The Nhangu language (Nhaŋu), also Yan-nhaŋu (Jarnango) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Yan-nhaŋu people, inhabitants of the Crocodile Islands off the coast of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Yan-nhaŋu language belongs to the Yolŋu Matha language group of the Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land in northern Australia. The varieties of the two moieties are (a) Gorlpa and (b) Yan-nhangu.
Language revival
The Yan-nhaŋu Language Team, started in 1994 by Laurie Baymarrwangga with encouragement from Bentley James, consists of linguists and native speakers working to compile resources for the description of Yan-nhaŋu culture and the revitalisation of Yan-nhaŋu language.
Laurie, unable to speak English, was able to express her desire to save her language when she met Bentley on Murruŋga Island. Bentley had started work as the outstations teacher and had learnt Djambarrpuyŋu. Having started with only 250 words, this dictionary work culminated in the 2003 Yan-nhaŋu Dictionary. This work expanded to over 4,000 forms in the Yan-nhaŋu Atlas and Illustrated Dictionary of the Crocodile Islands (2014). The work has also initiated a family of projects aimed at sustaining the linguistic, cultural and biological diversity of the Crocodile Islands. These include the Yan-nhangu Ecological Knowledge (YEK) and bilingual resources database for schools, CII Cultural mapping project, Crocodile Islands Rangers and junior rangers programs, an ethnographic description of Yan-nhangu marine identity, learner's guide, and an online dictionary project.
Language and speakers
Yan-nhaŋu is a Yolŋu Matha (people's tongue) language belonging to the traditional owners of the seas and Islands of the Crocodile Group. Yan-nhaŋu is a Pama–Nyungan language family, the largest indigenous language family in Australia. The majority of Yan-nhaŋu speakers reside in and around Maningrida and Milingimbi communities, and surrounding outstations such as Murruŋga. The Yan-nhaŋu speaking Yolŋu people are the traditional owners of the land and sea of the Castlereagh Bay area.
History and Culture
Yan-nhangu people own an area of the Arafura sea and thirty one islands of just under . Sometime after 1600 the annual arrival of Maccassan sailors harvesting trepang (bech de mer) changed the timings and patterns of Yan-nhangu people's seasonal movements around the Crocodile Islands. The arrival of the Methodist mission to the island of Milingimbi in 1922 attracted large numbers of eastern of kin to settle permanently on the Yan-nhaŋu estate.
Before colonization, the number of Yan-nhangu people remained small, just a few hundred, with no more than fifty or so people belonging to each of the six clans (ba:purru). The Yan-nhaŋu are a Yolŋu people with a distinctly marine orientation arising from intimate coexistence with their salt water country. The sea is a crucial aspect of Yan-nhaŋu society, religion and language. The ocean’s movements, sounds and changes are considered to be physical indexes of ancestral action. People share their names with the names of the ocean, its waves, colors, spirits, and winds. The six Yan-nhaŋu language types are distinctive and may be used to distinguish Yan-nhaŋu people from their neighbors.
The Yan-nhangu language, the sites and phenomena of their seas and islands are all understood to be the bequest of the creation ancestors. Yan-nhangu estates, religious identities and languages are ancestral endowments that form linkages of connection and difference throughout the networks of Yolngu society. Yan-nhangu clan identities, estates, language and ritual resources are passed down through patrilineal descent. Yan-nhangu people continue to perform the rich ritual, musical, dance and artistic practices shared by Yolngu kin throughout north-east Arnhem Land. More so they continue through ritual and practical actions to care for their marine environments.
Varieties
Within Yan-nhaŋu there exist six clan (bäpurru) based varieties, three of which are Dhuwa and three of which are Yirritja. The Dhuwa varieties spoken today are those of the Gamalaŋga, Gorryindi, and Mäḻarra groups. Yirritja Yan-nhangu speakers belong to the Bindarra, Ngurruwulu and Walamangu patri-groups of the Crocodile Islands.
Phonology and alphabet
Yan-nhaŋu phonology is typical of Yolŋu languages, Pama–Nyungan languages, and Australian languages in general. There are six places of articulation with a stop and a nasal in each, as well as laterals, glides, and a trill. There is also a glottal phoneme and a three vowel system common in Australian languages.