Dhuwal language

Dhuwal
Dhuwal
Dhay'yi
Native to	Australia
Region	Northern Territory
Ethnicity	Daii, Dhuwal, Dhuwala, Makarrwanhalmirr
Native speakers	4,200 (2021 census)[1]
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Yolŋu languages Southern (Dhuwal) Dhuwal; ; ;
Standard forms	Dhuwaya;
Dialects	Gupapuyngu; Gumatj; Djambarrpuyngu; Djapu; Liyagalawumirr; Guyamirlili; Dhalwangu [Dhay'yi]; Djarrwark [Dhay'yi];
Signed forms	Yolŋu Sign Language
Official status
Official language in	Northern Territory (as lingua franca for Aboriginal people)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; dwu – Dhuwal; djr – Djambarrpuyngu; gnn – Gumatj; guf – Gupapuyngu; dax – Dayi (Dhay'yi); dwy – Dhuwaya
Glottolog	dhuw1248 Dhuwal-Dhuwala; dayi1244 Dayi
AIATSIS[3]	N198 Dhuwal, N199 Dhuwala, N118 Dhay'yi
ELP	Dhuwal; Dhuwala;
	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,

Dialects of the Yirritja moiety are (a) Gupapuyngu and Gumatj;
Dialects of the Dhuwa moiety are (b) Djambarrpuyngu, Djapu, Liyagalawumirr, and Guyamirlili (Gwijamil).
In addition, it would appear that the Dhay'yi (Dayi) dialects, (a) Dhalwangu and (b) Djarrwark, are part of the same language.[8]

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

Dhuwal proper, Datiwuy, Dhuwaya, Liyagawumirr, Marrangu, and Djapu: 600 speakers
Djampbarrpuyŋu, 2,760 speakers
Gumatj, 240 speakers
Gupapuyngu, 330 speakers
Dhay'yi (Dayi) and Dhalwangu, 170 speakers

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

Phonology

Consonants

		Peripheral		Laminal		Apical		Glottal
		Labial	Velar	Dental	Palatal	Alveolar	Retroflex	Glottal
Plosive	Fortis	p	k	t̪	c	t	ʈ	ʔ
Plosive	Lenis	b	g	d̪	ɟ	d	ɖ	ʔ
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

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

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.
djr Ethnologue
N198 Dhuwal at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)
Endangered Languages Project data for Liyagalawumirr.
Endangered Languages Project data for Liyagawumirr.
Endangered Languages Project data for Dhay'yi.
"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.
Dixon, Robert M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. xxxvi. ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1.
Heath, Jeffrey (1980). Dhuwal (Arnhem Land) texts on kinship and other subjects, with grammatical sketch and dictionary. Oceania Linguistics Monographs, 23.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Walker, Alan; Zorc, David R. (1981). "Austronesian loanwords in Yolngu-Matha of northeast Arnhem Land". Aboriginal History. 5: 109–134.

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[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.

[2] r Ethnologue

[AIATSIS-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)

[ELP2-4] Endangered Languages Project data for Liyagalawumirr.

[ELP3-5] Endangered Languages Project data for Liyagawumirr.

[ELP4-6] 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.

[:0-9] Heath, Jeffrey (1980). Dhuwal (Arnhem Land) texts on kinship and other subjects, with grammatical sketch and dictionary. Oceania Linguistics Monographs, 23.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[Walker&Zorc1981-10] Walker, Alan; Zorc, David R. (1981). "Austronesian loanwords in Yolngu-Matha of northeast Arnhem Land". Aboriginal History. 5: 109–134.