Ngadlu tampinthi ngadlu Kaurna Miyurna yartangka. Munaintya puru purruna ngadlu-itya. Munaintyanangku yalaka tarrkarriana tuntarri.

We acknowledge we are on Kaurna Miyurna land. The Dreaming is still living. From the past, in the present, into the future, forever.

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Pitjandjara Vocabulary, 1933

Archive Collections / Dr Norman Barnett Tindale / Series AA338/08 / Pitjandjara Vocabulary, 1933
Supplementary to: 'Journal of an Anthropological Expedition to the Mann and Musgrave Ranges, North West of South Australia, May - July 1933, and a personal record of the Anthropological expedition to Ernabella, Aug. 1933' (AA 338/1/9).

The material contained in this item was recorded primarily during the University of Adelaide's Board for Anthropological Research's (BAR) Mann and Musgrave Ranges expedition, May - August, 1933.There are three sections:

  • Pitjandjara vocabulary
    90 sheets containing: orthographic chart of the phonetic system adopted by the BAR for research into Australian languages (2pp. ), notes on Aboriginal sign language (2pp. ), a general vocabulary (74 sheets including alphabet dividers), Pitjandjara social framework (2pp. ), Jangkundjara social framework (1p.), songs and interlinear texts (8pp. );

  • Blank pages; and

  • Rough notes
    54 sheets of rough notes relating to songs recorded in August 1933 (some of which have interlinear translations), accompanying ethnological notes, and notes on songs and ceremonies relating to the Mann Ranges, June 1933.



The vocabulary section forms the core of Tindale's Pitjandjara language work. During the 1930s, Tindale expanded the scope of the vocabulary by adding further Pitjandjara words as well as words from neighbouring languages.Thus, the following manuscripts were produced:

  • 'Vocabulary of West-Cental Australian Languages: Pitjandjara, Pintubi, Ngalia, Kukatja by Norman B. Tindale, Adelaide, 1931-35' (see AA 338/8/3);

  • 'Vocabulary of Pitjandjara, language of the natives of the Great Western Desert (Pitjandjara, Pintubi, Ngalia, Kukatja and ŋa:dadjara) by Norman B. Tindale, BSc, Adelaide, 1931-37' (see AA 338/8/4); and

  • 'Vocabulary of Pitjandjara, The Language of the Natives of the Great Western Desert (with some words of the Pintubi, Ngalia, Nakako, Kukatja, &3331;a:dadjara, Wirangu, Naŋatadjara, Aranda, Jan[k]undjadjara & Wordako languages) by Norman B. Tindale, BSc, Adelaide, 1931-37' (see AA 338/8/5).



At the start of the 1933 vocabulary, Tindale notes that: 'this vocabulary remains an original source but the typed copy made 1935 has been added to and ammended [sic] & now supersedes it as a working copy. NBT. Dec 30, 1935'. Further amendments on the first page of the vocabulary include the following: '[H. K.] Fry has made a copy, Aug.1933' and 'added to at Ooldea [SA] Nov. 1934'. A note after the final entry reads: '824+ words' (but the total number of words is higher than this figure). The text of the vocabulary also includes a small number of illustrations.

See also Tindale's Pitjandjara index card files, AA 338/7/2/3 - 338/7/2/6.

Tindale Tribes: Pitjandjara; Jangkundjara.

Creator: Dr Norman Barnett Tindale
Control: AA 338/8/2
Date Range:  1933  -  1933
Quantity:  2.5cm,   1   bound notebook, 16.7 x 21.5 cm, handwritten
Series:  AA338/08
Tindale Tribes:
Jangkundjara, Pitjandjara
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