Jawi or Djawi or Djaui, is a nearly extinct dialect of the

Bardi language Bardi (also Baardi, Baard) is an endangered Australian Aboriginal language in the Nyulnyulan family, mutually intelligible with Jawi and possibly other dialects. It is spoken by the Bardi people at the tip of the Dampier peninsula and neighbo ...

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 ...

, the traditional language of the

Jawi people Jawi may refer to: People and languages *Australia: **Jawi dialect, a nearly extinct Australian aboriginal language **Jawi people, an Australian Aboriginal people of the Kimberley coast of Western Australia, who speak or spoke the Jawi dialect *A ...

. There are no longer any known fluent speakers, but there may be some partial speakers. The name has also been spelt Chowie, Djaoi, Djau, Dyao, and Dyawi.

Classification

Jawi is a Non-Pama–Nyungan language of the Nyulnyulan family, most closely related to Bardi. Bowern discusses how Jawi and Bardi may have converged within the last hundred years. Jawi people were hit hard by

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

Sunday Island Mission Records in the early years of the 20th century. Their traditional lands are Sunday Island and the islands of the

Buccaneer Archipelago The Buccaneer Archipelago is a group of islands off the coast of Western Australia near the town of Derby in the Kimberley region. The closest inhabited place is Bardi located about from the western end of the island group. , a new marine ...

to the northeast.

References

Traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal Tribes around Derby

Cited references

General references

* * * Bird, W.; Hadley, S. (not dated). "Native vocabulary: Sunday Island", unpublished manuscript.

Classification

References

Cited references

General references

Further reading