Nari-Nari language

Nari Nari
Nari-Nari language is located in New South Wales
Nari-Nari language
Nari-Nari language (New South Wales)
RegionNew South Wales
EthnicityNari-Nari people
Extinctearly 20th century, with the death of Angus Myers
Language codes
ISO 639-3rnr
Glottolognari1241
AIATSISD9
ELPNari Nari

Nari Nari is an extinct Indigenous Australian language that was spoken in New South Wales. The last person who could speak Nari Nari was Angus Myers, a Jitajita man. It was last recorded in 1967, but date of extinction is unknown.

It may have been a dialect of Wemba Wemba.

Etymology

The language's name follows the reduplicating pattern of many Aboriginal language names: nari translates to "no".

Revival

As of 2020, the Nari Nari dialect is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages—those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".

References

  1. 1 2 Hercus, Luise A. (1979), "A Note on Narinari", Papers in Australian Linguistics 11, Pacific Linguistics: Series A, vol. 51, Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, pp. 119–132, doi:10.15144/PL-A51, retrieved 2026-03-07
  2. ↑ D9 Nari Nari at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. ↑ "AIATSIS AustLang Online". aiatsis.gov.au. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  4. ↑ "AIATSIS AustLang Online". aiatsis.gov.au. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  5. ↑ "D9: Nari Nari". Austlang. AIATSIS. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2020.