Dyirbal language

Dyirbal
RegionNortheast Queensland
EthnicityDyirbal, Ngajanji, Mamu, Gulngai, Djiru, Girramay
Native speakers
21 (2021 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Jirrbal
  • Mamu
Language codes
ISO 639-3dbl
Glottologdyir1250
AIATSIS[3]Y123
ELPDyirbal
 Girramay[4]
Area of historical use
Dyirbal is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Dyirbal /ˈdʒɜːrbəl/[5] (also Djirubal) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by the Dyirbal people. In 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that there were 8 speakers of the language.[1] It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. It possesses many outstanding features that have made it well known among linguists.

In the years since the Dyirbal grammar by Robert Dixon was published in 1972, Dyirbal has steadily moved closer to extinction as younger community members have failed to learn it.[6]

  1. ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  2. ^ Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. xxxiii.
  3. ^ Y123 Dyirbal at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  4. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Girramay.
  5. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  6. ^ Schmidt, A (1985). Young People's Dyirbal: An Example of Language Death from Australia. Cambridge University Press.