Yolŋu Matha (), meaning the 'Yolŋu tongue', is a linguistic family that includes the languages of the

Yolngu The Yolngu or Yolŋu ( or ) are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. ''Yolngu'' means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnuma ...

(also known as the Yolŋu and Yuulngu languages), the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

people of northeast

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

in northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Varieties

Yolŋu Matha consists of about six languages, some mutually intelligible, divided into about thirty clan varieties and perhaps twelve different

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

s, each with its own Yolŋu name. Put together, there are about 4600 speakers of Yolŋu Matha languages. Exogamy has often meant that mothers and fathers speak different languages, so that children traditionally grew up at least bilingual, and in many cases polylingual, meaning that communication was facilitated by mastery of multiple languages and dialects of Yolŋu Matha. The linguistic situation is very complicated, given that each of the 30 or so clans also has a named language variety. Dixon (2002) distinguishes the following: Bowern (2011) adds the varieties in parentheses as distinct languages.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant inventory is basically the same across Yolŋu varieties, although some varieties show minor differences. Yolŋu languages have a fortis–lenis contrast in

plosive consonants In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...

. Lenis/short plosives have weak contact and intermittent voicing, while fortis/long plosives have full closure, a more powerful release burst, and no voicing.

Vowels

A three-way vowel distinction is shared between Yolŋu varieties, though not all Yolŋu varieties have a contrast in

vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived or actual length (phonetics), duration of a vowel sound when pronounced. Vowels perceived as shorter are often called short vowels and those perceived as longer called long vowels. On one hand, many ...

. In the varieties that do have a length contrast, long vowels occur only in the initial syllable of words.

In popular culture

The films ''

Ten Canoes ''Ten Canoes'' is a 2006 Australian historical drama/docudrama film directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starring Crusoe Kurddal. The film is set in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, before Western influence, and tells the story of ...

'' (2006) and '' Charlie's Country'' (2013), both directed by

Rolf de Heer Rolf de Heer (born 4 May 1951) is a Dutch Australian film director. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in the Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old.

and featuring actor

David Gulpilil David Dhalatnghu Gulpilil (1 July 1953 – 29 November 2021) was an Australian actor and dancer. He was known for his roles in the films Walkabout (film), ''Walkabout'' (1971), Storm Boy (1976 film), ''Storm Boy'' (1976), ''The Last Wave'' (1 ...

, feature dialogue in Yolŋu Matha. ''Ten Canoes'' was the first feature film to be shot entirely in Australian indigenous languages, with the dialogue largely in the Ganalbiŋu variety of Yolŋu Matha. Dr. G. Yunupingu was a popular Australian singer who sang in the Gumatj dialect of Yolŋu Matha, as did the Aboriginal rock group

Yothu Yindi Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced , natively ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a wh ...

Baker Boy Danzal James Baker (born 10 October 1996), known professionally as Baker Boy, is a Yolngu rapper, dancer, and artist. Baker Boy is known for performing original hip-hop songs incorporating both English language, English and Yolŋu languages, ...

, from the community of

Milingimbi Milingimbi Island, also Yurruwi, is the largest island of the Crocodile Islands group off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Location Milingimbi lies approximately east of Darwin and west of Nhulunbuy. History Aborig ...

in North Eastern

released the song "Cloud 9" in 2017, in which he raps in Yolŋu Matha. As

Young Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the state and territor ...

in 2019, the

International Year of Indigenous Languages The International Year of Indigenous Languages was a United Nations observance in 2019 that aimed to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between langu ...

, and with two of his songs in the 2019 Triple J Hottest 100, he raised the profile of Yolŋu Matha in mainstream media as well as giving people at home pride in their language.

Dictionaries and resources

Dictionaries have been produced by Beulah Lowe,

David Zorc R. David Zorc (also R. David Paul Zorc; born 1943) is an American linguist primarily known for his work on Austronesian languages and linguistics, particularly the Philippine languages. Education Zorc graduated ''cum laude'' with an A.B. in Phil ...

and Michael Christie. A free, web-base
searchable dictionary
created by John Greatorex was launched in February 2015 by

Charles Darwin University Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with two campuses in Darwin and six satellite campuses in metropolitan and regional areas of the Northern Territory. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Ter ...

. There are also several grammars of Yolŋu languages by Jeffrey Heath, Frances Morphy, Melanie Wilkinson and others. A graduate certificate in Yolŋu studies is offered at

, teaching Yolŋu kinship, law and the Gupapuyŋu language variety.

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

br>Indigenous News Radio
broadcasts a news program in Yolngu Matha and also in Warlpiri on weekdays. The Aboriginal Resource and Development Services (ARDS) broadcast live radio in northeast Arnhem Land, Darwin and Palmerston and provide recordings of past programs on the internet.

Words and expressions

* 'skill, talent, ability' * ''Bäru'' 'crocodile' * 'with water' (bucket with water), 'watery'. * 'good, OK' * or ''Yo'' (pronounced 'yo') 'yes' * ''Yo manymak'' when used together the expression can be synonymous with either of its two component words and also used as a friendly greeting, the 'o' in ''yo'' is usually held for longer when used as part of this expression. * 'ghost' * 'child' * ‘sister’ * 'big' * denotes the link between two different entities which is characterised as a mother-child relationship.

Austronesian loanwords

Like other languages of the Top End, Yolŋu-Matha contains many loanwords from

Austronesian languages The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken ...

due to abundant contact with seafaring peoples from the Indonesian archipelago. Walker and Zorc have identified 179 Yolŋu-Matha words that are clearly of Austronesian origin, and have identified a further 70 possible Austronesian loanwords requiring further study.

Vocabulary

Capell Capell or Capel is a surname. Notable people with the name include: Capell * Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (1608–1649), English politician * Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex (1631–1683), English statesman * Arthur Capell (1902–1 ...

(1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:Capell, Arthur. 1941–1942, 1942-1943
Languages of Arnhem Land, North Australia
''Oceania'' 12: 364–392, 13: 24-51.

Notes

References

* Yolngu.net: grammar, vocabulary, histor

* Aboriginal Resource and Development Services (ARDS

*

, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Yolŋu Matha cours

* ''ARDS Rhombuy Dhäwu: Legal English-Yolngu Matha Online Dictionary'

* Trudgen, Richard, ''Why Warriors Lie Down & Die'

ARDS, Darwin, 2000. * Examples of Yolngu Matha being spoke

Radio National story
* Watson, Helen and David Wade Chambers (with the Yolngu community at Yirrkala). ''Singing the Land, Signing the Land''.

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

.
Madayin Law in Yolngu and English