Anangu, Aṉaŋu or Arnangu (Aboriginal pronunciation: [ˈaɳaŋʊ]), is a word used to refer to Aboriginal people in Australia. It is found in some dialects of the Western Desert Language (WDL) of western and central Australia.
Before European people arrived in central Australia, the word probably meant 'human being', or 'person'. But now it is used to mean 'Aboriginal person' only. Because other Aboriginal languages have their own words for '(Aboriginal) person' the word anangu is mostly used in English to refer to the WDL-speaking people. Used in this way, it is not used to refer to any traditional grouping (or tribe), but to the WDL people as a whole. The correct term for "black person" in Pitjantjatjara is aṉangu maru, literally "dark/black person".
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