Gamilaraay Language
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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: GamilaraayOnline dictionaryGamilaraay Online dictionary
by Peter Austin and David Nathan
A Reference Grammar of Gamilaraay
*Bibliographies o
publishedrare
o
special
materials on Gamilaraay language and people, at the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies 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, ...
*Bibliographies o
publishedrare
o
special
materials on Yuwaalaraay language and people, at the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies 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, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamilaraay Language Gamilaraay Wiradhuric languages