Region New South Wales ISO 639-3 wyb | Native speakers 2 (2005) Glottolog wang1291 | |
Language family Pama–Nyungan
Wiradhuric
Ngiyambaa Dialects Wangaaybuwan
Wayilwan (Wailwan) | ||
The Ngiyambaa language is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup. It was the traditional language of the Wangaaybuwan and Wayilwan peoples of New South Wales, Australia, but is now moribund; according to Donaldson by the 1970s there were only about ten people fluent in Wangaaybuwan, whilst there were only a couple of Wayilwan speakers left.
Ngiyambaa (meaning language), or Ngiyambaambuwali, was also used by the Waangaybuwan and Wayilwan to describe themselves, whilst 'Waangaybuwan' and 'Wayilwan' (meanining 'With Waangay/Wayil' (for 'no') were used to distinguish both the language and the speakers from others who did not have wangaay/wayil for no.
Other Names
Other names for Ngiyambaa are: Giamba, Narran, Noongaburrah, Ngampah, Ngemba, Ngeumba, Ngiamba, Ngjamba, Ngiyampaa, Ngumbarr; Wangaaybuwan is also called Wongaibon, and Wayilwan is also called Wailwan, Weilwan or Wailwun.