Ngaanyatjarra dialect
Ngaanyatjarra is a dialect of the Western Desert language spoken primarily by the Ngaanyatjarra people.
It is very similar to its close neighbour Ngaatjatjarra, with which it is highly mutually intelligible.
Name
The name Ngaanyatjarra derives from the word ngaanya 'this' which, combined with the comitative suffix -tjarra means 'having ngaanya '. This distinguishes it from its near neighbour Ngaatjatjarra, which has ngaatja for 'this'.Phonology
Orthography is in brackets.Vowels
- Before alveolar consonants, the two vowels are pronounced as.
- Before velar consonants, the three vowels are pronounced as.
- Vowel sounds are rhotacized when preceding retroflex consonants.
Consonants
- Laminal stop sounds tend to vary, across the dialects of Ngaanyatjarra. In the Western dialects, they are always pronounced as dental, and in the Eastern dialects they are pronounced as palatal. Yet they are still orthographically transcribed the same as palatal sounds, as in the other dialects.
- When occurring after nasal sounds, stop consonants become slightly voiced.