Ngaiwang

Ngaiwang is a Murray River language that lies at the bend in the river around Morgan.
It lies north of the closely related language / dialect Ngangaruku and west of the other Murray River languages Ngawait, Yirawirung and Ngintait.

AIATSIS id : S.07

VARIATIONS

Aiawong (the language name recorded by Eyre, who missed the initial ng sound), Aiawung, Ajawung, Birta (Kaurna and Ngadjuri term), Iawung, Karn-brikolenbola (group at Moorundee), Meru (term for ‘man’), Moorunde, Moo-rundee, Moorundie, Murundi (term used for the Murray River, upriver from Lake Alexandrina in the yaraldi / Jarildekald language, also a given place name south of Blanchetown), Naiawu (language name), Ngaiawang, Ngaiawung, Ngaijawa, Ngaiwung, Ngaiyau, Ngaiyawa, Ngaiyau, Nganjan, Ngayawangga, Ngayawung (used by AIATSIS), Nggauaiyo-wa, Nggauaiyo-wangko, Niawoo, Paruru (a derogatory term meaning ‘uncircumcised’ used by the Kaurna group for Murray River people), Peeita, Pieta, Pijita, Pitta, Wakanuwan (name applied by the Jarildekald for these, Nganguruku, and other groups; they called the language Walkalde).

DISCLAIMER:

The above map is based upon the Horton Indigenous Map of Australia © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, and Auslig/Sinclair, Knight, Merz, 1996. The full map is available on the AIATSIS website. The locations of the languages of SA, as stated on the this website are not intended for Land Claim use, and are an approximate guide only. Individual language project locations are based on information from publicly available MILR (ILS) documents.

REFERENCE AND SOURCE ARCHIVE

CONDON, H. T. (Herbert Thomas). 1955. Aboriginal bird names - South Australia, pt 1 & 2. South Australian Ornithologist 21,6/7: pp.74-88; 21,8:pp.91-8. [[Annotation: Bird names in Aranda, Pitjantjatjara, Gugada, Antakarinya, Mirning, Wirangu, Yankunytjatjara, Wailbi, Wiljagali, Narangga, Kaurna, Ngadjuri, Bungandidj, Yawarawarga, Potaruwutj, Narrinyeri, Kujani, Yadliyawarra, Parnkala, Warki, Arabana, Dieri, Wangganguru, Ngamini, Nawu, Ngayawung, Nugunu & Ngalea. The wordlists have been taken from various other sources.] [This material is available at the State Library of South Australia and other libraries.]]

DIXON, R.M.W. 1993. Sources from the Lower Murray. [Unpublished manuscript, pp.1-15.]

EWENS, J.R. 1879. The “Moorundee” tribe. In Taplin, G. ed. 1879. The Folklore, Manners, Customs, and Languages of the South Australian Aborigines. Adelaide: Government Printer, pp. 30 & 158. VIEW HERE [[Annotation: Page 30 contains a general word-list, while page 158 shows various kinship terms in the column “Moorundee, River Murray”.] [This material available at the State Library of South Australia, Barr Smith and other libraries in Adelaide.]]

EYRE, E.J. 1845. Journals of expeditions of discovery into central Australia and overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the years 1840-1, sent by the colonists of South Australia with the sanction and support of the government: incl. an account of the manners and customs of the aborigines and the state of their relations with Europeans. (2 vols). London: T. & W. Boone, Vol. 2: pp.395-6. VIEW HERE [[Facsimile edition - 1964: Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia]. [This material available at the State Library of South Australia, Barr Smith, other libraries in Adelaide.]

HORGEN, Michael. 2004. The Languages of the Lower-Murray. [Unpublished Masters Thesis. La Trobe University.]

MOORHOUSE, M. 1844. A Vocabulary of the Dialect Spoken by the Murray River Tribes in South Australia. May 1844. [[Annotation: Manuscript version of the vocabulary published in Moorhouse (1846), from the collection of “The Hon.Mrs. G. Marten - Crichel House, Wimborne” in Britain. Listed in Phyllis Mander-Jones’ 1972 catalogue, Manuscripts in the British Isles relating to Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific,]

MOORHOUSE, M. 1846. Vocabularies and Outline of the Grammatical Structure of the Murray River Language: spoken by the natives of South Australia from Wellington on the Murray as far as Rufus. [Adelaide, Andrew Murray. [Reprinted: Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962. Also published as From Wellington on the Murray River to North-west bend, in Curr, E.M. The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself]

PRATT, G. 1886. A Comparison of the Dialects of East and West Polynesian, Malay, Malagasy, and Australian. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 20: pp45-68. [[Annotation: See comparative word-list: “Lower Murray” or “River Murray, S.A.”] [This material available at the State Library of South Australia, Barr Smith and other libraries in Adelaide.]]

RADCLIFFE-BROWN, A.R. 1918. Notes on the social organization of Australian tribes. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (J.R.A.I.) 48: pp246-247. [[Annotation: See no. 8: aiyau.] [This material available at the State Library of South Australia, Barr Smith and other libraries in Adelaide.]]

SCOTT, E.B. (1822-1909). n.d. Vocabulary of native languages. State Library of South Australia on microfilm at PRG 608. 369 words. [[See also Tindale Collection, SA Museum AA 338/8/13.]]

TINDALE, Norman B. (Norman Barnett), (1900-1993). 1931? - c.1991. ‘Ngaiawang (temporary).’ [Held at the South Australian Museum. Identifier: AA 338/7/1/14 [Annotation: General vocab. Mostly taken from Moorhouse (op.cit.).]

TINDALE, Norman B. (Norman Barnett). c.1927 - c.1964. ‘Ngaiawang vocabulary.’ [[Note: original material relates to c.1840s-1850s.] Held at the South Australian Museum. Identifier: AA 338/8/13 [Annotation: Vocabulary from E.B.Scott and Moorhouse.] ]

TAPLIN, G. 1872. Notes on a comparative table of Australian languages – Moorundee, River Murray, South Australia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (J.R.A.I.) 1: p88. []

TAPLIN, G. 1879. Meru Tribe, Lower-Murray. In Taplin, G. ed. 1879. The Folklore, Manners, Customs, and Languages of the South Australian Aborigines. Adelaide: Government Printer, p.158. VIEW HERE [[This material available at the State Library of South Australia, Barr Smith and other libraries in Adelaide.]]

TAPLIN, G. 1879. The System of Kinship found amongst the Meru Tribe (Inhabiting the country on the River Murray between the Narrinyeri and the Maroura tribe). In Taplin, G. ed. 1879. The Folklore, Manners, Customs, and Languages of the South Australian Aborigines. Adelaide: Government Printer, p.169. VIEW HERE [This material available at the State Library of South Australia, Barr Smith and other libraries in Adelaide.]]

THRELKELD, L.E. 1892. The Murundi Tribe. In L.E. Threlkeld (J. Fraser (ed.)). An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal, the people of Awaba or Lake Macquarie (near Newcastle, New South Wales): being an account of their language, traditions and customs. pp.46-7. Sydney: Charles Potter, Govt. Printer. [[Annotation: a reinterpretation of Moorhouse (1846) (op.cit.).]]

TINDALE, Norman B. (Norman Barnett). c.1931 - c.1991. ‘Vocabularies M-P.’ Held at the South Australian Museum. Identifier: AA 338/7/1/19 [[Annotation: Mostly taken from 19th century sources but also Tindale’s ms.]]

TINDALE, Norman B. (Norman Barnett). c.1924 - c.1991. ‘Place Names: S.E. of S. Australia for Geographical Names Board, Adelaide.’ Held at the South Australian Museum. Identifier: AA 338/7/1/43 [[Annotation: 2 sections: names data from Tindale’s ms; general vocab from Moorhouse.]]

WEATHERSTONE, John. 1843. 'Information respecting the appearance, habits, language, superstitions, government, diseases, warfare of the Aboriginal inhabitants of that part of New Holland known as the South Province of South Australia'. [[Annotation: Contained in correspondence written from Adelaide, dated 4th December 1843. Held at the Mitchell Library, Sydney (Papers of the Methodist Missionary Society – inward correspondence microfilm FM4/1401).]]