The Yura or Thura-Yura languages are a group of
Australian Aboriginal languages surrounding
Spencer Gulf and
Gulf St Vincent
Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger S ...
in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, that comprise a
genetic language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...
of the
Pama–Nyungan family.
Name
The name ''Yura'' comes from the word for "person" in the northern languages; this is a
lenited
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a pa ...
form of the ''thura'' found in other languages, hence ''Thura-Yura''. Similar words for "person" are found in languages outside the group, however (for example 'yura' - 'person' in the Sydney language).
Languages
The following classification is proposed by Bowern & Koch (2004):
[Bowern & Koch (2004) ''Australian Languages: Classification and the Comparative Method'']
*Nangga:
Wirangu,
Nauo
*Core Thura-Yura
**Yura (northern):
Adnyamathanha
The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternativ ...
–
Kuyani
The Kuyani people, also written Guyani and other variants, and also known as the Nganitjidi, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia who speak the Kuyani language. Their traditional lands are to the west of the Flinder ...
,
Barngarla
The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
Languag ...
**Kadli (southern):
Narangga,
Kaurna
The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...
**(unclassified)
Nukunu
Nukunu are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia, living around the Spencer Gulf area. In the years after British colonisation of South Australia, the area was developed to contain the cities of Port Pirie and Port Augusta.
Name
Bot ...
,
Ngadjuri
The Ngadjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north.
Name
Their ethno ...
A Nukunu speaker reported that the Nukunu could understand Barngarla and Kuyani, but not more distant varieties.
[
Peramangk may have been a southern Thura-Yura language, close to Kaurna.
Dixon (2002) lists a ''Nantuwara'' language, but there is no data for it.
]
Proto-language
Reconstructed Thura-Yura vocabulary by Simpson and Hercus (2004):[Simpson, Jane and Luise Hercus. 2004. Thura-Yura as a Subgroup. In Claire Bowern and Harold Koch (eds.), ''Australian Languages: Classification and the Comparative Method'', 179-206, 580-645. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.]
;Spelling conventions
*alveolar tap: ''r''
*alveolar trill: ''rr''
*retroflex glide: ''ṟ''
*retroflex tap: ''rd''
*indeterminate rhotic: ''R''
References
*
{{Australian Aboriginal languages
Indigenous Australian languages in South Australia