Dyirbal
An Aboriginal Language of
About this
Webpage
·
Sounds
vs. the Loss of Written
Languages
About this Webpage
This webpage was created as an assignment
for the fall 2006 Endangered Languages class at
What is Dyirbal?
Dyirbal is an aboriginal language
from
The Dyirbal People
The traditional Dyirbal people
made their living off of the rainforest.
During the dry season they moved around frequently, while during the
rainy season they kept semi-permanent residences (
Linguistic
Information
Dyirbal has free word order, which
is unusual among the world’s languages (
Tribes and
Dialects
The Dyirbal language is actually
comprised of six different dialects, each of which is associated with a certain
tribe. Three of these dialects are
nearly extinct, but the Dyirbal, Giramay, and Mamu dialects have the most
speakers left (
|
Tribe |
Dialect
Spoken |
|
Dyirbalnan |
Dyirbal |
|
Giramaygan |
Giramay |
|
No name* |
Mamu |
|
Malanbara |
Gulnay |
|
Dyirubagala |
Dyiru |
|
Ngadyandyi |
Ngadyan |
*This tribe is comprised of five different “hordes” and there is no name for the tribe as a whole.
Sounds
Consonants (in IPA)
|
|
Bilabial |
Alveolar |
Alveo-Palatal |
Retroflex |
Velar |
|
Stops |
b |
d |
|
ɖ |
g |
|
Nasals |
m |
n |
ɲ |
|
ŋ |
|
Lateral |
|
l |
|
|
|
|
Trill |
|
r |
|
|
|
|
Flap |
|
|
|
ɽ |
|
|
Approximant |
|
|
j |
|
w |
Vowels (in IPA)
|
a |
u |
i |
The Mother-in-Law Language
One of the unique things about the
Dyirbal language is that it has two variations that are used depending on whom
the speaker is addressing. The Guwal variation
was used in everyday speech, but the Dyalnuy, or “mother-in-law,” variety was
used when the speaker was within earshot of certain taboo relatives. These relatives included parents-in-law of
the opposite sex, children-in-law of the opposite sex, and (only in certain
totems) any father’s sister’s children or mother’s brother’s children. The phonology and grammar remained the same
in the Guwal and Dyalnuy, but the amount of vocabulary in the Dyalnuy was significantly
less, which meant that words had multiple meanings (
The Dyalnuy type of speech usually
had about ¼ the vocabulary that the Guwal did.
This meant that a single word in the mother-in-law language would have
multiple meanings. Often a Dyalnuy word
in one dialect was found in the Guwal of another dialect, and vice versa (
Noun Classes
The Dyirbal language itself is
comprised of four noun classes: masculine, feminine, edible fruits and
vegetables, and a category for all other things (
|
Class |
Commonalities |
Nouns |
|
I |
Animate Masculinity |
Men, kangaroos, possums, most snakes and fish, some
birds, most insects, moon, storms, boomerangs, money |
|
II |
Femininty Water, Fire, Fighting |
Women, fire, water, bandicoots, some snakes and fish,
some birds, snails, grasshoppers, crickets, sun, stars, shields |
|
III |
Edible fruits and vegetables |
Food (wild fruits and vegetables) and the trees it
comes from |
|
IV |
Everything else |
All other trees, grass, sand, mud, stones, bees, honey,
meat, wind, tomahawks, noises, language |
Reduplication
Dyirbal uses the process of
reduplication to make nouns plural and, in the case of verbs, to indicate an
excessive amount (
• NOUNS: indicates the plural
– midimidi ‘lots of little ones’
–
gulgirigulgiri ‘lots of
prettily painted men’
•
VERBS: indicates ‘an excessive amount’
--miyamiyandanu ‘to laugh more than
is appropriate’
--midumidun ‘to have to wait [for something]
longer than one should have to’
Orthography
Like most other aboriginal languages, Dyirbal has no orthography (writing system). It is transmitted only through speech.
Why is Dyirbal endangered?
In 1864 the traditional Dyirbal
way of life was interrupted with the arrival of European colonists. Tribal
lands were quickly deforested and the Dyirbal people were forced to move
elsewhere. White settlers looked down
upon the Dyirbal language, traditions, and ceremonies. Those Dyirbal who survived the outbreaks of
European-introduced diseases like influenza and measles were often killed by
colonists simply for being aboriginal.
Within about twenty years of the Europeans’ arrival, the Dyirbal
population had decreased to 20% of its original size (
With an already dwindling
population, the Dyirbal-speaking aborigines were finally allowed into
Australian schools in 1950. However,
this even further decreased the number of Dyirbal speakers since English was
the only language allowed in schools.
Dyirbal speakers were led to believe that their language was useless and
inferior. As a result, parents stopped
teaching their children Dyirbal and the tribes gradually switched to English (
The
Future of Dyirbal
At this point in time, it seems very unlikely that Dyirbal could ever make a comeback. Children are no longer learning it and there are very few speakers left who would be able to teach the language to anyone. It simply makes more sense to people to speak English, which is widespread and offers more educational opportunities, chances for economic growth, and opportunities for advancements in the workplace. In order for Dyirbal to gain more speakers, action would have to be taken immediately, and it just doesn’t seem like there is much of an incentive to do so.
In the next few years, when
Dyirbal soon vanishes from existence, Australia—and the world—will lose yet
another language that is key to the survival of indigenous culture, knowledge,
and traditions. Due to the intolerance
of others, Dyirbal--a language that was once proudly passed down over hundreds
of generations—will be no more than a fading memory of
The Loss of Oral Languages vs. the Loss of Written
Languages
“But whereas many aspects of a floundering
written language will endure in books and on line,
the death
of an oral language is absolute.”
--Mark Abley,
author of Spoken Here: Travels Among
Endangered Languages
There are many languages like Dyirbal that have no orthography, and are therefore transmitted verbally. Although having an orthography doesn’t guarantee a language’s survival—take Maya for example—it is a useful tool in helping to keep a language alive. Languages with writing systems can be transmitted on the internet, through computer programs, and in literature. When a language’s orthography is nonexistent, these types of mediums for communication simply aren’t an option. With a writing system, there are more opportunities for a language to be used. The more in use a language is, the more likely it is to continue to be spoken.
When an extinct language has an orthography, it’s also much easier to reconstruct it—again, think of Maya. Although it might not be possible to correctly pronounce the language since the sounds of speech are not retained through writing, the ideas and literary works of a group of people can still be preserved. This ensures that their beliefs, tradition, and culture can survive even though their language is no longer in use. Information like this is very valuable to historians, linguists, and even the general public.
Once Dyirbal is no longer spoken, there will be almost no physical record that it ever existed. Although some sound recordings will most likely survive, they only offer limited insight into the culture of the Dyirbal people. Dyirbal speakers had a rich tradition of oral story telling, in which they passed down legends about their mythology, origins, and traditions. When Dyirbal is no longer in use, there will be no way for these stories to be learned, since they were never written down.
Since the Dyirbal language has been studied by linguists, we have at least a basic knowledge of how it works and the unique properties that it has. Unfortunately, many other languages on the brink of extinction have not received this much attention and therefore remain completely undocumented. When they become extinct there will be no record of them whatsoever. All of their speakers will be dead and without writing systems, no traces of these languages were ever recorded.
Although orthographies can be useful in the efforts to keep a language in use, languages that don’t have orthographies—such as Dyirbal—are in no way less advanced than those that do have orthographies. Clearly Dyirbal is a complicated language—its Dyalnuy and Guwal variations can be seen as proof of that. Sometimes a group’s way of life simply doesn’t require an orthography, and therefore a writing system never evolves. Instead of focusing their efforts on creating an orthography that wasn’t necessary, Dyirbal speakers enriched the spoken language that they already had.
Bibliography
Abley,
Mark. Spoken here: Travels among Threatened Languages.
Dixon, R. M. W. The
Dyirbal Language of
Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005.
Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition.
Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.
Other Links
This webpage was created by Emily Peterson. Last updated: 19
December 2006.