Dyirbal language 205633 191079080 2008-02-13T05:27:56Z BlackOcelot 1590608 {{language|name=Dyirbal|nativename= |familycolor=Australian |region=Northeast [[Queensland]] |speakers=~5 |fam1=[[Pama-Nyungan languages|Pama-Nyungan]] |fam2=[[Dyirbalic languages|Dyirbalic]] |iso2=aus|iso3=dbl}} '''Dyirbal''' (also '''Djirubal''') is an [[Australian Aboriginal languages|Australian Aboriginal language]] spoken in northeast [[Queensland]] by about 5 speakers of the [[Dyirbal]] tribe. It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the [[Pama-Nyungan languages|Pama-Nyungan family]]. It possesses many outstanding features that have made it well known among [[linguistics|linguist]]s. ==Phonology== [[Image:Djirbalgan map.png|thumb|Location of Dyirbal language]] Dyirbal actually has only four [[Place of articulation|places of articulation]] for the [[stop consonant|stop]] and [[nasal consonant]]s&mdash;this is fewer than most other Australian Aboriginal languages, which have six. This is because Dyirbal lacks the [[Dental consonant|dental]]/[[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] split typically found in these languages. Like the majority of Australian languages, it does not make a distinction between voiced consonants (such as b, d, g, etc.) and voiceless consonants (the corresponding p, t, and k, etc. respectively). Standard orthography uses voiced consonants, which seem to be preferred by speakers of most Australian languages since the sounds (which can often be semi-voiced) are closer to English semi-voiced ''b, d, g'' than aspirated ''p, t, k''. The Dyirbal [[vowel]] system is typical of Australia, with three vowels: /i/, /a/ and /u/, though /u/ is realised as [o] in certain environments and /a/ can be realised as [e], also depending on the environment in which the phoneme appears. Thus the actual inventory of sounds is greater than the inventory of phonemes would suggest. Stress always falls on the first syllable of a word and usually on subsequent odd-numbered syllables except the ultima, which is always unstressed. The result of this is that consecutive stressed syllables do not occur. {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+''Consonants (in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]])'' |- |&nbsp; || Bilabial || Alveolar || Alveo-Palatal || Retroflex || Velar |- |Stops || p || t || c || || k |- |Nasals || m || n || {{IPA|ɲ}} || &nbsp; || ŋ |- |Lateral || &nbsp; || l || &nbsp; || &nbsp; |- |Trill || &nbsp; || r || &nbsp; || &nbsp; || &nbsp; |- |Flap || &nbsp; || &nbsp; || &nbsp; || {{IPA|ɽ}} |- |Approximants ||&nbsp; || &nbsp; || j || &nbsp; || w |} ==Grammar== The language is best known for its system of [[grammatical gender|noun classes]], numbering four in total. They tend to be divided among the following semantic lines: * I - most animate objects, men * II - women, [[water]], [[fire]], [[violence]], and exceptional [[animals]]<ref>Lakoff, G: "Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things", page 5. University Of Chicago Press, 1990.</ref> * III - edible [[fruit]] and [[vegetable]]s * IV - miscellaneous (includes things not classifiable in the first three) The class usually labeled "feminine" (II), for instance, includes the word for [[fire]] and nouns relating to fire, as well as all dangerous creatures and phenomena. This inspired the title of the [[George Lakoff]] book ''[[Women, Fire and Dangerous Things]]''. Some [[Linguistics|linguists]] distinguish between such systems of classification and the [[grammatical gender|gendered division]] of items into the categories of "feminine", "masculine" and (sometimes) "neuter" that is found in, for example, many [[Indo-European languages]]. Dyirbal shows a [[split ergativity|split-ergative]] system. Sentences with a first or second person pronoun have their verb arguments marked for case in a pattern that mimics nominative-accusative languages. That is, the first or second person pronoun appears in the least marked case when it is the subject (regardless of the transitivity of the verb), and in the most marked case when it is the direct object. Thus Dyirbal is [[morphology (linguistics)|morphologically]] accusative in the first and second persons, but morphologically ergative elsewhere; and it is still always [[syntax|syntactically]] ergative. ==Taboo== There used to be in place a highly complex ''[[taboo]]'' system in Dyirbal culture. A speaker was completely forbidden from speaking with his/her mother-in-law, child-in-law, father's sister's child or mother's brother's child, and from approaching or looking directly at these people. In addition, when within hearing range of taboo relatives a person was required to use a specialized and complex form of the language with essentially the same [[phonemes]] and [[grammar]], but with a [[lexicon]] that shared no words with the non-taboo language. This phenomenon, commonly called [[mother-in-law languages]], was common in indigenous Australian languages. It existed until about [[1930]] when the taboo system fell out of use. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.hku.hk/linguist/program/world8.html Lecture notes on Dyirbal illustrating mother-in-law language] *[http://www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/4402/langs/abbo.html Lecture notes on Dyirbal giving brief introduction to the phonology, morphology, and syntax] [[Category:Dyirbalic languages]] [[Category:Endangered languages]] [[de:Dyirbal]] [[fr:Dyirbal]] [[it:Lingua dyirbal]] [[nn:Dyirbal]] [[pl:Język dyirbal]] [[pt:Dyirbal]] [[ru:Дирбал]]