Yolngu Matha is a family of closely related languages and dialects, its name meaning simply tongue or language, spoken by the Yolngu peoples of northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the language of Yolngu song and narrative, including the account of Djulpan, the canoe of three brothers read from the stars the Greek tradition calls Orion's belt and sword. The atlas holds Yolngu Matha as the source language behind the Yolngu astronomical material it catalogs.
Facts
Origins
Language FamilyPama-Nyungan language family, Yolngu branch; a group of roughly a dozen related but not fully mutually intelligible varieties spoken across northeast Arnhem Land rather than one uniform language. 2 Place of OriginYolngu Matha originated in northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, the homeland of the Yolngu peoples. 2 Identity
Native ScriptNo indigenous script; an oral tradition transmitted through song, ceremony and design. Latin-based orthographies for individual Yolngu Matha varieties were developed in the twentieth century for literacy and Bible translation work. 1 Practice
Liturgical and Scriptural RoleThe language of Yolngu song cycle and sky narrative, including the account of Djulpan, the three brothers taken into the sky in their canoe with the fish they had been forbidden to eat. 3 Geography
Modern AreaNortheast Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. 2 Connections
Attested in Region
Source Ethnologue: Languages of the WorldDavid M. Eberhard, Gary F. Simons and Charles D. Fennig (eds.)
Named or Composed in This Language
Source The World of the First Australians: Aboriginal Traditional Life Past and PresentRonald M. Berndt and Catherine H. Berndt
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Language Atlas: Pama-Nyungan, in branch there.
- Also in Language Atlas: Yolngu, in branch there.
Sources
1. The World's Writing Systems
Peter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.), Oxford University Press, 1996View the Source 2. Ethnologue: Languages of the World
David M. Eberhard, Gary F. Simons and Charles D. Fennig (eds.), SIL International, 2024View the Source 3. The World of the First Australians: Aboriginal Traditional Life Past and Present
Ronald M. Berndt and Catherine H. Berndt, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1999
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