (1966:121) provides the following cognate percentage figures for Yingkarta and the Kartu languages Nhanta and Wa jarri : Yingkarta 33 Nhanta 33 42 Wajarri Since the publication of this data , more relevant information has corne av ailable, name ly Dench 1979 on Yingkarta and Douglas 1981 on Wajarri . As Dench points out (following O'Grady et al) , Yingkarta is spoken in two dialects , northern and southern , which are grammatically identical but lexically somewhat different . Comparisons which I have carried out using a 160 item basic vocabulary list for southern Yingkarta and Wa jarri give a cognate sharing of 54% (for 35 verbs alone , the figure is slightly lower at 46%) . This is markedly higher than the 7 33% figure arrived at by O'Grady , and is sugge stive of a closer relationship . CLASSIFICATION OF SOUTHERN PILBARA LANGUAGES 5 There is strong grammatical evidence to support the lexical figures . This comes from three areas : (1) free pronouns - the pronominal systems of Wajarri and Yingkarta are almost identical , except that Yingkarta lacks an inclusive-exclusive contrast in the first person non-singular . The paradigms for nominative case (root) forms in 8 the two languages are : Waj arri Yingkarta 1sg. ngatha ngatha Idu.incl . ngal i nga 1 i 1du.excl . ngal ija 1pl .incl . nganhu nganhu 1pl .excl. nganyju 2sg . nyinta nyinta 2du. nhupa 1 i nhupalu 2pl . nhurra nhurra None of the other languages in the southern Pilbara region has nganhu as a first person plural form (although nganhurru does occur elsewhere - see 3.2, 3.3) . The suffixes used to indicate pronominal case are identical in the two languages, name ly -nha accusative , -ngu dative and -Ia locative . (2) bound pronouns - Yingkarta is unique among southern Pilbara languages in having a (partial) set of optional bound pronominal suffixes, typically suffixed to the first word of a clause . These pronouns are shared with Wa jarri where the forms are virtually identical: Waj arri Yingkarta 1sg.nom.