Pitjantjatjara

[księżycowy]

I'd love to get into Pitjantjatjara but 1) Persian has enraptured my soul (I'm in so much trouble haha) and 2) I'm in the middle of a move, so I won't be able to commit to posting in/about Pitjantjatjara. But I'll gladly follow your posts, should you add something.

Fair enough!
I'm just waiting to get my dictionary, then I'll start posting stuff. Though I'm not sure if I'll post notes here or in my SAC-WAC thread.

[intu]

I didn't expect to see this one here!

I lived in a small Aboriginal Community in the Great Victorian Desert where Pitjantjatjara/Ngaanyatjarra/Wangatha were spoken by the population, with other dialects being present constantly due to the transient nature of the demographics.

I'm not great at it, and my use was mainly for instruction in the school and with older people at the store so my knowledge of the grammatical functions isn't that great.

Glad to see people taking an interest! Many Australians are actually oblivious to the presence of Indigenous Languages here.

[księżycowy]

Yup, I'm hacking my way through learning some.

Welcome to Unilang btw.

[Struthiomimus]

I lived in a small Aboriginal Community in the Great Victorian Desert where Pitjantjatjara/Ngaanyatjarra/Wangatha were spoken by the population, with other dialects being present constantly due to the transient nature of the demographics.

I'm not great at it, and my use was mainly for instruction in the school and with older people at the store so my knowledge of the grammatical functions isn't that great.

Someone who knows some Pitjantjatjara! Don't worry. Share what you know. Księżycowy and I have books and can fill in some of the grammar points.

How long did you live out in the desert? What brought you out there?

And yeah,

[księżycowy]

Someone who knows some Pitjantjatjara! Don't worry. Share what you know.

Seconded!

[Struthiomimus]

Time to wake this thread up.

With any apparent interest in some other 'Aussie' languages around here I figured I'd post a few links of interest to this other Aboriginal Australian language:

http://www.ngapartji.org/
That is a general site with information of the language and culture

http://ninti.ngapartji.org/
A site dedicated towards learning the language. It's by the same guys as the site above.
You have to register in order to access the lessons, but it's free so don't worry . Enjoy.

And they've made a youtube channel with some Pitjantjatjara lessons! See here .

[księżycowy]

Sweet! I'll have to check them out!

I might try getting back to some Pitjantjatara later this summer after my Greek course is over. Though I'm not sure, I have too many on the backburner at the moment.

[Struthiomimus]

Sweet! I'll have to check them out!

Yeah, they're cool. I like hearing the language.

And I just found this: road rules in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara

I might try getting back to some Pitjantjatara later this summer after my Greek course is over. Though I'm not sure, I have too many on the backburner at the moment.

I like classes too, because they keep me working consistently on a language.

[księżycowy]

I like classes too, because they keep me working consistently on a language.

Yes, sir! That's why when my school said it was offering a Koiné Greek course, I didn't hesitate.
If only I could make the same progress in French on my own, that I manage to do for Greek in my class.

Its hard (for me anyway) to take a language class and then study another on the side with the same gusto. Oh well, the Greek is more important at the moment. And it's not like I don't manage to do anything for the others.


Anywho, what was this thread about again . . . . ?

I kid, I kid.

[księżycowy]

Time to wake this thread up.

With any apparent interest in some other 'Aussie' languages around here I figured I'd post a few links of interest to this other Aboriginal Australian language:

http://www.ngapartji.org/
That is a general site with information of the language and culture

http://ninti.ngapartji.org/
A site dedicated towards learning the language. It's by the same guys as the site above.
You have to register in order to access the lessons, but it's free so don't worry . Enjoy.

And they've made a youtube channel with some Pitjantjatjara lessons! See here .

Looks like the Youtube and Vimeo Channels are the only way to access the video lessons anymore.

I'll take it over them being lost for ever.

Here are better links too:
YouTube
Vimeo

[księżycowy]

By the way, I've been meaning to pick up the Wangka Wiru textbook/grammar.

If anyone else is interested in this text, here's a link to the current publisher:
https://mirrabookapress.com.au/wangka-wiru/

[intu]

I lived in a small Aboriginal Community in the Great Victorian Desert where Pitjantjatjara/Ngaanyatjarra/Wangatha were spoken by the population, with other dialects being present constantly due to the transient nature of the demographics.

I'm not great at it, and my use was mainly for instruction in the school and with older people at the store so my knowledge of the grammatical functions isn't that great.

Someone who knows some Pitjantjatjara! Don't worry. Share what you know. Księżycowy and I have books and can fill in some of the grammar points.

How long did you live out in the desert? What brought you out there?

And yeah,

Palya! A few years late in my reply. I lived in a small community called Tjuntjuntjara for 10 months when I was 20 years old. I'm now 27 years old and back out in the desert again the last few months, was recently living and working in a roadhouse just south of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, no living in Yulara close by to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

Surprisingly I haven't lost too much of what I picked up years back but I would love to improve on it. Yulara being a resort town, language is not spoken too much here as it is more of an international environment, there is a lot of Pitjantjatjara around though in writing, tours, art etc.

I've picked up some resources and made a pdf of an older learners guide that I believe is now out of print. Sadly a fair bit of my old resources are somewhere in storage either in Perth or Darwin.

I'd love to get my digital hands on some anki sets on Western Desert language words, phrases etc. I'm limited to a basic tablet and mobile phone combo out here!

[księżycowy]

If you're willing to share any resources, I would be more than grateful!

[Lur]

I have nebulous questions about the context of this language which I'm totally missing.

Are all the different names intelligible with each other? Is it more logical for an interested person to pick one (and which one?) Or are they, like, super divergent?

(I'm avoiding the language/dialect contrast on purpose because I don't where to apply it )

[księżycowy]

Well, Pitjantjatjara is considered a dialect of the Western Desert language (also known as Wati). Ngaanyatarra and Pintupi-Luritja are two other dialects. Based upon the Wiktionary article on the subject, Wati is apparently mutually intelligible across all of it's various dialects.

I can't say for sure, but if true, it wouldn't matter which dialect you learned.

[intu]

My understanding is that the Wati languages form a dialect continuum. I have had exposure to Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara, Wongatha and Luritja and all the words/vocab I use seem to be universal amongst them so far! I have some Audio resources for Ngaanyatjarra and can make a copy of the accompanying text if anybody would like to message me directly.

[księżycowy]

Is it the learner's grammar, by any chance?

[intu]

It's the Ngaanyatjarra Language Course by Dorothy Hackett.

On a side note, I've just discovered the IAD Press online materials that accompany some of their picture dictionaries. Free!

https://iadpress.com/pd/