Anangu
Encyclopedia
Anangu, more accurately "Aṉaŋu" or "Arnangu" is a word found in a number of eastern varieties of the Western Desert Language
(WDL), an Australian Aboriginal language
of the Pama–Nyungan family, spoken in the desert regions of western and central Australia
. Before the arrival of non-Aboriginal people in Central Australia the core meaning of anangu was probably 'human being, person'. Now however it is used to mean 'Aboriginal human being, person' and is rarely applied to non-Aboriginal people. As a Western Desert Language word for '(Aboriginal) person', and given that other Aboriginal languages have their own words for '(Aboriginal) person' the word anangu has come to be very closely associated with the WDL speaking people who use it to the extent that it is now commonly used to refer to them, mainly by non-Aboriginal people but also by the speakers themselves. Used in this way it seems never to be used to refer to any traditional grouping but rather to any collection of WDL people. It may also be used to refer to other Aboriginal people, especially where the speaker is uncertain who they are.
The correct term for "black person" in Pitjantjatjara is aṉangu maru, literally "dark/black person".
Anangu also has the meaning 'human body' and may be used to refer specifically to the physical body, or to a dead body.
The reasons for the spelling variations are: some WDL dialects do not allow vowel-initial words—in these varieties the word begins with y; some orthographies use underlining (e.g. ṉ) to indicate a retroflex consonant
, while others use a digraph
(e.g. rn). Pitjantjatjara seems to be the best-known source for the word, but the underlining of the consonant is often ignored (or not understood) by English speakers, and is difficult to type, so the word is very commonly seen as anangu. It is probably best in this article to continue using the word in the most familiar form (which is also the article title) despite the fact that it is an incorrect spelling.
) the word purntu, although this seems to be rarely used now.
A few of the equivalent terms used by some Aboriginal groups in other regions of Australia are Koori
, Noongar
, Nunga
, Murri.
commonly used to identify groups based on geography
:
Western Desert Language
Western Desert Language is the name used to refer to an otherwise un-named Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family.-Location and list of communities:...
(WDL), an Australian Aboriginal language
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...
of the Pama–Nyungan family, spoken in the desert regions of western and central Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Before the arrival of non-Aboriginal people in Central Australia the core meaning of anangu was probably 'human being, person'. Now however it is used to mean 'Aboriginal human being, person' and is rarely applied to non-Aboriginal people. As a Western Desert Language word for '(Aboriginal) person', and given that other Aboriginal languages have their own words for '(Aboriginal) person' the word anangu has come to be very closely associated with the WDL speaking people who use it to the extent that it is now commonly used to refer to them, mainly by non-Aboriginal people but also by the speakers themselves. Used in this way it seems never to be used to refer to any traditional grouping but rather to any collection of WDL people. It may also be used to refer to other Aboriginal people, especially where the speaker is uncertain who they are.
The correct term for "black person" in Pitjantjatjara is aṉangu maru, literally "dark/black person".
Anangu also has the meaning 'human body' and may be used to refer specifically to the physical body, or to a dead body.
Distribution and spelling
The following table shows the main WDL dialects in which it is used (left column) along with the word spelled according to the orthography of that dialect (right column).| Pitjantjatjara | aṉangu |
| Southern (Titjikala) Luritja Luritja Luritja is a name used to refer to several dialects of the Indigenous Australian Western Desert Language, and thereby also to the people who speak these varieties, and their traditional lands.-Origin and meaning of Luritja:... |
yarnangu |
| Pintupi Luritja Luritja Luritja is a name used to refer to several dialects of the Indigenous Australian Western Desert Language, and thereby also to the people who speak these varieties, and their traditional lands.-Origin and meaning of Luritja:... |
aṉangu |
| Ngaanyatjarra Ngaanyatjarra Ngaanyatjarra is an Indigenous Australian cultural group in the Western Desert, Central Australia.-Meaning and origin of the name:Ngaanya literally means 'this' and -tjarra means 'with/having' ; the compound term means 'those that use "ngaanya" to say "this"'... |
yarnangu |
| Ngaatjatjarra Ngaatjatjarra Ngaatjatjarra is an Australian Aboriginal dialect of the Western Desert language. It is spoken in the Western Desert cultural bloc which covers about 600 000 square kilometres of the arid central and central-western desert... |
yarnangu |
| Yankunytjatjara | yaṉangu |
The reasons for the spelling variations are: some WDL dialects do not allow vowel-initial words—in these varieties the word begins with y; some orthographies use underlining (e.g. ṉ) to indicate a retroflex consonant
Retroflex consonant
A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...
, while others use a digraph
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
(e.g. rn). Pitjantjatjara seems to be the best-known source for the word, but the underlining of the consonant is often ignored (or not understood) by English speakers, and is difficult to type, so the word is very commonly seen as anangu. It is probably best in this article to continue using the word in the most familiar form (which is also the article title) despite the fact that it is an incorrect spelling.
Usage
On occasion this word is used to refer to white people and non-natives. In some communities, when a white person is accepted in to their community, one of the ways that they know that they are accepted is to be referred to as an Anangu (a person).Equivalents in other languages/dialects
Other Western Desert Language dialects have different words with a similar meaning and range of uses. In the far west of the WDL (i.e. amongst Manyjilyjarra, Kartujarra, Putijarra and Warnman) the word martu is used, and in the central Western Desert (i.e. amongst the western PintupiPintupi
Pintupi refers to an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose homeland is in the area west of Lake MacDonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia. These people moved into the Aboriginal communities of Papunya and Haasts Bluff in the west of the...
) the word purntu, although this seems to be rarely used now.
A few of the equivalent terms used by some Aboriginal groups in other regions of Australia are Koori
Koori
The Koori are the indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern day New South Wales and Victoria....
, Noongar
Noongar
The Noongar are an indigenous Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast...
, Nunga
Nunga
Nunga is a term of self-reference for many of the Aboriginal peoples of southern South Australia.-Other names used by Australian Aboriginal people:There are a number of names from Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography:...
, Murri.
Communities with a large WDL-speaking population
- Alice SpringsAlice Springs, Northern TerritoryAlice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
- Alpara
- Amata
- Aparawilintja
- Aputula (Finke)
- Cave Hill
- Harry Creek
- Imanpa
- Irintata
- Irintata Homelands
- Irrunytju, Western Australia (Wingellina, Western AustraliaWingellina, Western AustraliaWingellina or Irrunytju Community is a small Indigenous Australian community in Western Australia located about east of Perth near the Western Australian-South Australian border in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia....
) - IwantjaIndulkana, South AustraliaIndulkana is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands"...
(IndulkanaIndulkana, South AustraliaIndulkana is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands"...
) - KalkaKalka, South AustraliaKalka is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia administered under the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act. At the 2006 census, Kalka had a population of 114.-Geography:...
- KaltjitiKaltjiti, South AustraliaKaltjiti is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" ....
(FregonKaltjiti, South AustraliaKaltjiti is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" ....
) - Kaltjiti Homelands
- Kaltukatjara, Northern Territory (Docker River, Northern Territory)
- Kanpi
- Makiri
- Mimili
- Mulga Bore
- Murputja
- Ngaanyatjarraku Shire, Western AustraliaNgaanyatjarraku, Western AustraliaThe Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku is a remote local government area in Western Australia near Northern Territory/South Australian border. It is 1,542 km from Perth....
- Blackstone
- GilesGiles Weather StationGiles Weather Station is located in Western Australia near the South Australian border, about West-South-West of Alice Springs and West of Uluru. It is the only staffed weather station within an area of about and is situated mid-continent and near the core of the subtropical jetstream...
- Weather Station (6) - Jameson
- Patjarr
- Tjirrkarli
- Tjukurla
- Wanarn
- WarburtonWarburton, Western AustraliaWarburton or Warburton Ranges is an Indigenous Australian community in Western Australia, just to the south of the Gibson Desert and located on the Great Central Road and Gunbarrel Highway...
- Warakurna
- WingellinaWingellina, Western AustraliaWingellina or Irrunytju Community is a small Indigenous Australian community in Western Australia located about east of Perth near the Western Australian-South Australian border in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia....
- Mutitjulu, Northern TerritoryNorthern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
(adjacent UluruUluruUluru , also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs; by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park....
) - Number 12
- Nyapari
- Oak Valley
- Papulankutja, (Blackstone)
- PipalyatjaraPipalyatjara, South AustraliaPipalyatjara is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands"...
- Pukatja (Ernabella)
- Pututja
- Tjuntjuntjara
- Tjurma Homelands
- Turkey Bore
- Umuwa
- Walalkara
- Walatatjara
- WatarruWatarru, South AustraliaWatarru Community is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia Watarru Community is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia Watarru Community is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu...
- Watinuma
- West Bore
- Yalata
- Yunyarinyi (Kenmore Park)
- See also WARU community directory
Other names used by Australian Aboriginal people
There are a number of other names from Australian Aboriginal languagesAustralian Aboriginal languages
The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...
commonly used to identify groups based on geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
:
- KooriKooriThe Koori are the indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern day New South Wales and Victoria....
(or Koorie) in New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and VictoriaVictoria (Australia)Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively.... - Murri in southern QueenslandQueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
- Nyoongar in southern Western AustraliaWestern AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland... - NungaNungaNunga is a term of self-reference for many of the Aboriginal peoples of southern South Australia.-Other names used by Australian Aboriginal people:There are a number of names from Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography:...
in southern South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland... - PalawahPalawahPalawah or Pallawah is a term of self-reference for Tasmanian Aborigines.-Other names used by Australian Aboriginal people:There are a number of names from Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography:...
(or Pallawah) in Tasmania.
External links
- Web portal for Anangu Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra peoples, communities and organisations
- Description of Tjukurpa - the foundation of Anangu life at Department of Environment and Heritage