Ngura languages


Ngura is a disputed and possibly spurious ethnic and language designation of central Australia. The name 'Nura', short for Ngurawarla, means 'empty camp', referring to lands abandoned after a massacre. It is not a language or ethnic designation.
Of the various language varieties that have gone by this name, all of which are extinct, Bowern classifies the Wilson River language of the 'modern' Galali/Garlali and Wangkumara-plus-Bundhamara/Punthamara peoples as an Eastern Karnic language, while the Bulloo River language of the 'old' Garlali and Wangkumara remains an unclassified Karna–Mari 'fringe' language.
Bidjara or less ambiguously 'Bitharra' may be another variety of Bulloo River, but there is not enough data to be sure.
Bowern believes that Badjiri was probably a Maric language. Bowern said the data is too sketchy to be sure, but Bowern simply assigned it to Maric.
There seems to be enough data to establish three "Ngura" languages, which do not form a coherent group:
In 2013 the old ISO code for 'Ngura', , was split, with new codes established for these languages, namely for Garlali, Punthamara, Wangkumara and Badjiri. A fifth code, , was assigned to those names that were too poorly attested to establish as actual language varieties.
Besides those covered above, there is no data associated with the name 'Garandala', apart from a few words of 'Kunandaburi' that may be Kungadutji.