Kaytetye

Last updated 10 Dec 2024

Painting by Rambler, Kathleen. Barrow Creek Hills. 2021, oil on canvas. Private Collection. Used with Permission.

This website lists resources in and about the Kaytetye language, a language of the Barrow Creek region of the Northern Territory. These resources are for Kaytetye people wishing to learn or teach their language, and anyone interested in learning about Kaytetye language.

Thangkerne (Kaytetye birds)

Originally an app released in 2015, it is no longer supported by iOS or Android and so the content has been moved to this website.

Angke (Language)

Kaytetye audio recordings of words, phrases and stories.

Kaytetye Emoji

A set of emojis developed in 2022.

Kaytetye Language Resources

  1. Kaytetye Learner's Guide can be purchased from IAD Press.
  2. Growing Up Kaytetye: stories by Tommy Kngwarraye Thompson can be purchased from IAD Press.
  3. Kaytetye Picture Dictionary published by IAD Press is out of print, however you can access a pilot version of the online Kaytetye Picture Dictionary produced by Nay San here.
  4. Kaytetye to English Dictionary published by IAD Press is out of print. There is a pilot multi-media version of the Dictionary called Yerrampe produced by Nay Say, which is available from myfany.turpin@sydney.edu.au.
  5. Kaytetye Country, a collection of stories from Kaytetye elders, is currently out of print. Contact the publisher IAD Press for requests.

Kaytetye language has been taught at Neutral Junction School since 2001. You can access books created from this program at https://territorystories.nt.gov.au by typing 'Kaytetye' in the 'by language' search bar. Other Kaytetye language resources, including posters and scholarly works, are listed on the Batchelor CALL website.

Listen to fifty Kaytetye words read by Alison Ngamperle Ross and Dakota Bredd at 50words.online/languages/Kaytetye. You can also hear words in other Aboriginal languages for these things.

Other Kaytetye language resources, including posters and scholarly works, are listed on the Batchelor CALL website https://callprojects.org.au/projects

Kaytetye songs

Recordings of modern Kaytetye songs by Music Outback, Neutral Junction School and Tara community elders are available on the Music Outback Foundation Website.

'Artweye erlwe' a rock song written by Vincent Janima Band in the 1990s and filmed by Declan O'Gallagher can be watched below.

Kaytetye videos

There are videos to learn Kaytetye Handsigns on the Iltyem-Iltyem Australian Indigenous Sign Languages website here.

There are four Kaytetye videos on the ICTV collection of Our Bedtime Stories series, filmed in 2019:
Artwarle atye arerlewe (I saw a Kurdaitcha)
Atywetnpe ane Arlewatyerre (Perentie and Sand Goanna)
Nganke (Crow)
Kangkere (Blue-tongued Lizard)

There are four Kaytetye animations produced by Batchelor Institute based on Northern Territory Education Department readers:

Akwerteytenge (Rainbow Serpent)
Story by the late Tommy Thompson produced by Keith Skinner and Myfany Turpin in 1998:

Kaytetye Definitions by Kwementyaye A.N.Ross