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Page 1 of 2  Pilbara Languages Map
The languages of the Pilbara region are of the Pama-Nyungan type, Nyungic or South West Group.
Please click here for a diagram of the Pilbara languages family tree.
The work of Wangka Maya Language Centre is to record, analyse, transcribe and preserve records of the Pilbara’s Indigenous languages.
This centre was ratified by the Commission of Elders as the Pilbara Aboriginal language centre and has continued this essential work to this day.
The Centre is a nationally recognised leader in the collection and preservation of Pilbara languages and is ratified as such through Commonwealth funding.
The linguistic work of Wangka Maya is guided by an inventory of languages conducted in 1988 and updated in 2004. This Pilbara Language Inventory takes into account the estimated number of speakers of a language and a variety of social and cultural issues which influence the life span of the language. Those languages classified as ‘highly endangered’ formed the focus of initial focus of Wangka Maya’s work. The completion of this work has enabled the focus to extend to the ‘endangered’ and ‘under threat’ languages.
The second stage of this work will see the production of essential resources such as dictionaries, grammar documents, stories, maps, videos and recordings for all languages.
The third stage of Wangka Maya’s work is to create resources that can be used in school languages programs, in the media, translating and interpreting services and through the wider community. This work will take many years and may involve development of resources suitable for the relearning of lost languages.
Information on Pilbara's Languages Click on the menu to the left of this screen to locate information specific to each languages. This material is constantly being revised and updated as work is completed on each language. For a downloadable copy of Wangka Maya's booklets 'Aboriginal Language of the Pilbara' (edition 3 2008) please go to the next page and click on the language you are interested in. These booklets are free from this site or for $10 each in a bound version from Wangka Maya but may not be copied or distributed without permission from the Wangka Maya Committee. Contact the senior linguist to request this permission on
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Click here to download a .pdf of the Wangka Maya brochure 'Speaking, Reading and Writing Pilbara Languages'. Click here to download a small linguistic glossary of some of the terms used in this website. This glossary has been written in plain English and may not demonstrate the fine details of meaning of the terms but has been written to assist the reader to clarify common terms found in the website.
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