Darumbal language

There is some variation in the naming of the language community. Walter Roth spells Ta-rum-bal and Taroombal while Norman Tindale records Dharumbal and cites the alternatives Tarumbul, Tarambol, Tarmbal and Charumbul. Nils Holmer, who undertook the first modern field study of the language[4] uses Darumbal, as does the Darumbal-Noolar Murree Aboriginal Corporation for Land and Culture. However, Holmer also uses ⟨D⟩ to indicate an interdental stop (where others have used ⟨dh⟩), and indeed, he alphabetises Darumbal along with other words beginning with an interdental stop, making his Darumbal equivalent in pronunciation to Dharumbal. From the available material then, Angela Terrill justifiably uses Dharumbal.[5]

Dharumbal possesses a rare distinction (among Pama-Nyungan languages) between voiced and voiceless stops, which seems to be maintained intervocalically, but not in other environments, where voicing seems to be in free variation. This observation, posited by Holmer and maintained by Terrill, is supported by the consistency to which older authors transcribed certain words; intervocalically, there is greater consistency in the use of a certain symbol, while in other environments (word-initially, after liquids), there is more variation.

Other Pama-Nyungan languages with a voicing distinction of stops include Thangatti, Marrgany-Gunya, Wangkumara, and Diyari.

Laminal consonants are often realised interdentally, but may also be realised palatally in any position, except for the laminal nasal, which must be realised palatally in word-final position.

Lateral consonants may not appear word-initially.

From the existing material, Terrill concludes that there were likely three phonemically distinct rhotic consonants: a retroflex continuant, and two trills, distinguished by voicing. The two trills only appear intervocalically and never word-initially. The (near) minimal pairs given by Stephen Wurm are:

• wuru "son"
• wurhu "nose"
• gurru "fly"

Additional minimal pairs were observed by Holmer.

Dharumbal has three phonemic vowels. Terrill finds no evidence for contrastive vowel length. Roth used various diacritics in his transcriptions, but no explanation for their function was provided.