The Jabirr Jabirr language, also known as Djabirr-Djabirr, is a Western

Nyulnyulan The Nyulnyulan languages are a small family of closely related Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Western Australia. Most languages in this family are extinct, with only three extant languages, all of which are almost extinct. I ...

language formerly spoken by the

Jabirr Jabirr The Jabirr Jabbirr are an Indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Jabirr Jabirr, is also written as Jabirrjabirr and with other spellings such as DjaberrDjaberr, Djaberadjabera, Dyaberdyaber and Jabba Jabba. Th ...

people on the coast south of Beagle Bay in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Earlier sources spelled the name DjaberrDjaberr or Dyaberdyaber; the contemporary accepted spelling is Jabirr-Jabirr, which reflects the spelling conventions of languages of the Kimberley region. It is also sometimes spelt Jabba Jabba. The language is closely related to Nyulnyul and probably close enough to be mutually intelligible. The source materials from Nekes and Worms' (1953) "Australian Languages" list numerous similarities. Jabirr Jabirr is part of a

language revival Language revitalization, also referred to as language revival or reversing language shift, is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one. Those involved can include linguists, cultural or community groups, o ...

project. Jabirr Jabirr is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the

Department of Communications and the Arts The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs. In December 2019, prime minister Scott Morrison ...

. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".

References

Nyulnyulan languages {{ia-lang-stub