The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi language is a
Pama–Nyungan language of the
Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in south-eastern Australia. It is the traditional language of the
Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi), an
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
people. It has been noted as endangered, but the number of speakers grew from 87 in the
2011 Australian Census to 105 in the
2016 Australian Census
The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incre ...
. Thousands of Australians identify as Gamilaraay, and the language is taught in some schools.
Wirray Wirray, Guyinbaraay, Yuwaalayaay, Waalaraay and Gawambaraay are dialects; Yuwaalaraay/Euahlayi is a closely related language.
Name
The name Gamilaraay means '-having', with being the word for 'no'. Other dialects and languages are similarly named after their respective words for 'no'. (Compare the division between ''
langues d'oïl
The ''langues d'oïl'' (; ) are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest autochthonous relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. These belong to the larger ...
'' and ''
langues d'oc
Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valley ...
'' in France, distinguished by their respective words for 'yes'.)
Spellings of the name, pronounced in the language itself, include Goomeroi; Kamilaroi; Gamilaraay and Gamilaroi.
Dialects
While
AUSTLANG
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
cites Euahlayi, Ualarai, Euhahlayi, and Juwalarai as synonyms for Gamilaraay in earlier sources,
it has updated its codes to reflect more recent sources suggest different distinctions. AIATSIS groups the Yuwaalaraay/Euahlayi/Yuwaaliyaay language and people in its resource collection,
and gives it a separate code (D23).
AUSTLANG assigns separate codes to the following dialects, all related and part of the Gamilaraay group:
[
*Yuwaalaraay (Yuwaaliyaay, Euahlayi) (D27), spoken by the ]Yuwaalaraay
The Yuwaalaraay, also spelt Euahlayi, Euayelai, Eualeyai, Ualarai, Yuwaaliyaay and Yuwallarai, are an Aboriginal Australian people of north-western New South Wales.
Name and language
The ethnonym derives from their word for "no" () to which ...
people;
*Wirray Wirray (Wiriwiri) (D28);
*Guyinbaraay (Gunjbaraay) (D15);
*Yuwaalayaay (D54);
*Waalaraay (Walaraay) (D55);
*Gawambaraay (Kawambarai) (D39), spoken by the Gawambaraay
The Gawambaraay (Kawambarai) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales, closely connected to the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) people. Their traditional lands are in the central–western district of New South Wales
Name
The ...
people.
According to Robert Fuller of the Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University
Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...
and his colleagues, the Gamilaraay and Euahlayi peoples are a cultural grouping of north and northwest New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
(NSW), and the Gamilaraay dialect groups are known as Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay, while the Euahlayi (Euayelai) have a similar but distinct language.
History
Southern Aboriginal guides led the surveyor John Howe to the upper Hunter River Hunter River may refer to:
*Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia
*Hunter River (Western Australia)
*Hunter River, New Zealand
*Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada
**Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada
...
above present-day Singleton
Singleton may refer to:
Sciences, technology Mathematics
* Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element
* Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing
* Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...
in 1819. They told him that the country there was "Coomery Roy Gamilaraay
The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...
and more further a great way", meaning to the north-west, over the Liverpool Range
The Liverpool Range is a mountain range and a lava-field province in New South Wales, Australia.
The eastern peaks of the range were the traditional territory of the Wonnarua people.
Geography
The Liverpool Range starts from the volcanic plate ...
s. This is probably the first record of the name.
A basic wordlist collected by Thomas Mitchell in February, 1832, is the earliest written record of Gamilaraay.
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
William Ridley studied the language from 1852 to 1856.
Status
In 2013 Gamilaraay was noted as endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
by ''Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
'', with only 35 speakers left in 2006 (AUSTLANG says 37 at that date), all mixing Gamilaraay and English.[ At the 2011 Census there were 87 speakers recorded and in 2016, 105.][
]
Phonology
Vowels
is realized as .
Consonants
Initially, and may be simplified to and .
Stress
All long vowels in a word get equal stress. If no long vowels are present, stress falls on the first syllable. Secondary stress falls on short vowels, which are two syllables to the right or to the left of a stressed syllable.
Grammar
Pronouns
Gawambaraay Dialect
Subject pronouns:[Austin, P. (1993) ''A Reference Grammar of Gamilaraay, Northern New South Wales''.]
Gamilaraay words in English
Several loanword
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...
s have entered Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...
from Gamilaraay, including:
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
*
* (O
Google Books
*
*
Further reading
*Ash, Anna et al. Gamilaraay, Yuwaaaraay and Yuwaalayaay Dictionary. Alice Springs: IAD Press 2003.
* Contains a glossary
A glossary (from grc, γλῶσσα, ''glossa''; language, speech, wording) also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of Term (language), terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Tradi ...
*
External links
*http://yuwaalaraay.org/ has information about recent Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay language development and links to numerous language resources.
The Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) Language, northern New South Wales — A Brief History of Research
(PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
)
Gutenberg Project Browse By Language: Gamilaraay
Online dictionary
Gamilaraay Online dictionary
by Peter Austin and David Nathan
A Reference Grammar of Gamilaraay
*Bibliographies o
published
rare
o
special
materials on Gamilaraay language and people, at the
*Bibliographies o
published
rare
o
special
materials on Yuwaalaraay language and people, at the
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamilaraay Language
Gamilaraay
Wiradhuric languages