Ngarla is a member of the Ngayarda branch of the Pama–Nyungan languages. Dench (1995) believed there was insufficient data to enable it to be confidently classified, but Bowern & Koch (2004) include it without proviso.
According to the Irra Wangga Language Centre, "Ngarla is no longer spoken today, although there remain some community members who know some words and phrases in the language".[5]
As of 2020[update], Ngarla is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".[8]
Research has been undertaken on the language at the Irra Wangga Language Centre, who have produced resources in Ngarla, including Ngarla Numbers and Jamie’s Bush Tucker Trip.[5]
O'Grady, Geoffrey N.; Voegelin, C. F.; Voegelin, F. M. (1966). "Languages of the World: Indo-Pacific Fascicle Six". Anthropological Linguistics. 8 (2): 1–197. JSTOR30029431.