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The Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra to English Dictionary will be launched on the 20th of November 2003 in Warburton, Central Western Australia.

RRP AU$59.95 inc GST. Format: Hardback, 752 pp, 285 x 185 mm. Add AU$10.00 inc GST postage and handling within Australia, overseas customers please contact us for postage charges. ORDER HERE

This landmark book is the first comprehensive dictionary for Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra, which are dialects of the Western Desert language. Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra are similar and speakers understand each other without difficulty. Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra are spoken by approximately 1400 people living in the central east of Western Australia adjacent to the borders of South Australia and the Northern Territory.

The communities where the language is spoken are Warburton (Mirlirrtjarra), Jameson (Mantamaru), Blackstone (Papulankutja), Giles (Warakurna), Tjukurla, Wanarn, Patjarr Tjirrkarli, Cosmo Newbery and Laverton. This is an area situated between the Gibson Desert in the north and the Great Victoria Desert in the south.

The Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra to English Dictionary contains:
• the most extensive list of Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra words yet published
• detailed information about words, and example sentences to illustrate their uses
• comprehensive English word lists to locate words quickly
• information on grammar and pronunciation
• cultural information, including words pertaining to ceremonial life, hunting, food
gathering and preparation, plants and wildlife.

This dictionary will be well received by many Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra people who see the dictionary as a permanent record of their language, ensuring its continuity for future generations.

The dictionary is a helpful and practical reference for those who want to learn the language, particularly those people who live and work in the Ngaanyatjarra communities. It also is a reliable resource for linguists studying the structure of the language. Furthermore, the example sentences, which are translated into English, provide a cultural window for anyone wanting to learn about the way of life of a Central Australian Aboriginal group.

The example sentences were provided by the Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra people and reveal the richness of their culture. The examples give a sense of how these people have lived a satisfying life in one of the most arid and remote regions of the world. The Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra lands are characterised by spinifex plains, sandhills and mulga thickets crisscrossed by rocky ranges. Survival is only possible through detailed knowledge of the locations of waterholes, habits of the desert animals, and uses of desert plants and where they may be found.

In association with many Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra people, the dictionary compilers, linguists Amee Glass and Dorothy Hackett, conducted detailed research from 1996 to 2000. The linguists drew upon their extensive field notes collected over more than 30 years as the basis for the dictionary. Five Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra people in particular dedicated themselves to the work of recording as many words as possible. These people are Bernard Newberry, Gerald Porter, June Richards, Lizzie Ellis and Sylvia Benson-de-Rose.

Published by IAD Press, the publishing arm of the Aboriginal-owned-and-controlled Institute for Aboriginal Development, this dictionary emerges at a time when much concern is being expressed throughout the world about the rapid disappearance of Indigenous languages.

Institute for Aboriginal Development Inc. is assisted by the Commonwealth Government hrough the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.	IAD Press acknowledges the financial assistance from Rio Tinto Limited and from the Commonwealth Government’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Service toward the publication of this book.

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