Dhuwal
Dhay'yi
Native toAustralia
RegionNorthern Territory
EthnicityDaii, Dhuwal, Dhuwala, Makarrwanhalmirr
Native speakers
4,200 (2021 census)[1]
Pama–Nyungan
Standard forms
  • Dhuwaya
Dialects
  • Gupapuyngu
  • Gumatj
  • Djambarrpuyngu
  • Djapu
  • Liyagalawumirr
  • Guyamirlili
  • Dhalwangu [Dhay'yi]
  • Djarrwark [Dhay'yi]
Yolŋu Sign Language
Official status
Official language in
Northern Territory (as lingua franca for Aboriginal people)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
dwu – Dhuwal
djr – Djambarrpuyngu
gnn – Gumatj
guf – Gupapuyngu
dax – Dayi (Dhay'yi)
dwy – Dhuwaya
Glottologdhuw1248  Dhuwal-Dhuwala
dayi1244  Dayi
AIATSIS[3]N198 Dhuwal, N199 Dhuwala, N118 Dhay'yi
ELP
 Liyagalawumirr[4]
 Liyagawumirr[5]
 Dhay'yi[6]

Dhuwal (also Dual, Duala) is one of the Yolŋu languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory, Australia. Although all Yolŋu languages are mutually intelligible to some extent, Dhuwal represents a distinct dialect continuum of eight separate varieties. In 2019, Djambarrpuyŋu became the first indigenous language to be spoken in an Australian parliament, when Yolŋu man and member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Yingiya Guyula gave a speech in his native tongue.[7]

Dialects

According to linguist Robert M. W. Dixon,

Ethnologue divides Dhuwal into four languages, plus Dayi and the contact variety Dhuwaya (numbers are from the 2006 census.[citation needed]):

Dhuwaya is a stigmatised contact variant[clarification needed] used by the younger generation in informal contexts, and is the form taught in schools, having replaced Gumatj ca. 1990.[citation needed]

Phonology

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical Glottal
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive Fortis p k t̪ c t ʈ ʔ
Lenis b g d̪ ɟ d ɖ
Nasal m ŋ n̪ ɲ n ɳ
Tap ɾ
Lateral l ɭ
Glide w j ɻ

Vowels

Front Back
High i   iː u   uː
Low a   aː

Vowel length is contrastive in first syllable only.[9][10]

Orthography

Main article: Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages

Probably every Australian language with speakers remaining has had an orthography developed for it, in each case in the Latin script. Sounds not found in English are usually represented by digraphs, or more rarely by diacritics, such as underlines, or extra symbols, sometimes borrowed from the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some examples are shown in the following table.

Language Example Translation Type
Pitjantjatjara dialect of the Western Desert language paṉa 'earth, dirt, ground; land' diacritic (underline) indicates the retroflex nasal ([ɳ])
Wajarri nhanha 'this, this one' digraph indicating the dental nasal ([n̪])
Yolŋu languages yolŋu 'person, man' ⟨ŋ⟩ represents the velar nasal (borrowed from the International Phonetic Alphabet)

References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  2. ^ djr Ethnologue
  3. ^ N198 Dhuwal at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  4. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Liyagalawumirr.
  5. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Liyagawumirr.
  6. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Dhay'yi.
  7. ^ "Yingiya Mark Guyula makes history, addressing NT Parliament in language". National Indigenous Times. 1 July 2022. Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  8. ^ Dixon, Robert M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. xxxvi. ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1.
  9. ^ Heath, Jeffrey (1980). Dhuwal (Arnhem Land) texts on kinship and other subjects, with grammatical sketch and dictionary. Oceania Linguistics Monographs. Vol. 23. University of Sydney. p. 4. hdl:2027.42/117643.
  10. ^ Walker, Alan; Zorc, David R. (1981). "Austronesian loanwords in Yolngu-Matha of northeast Arnhem Land". Aboriginal History. 5 (1–2): 109–134. JSTOR 24045706.
Categories