Compiled by Tom Ennever, Marie Mudgedell, Tjama Napanangka and Lee Cataldi
A new dictionary published by Aboriginal Studies Press will support the revitalisation of the language of the Ngardi people of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Ngardi to English Dictionary is the culmination of almost 40 years’ work by many Ngardi Elders and the Ngardi-speaking community of the Western Desert.
It builds on earlier studies of the language and ARC-funded research for a first edition in the 1990s and is now published to a high standard with illustrations in a 720-page hardback format.
Marie Mudgedell, the driving force behind documenting the Ngardi language, said the new dictionary was important work which been started by the old people who came before: Tjama Napanangka and Lee Cataldi and many others.
“They brought this project halfway but didn’t get to finish it off. But we didn’t lose this language, and here we have finished their important work — me, Patrick (Smith), and Tjungurrayi (Tom Ennever) and others,” she said.
“We are really happy to share the Ngardi language so that it isn’t lost and so future generations can keep on holding and carrying it forward into the future.”
Ngardi has been spoken in the western regions of the Tanami Desert and the north-central region of the Great Sandy Desert since time immemorial. But today it is only spoken fluently by a small number of people.
The Ngardi to English Dictionary was distributed among community members in Balgo, Western Australia last month. An in-country launch at Balgo 800 kilometres northwest of Mparntwe set for 2 April was called off after heavy rains flooded roads and made the area inaccessible.
Tom Ennever had travelled from the UK for the event, but due to commitments back home, had to turn back to Mparntwe (Alice Springs) with the celebratory cake. Warlayirti Art Centre will launch the book at the next opportunity when relevant families are in town and Tom will return to Balgo next year for a reunion of the project's contributors.
About the Ngardi people
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Ngardi people lived in the desert country south of Balgo, an area known locally as Ngururrpa, which translates as ‘central country’.
Ngururrpa covers vast areas of sand plains and dune fields, interrupted by a series of ranges and mesas, and is home to many species of native plants and animals including yulumpurru (native millet), kurntat (bloodwood tree), nguwa (desert death adder), luurn (red-backed kingfisher) and kalatawurru (desert rat-kangaroo).
Today, Ngardi people reside in several different communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Many Ngardi people live close to their traditional lands in the community of Balgo. Others reside in the Kutjungka communities of Mulan and Billiluna as well as further north at Halls Creek, Kundat Djaru (Ringers Soak), Kununurra and east across the Northern Territory border in the predominately Warlpiri community of Yuendumu.
About the Dictionary
The Ngardi to English Dictionary features artwork by Ngardi Elders and includes detailed entries and example sentences, alphabet, an English word finder, verb list, a grammar guide, kinship information and the history of Ngardi language, culture and Country.
The 720-page-long dictionary also provides detailed information on climate and seasons, place names and the scientific names for Ngardi flora and fauna.
The cover artwork features the late Kathleen Paddoon’s 2007 painting, Nakarra Nakarra, courtesy of Warlayirti Artists. Nakarra Nakarra is the site of the Seven Sisters Dreaming. A group of pamarr (hills), in red, embody the sisters, surrounded by tali (sand dunes), in white.
The Ngardi to English Dictionary is the 11th dictionary published by Aboriginal Studies Press since 2018 and funded by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Dictionaries Program with support from the National Indigenous Australians Agency.
About Marie Mudgedell
Ngardi Elder Marie Mudgedell is passionate about recording the Ngardi language for future generations. Together with her husband, Patrick Smith, Marie has been the driving force behind the documentation of the Ngardi language.
About Tjama Napanangka
Tjama Napanangka was one of the key contributors and champions of Ngardi linguistic documentation working with Lee Cataldi in the early development of the dictionary and passed away several years ago.
About Tom Ennever
Tom Ennever is a linguist whose research at the University of Queensland focused on documenting and analysing endangered Australian languages. He is now at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. Tom has worked with Ngardi speakers since 2015 to develop this dictionary.
About Lee Cataldi
Lee Cataldi is a celebrated linguist and poet who spent considerable time in the early 1990s in Balgo, working closely with Ngardi women. During this time, she systematically documented the Ngardi language and began to compile the first Ngardi to English dictionary, published in 2011.
Ngardi to English Dictionary is available from Aboriginal Studies Press and all good bookshops — RRP $39.95, 720pp, hardcover
Quotes attributable:
Marie Mudgedell, Ngardi Elder
'Ngurnalu Ngardi yirrarnanta diksenarirla yaluku ngurraku, Ngardi ngurra, kujalu wangkanyani nyanyi, Ngardi.'
'We are recording the Ngardi language in this dictionary for that country, Ngardi country, on which the Ngardi language has been spoken for time immemorial.'
Tom Ennever, linguist, University of Surrey
'This publication is the extraordinary outcome of a decades-long commitment by Ngardi people to document their language despite immense challenges.
Their multi-generational dedication has ensured that the voice of this unique part of Australia is not lost to time but can be learned, heard and passed on for generations to come.'
Mary Laughren, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland
‘The Ngardi to English Dictionary complements Ennever's A Grammar of Ngardi published in 2021 and makes a most impressive contribution to the documentation of Australian languages, especially those of the Ngumbin-Yapa group to which Ngardi belongs.
Languages emerge from the interactions between people and are influenced by events that affect their speakers. The introductory sections, which make for compelling reading, situate the speakers and their language and offer a detailed and sympathetic history of the Ngardi people from pre-contact days to the present. The language reflects this history in the unique way in which it combines features drawn from both Ngumbin and Yapa languages.’
Media assets
A range of assets including cover artwork, images and captions of contributors and internal spreads from Ngardi to English Dictionary are available from the following link:
Ngardi to English Dictionary - media assets
Captions
(Group photos):
Marie Mudgedell, Tom Ennever and Patrick Smith working on translations of old Ngardi stories and songs in Balgo, 2016. Photo: Myfany Turpin.
(Marie Mudgedell with dictionary):
It's done: Ngardi peoples' driving force behind the dictionary Marie Mudgedell finally has a copy in her hands at Balgo last month.
(Lee Cataldi):
Linguist Lee Cataldi who worked on a first edition of the dictionary in the 1990s.
(Patrick Smith with dictionary):
Polylingual Patrick Smith, husband of Marie Mudgedell, holds an advance copy of the dictionary to which he contributed extensively.
(Tom Ennever with cake):
Anyone for cake?: Tom Ennever at Mparntwe with the special Ngardi Dictionary cake that didn't quite make it to Balgo.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
P +61 2 6129 3934
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Aboriginal Studies Press is the publishing arm of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.