the Yangga language

Dictionary section

Welcome to the dictionary section

The source of this mini-dictionary is Colin McLennan, traditional knowledge holder of the Yangga language. The mini-dictionary presented here is a consensus list of words recognised to be Yangga by Colin McLennan.

The dictionary is inspired by some earlier word lists of the Yangga language. It is difficult to know which earlier sources relate to the Yangga language but two seem to contain many words recognised to be Yangga:

  • Curr, Montagu (1886) ‘Porter’s Range’, in Curr, E.M. (1886–87) The Australian Race vol. 2: 456-457.
  • Tindale, Norman B. (1938) ‘Australian Vocabularies gathered by Norman B. Tindale, 1938-1963’ Ms. held at the South Australian Museum MS AA 338/8/20, and AIATSIS MS 3189.

Two more word lists can very tentatively be assigned to the Yangga language:

  • Kent, W.H. (1886) ‘Ravenswood, Upper Burdekin’ in Curr, E.M. (1886-87)The Australian Race vol. 2:484-485.
  • Barnett, Jas.R. (1891) ‘The Aboriginal Language’ [letter to the editor], The Queenslander, April 11, 1891:703.

See the Early Sources section of the dictionary for words from these sources. See the resources in Other Material for more information on how to understand early sources, as well as a discussion of other early sources which may possibly relate to Yangga.