Diyari language

Diyari
Pronunciation	[ɖijaɻi]
Region	South Australia
Extinct	(date missing)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Karnic Karna Diyari
Dialects	Diyari Dirari (Dhirari) Pirlatapa?
Signed forms	Dieri Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: dif – Diyari dit – Dirari bxi – Pirlatapa
Glottolog	None pirl1239  (Dieric, incl. Ngamini)[1]
AIATSIS[2]	L17 Diyari, L14 Dhirari, L11 Pirladapa

Diyari /ˈdiːjɑːri/ or Dieri /ˈdɪəri/^[3] is an Australian Aboriginal language of South Australia.

Dirari (extinct late 20th century) was a dialect. Pirlatapa (extinct by the 1960s) may have been as well; data is poor. The information below is from Diyari proper.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low	a

Consonants

		Peripheral		Laminal		Apical
		Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex
Stop	Voiceless	p	k	c	t̪	t	ʈ
	Voiced					d~dʳ	ɖ
Nasal		m	ŋ	ɲ	n̪ ~ d̪n̪	n ~ dn	ɳ
Lateral				ʎ	l̪ ~ d̪l̪	l ~ dl	m
Trill						[r]
Flap						[ɾ]
Approximant		w		j			ɻ

Several of the nasals and laterals are allophonically prestopped.^[4]

The voiced alveolar stop [d] may have trilled release [dʳ] depending on dialect. Peter Austin (1988) suggests that this is due to Yandruwanhdha influence.

The voiced retroflex stop /ɖ/ often becomes a tap [ɽ] between vowels.

The stop [d]~[dʳ] is in complementary distribution with both the trill [r] and the flap [ɾ]. Austin (1981) analysed the trill [r] as being the intervocalic allophone of /d/~/dʳ/, with the flap /ɾ/ being a separate phoneme. R. M. W. Dixon (2002) suggests that [ɾ] could be considered the intervocalic allophone of /d/~/dʳ/, so then /r/ would be a separate phoneme. Having /d/ realized as [ɾ] would parallel the realization of /ɖ/ as [ɽ], and having /r/ rather than /ɾ/ as a phoneme matches most other Australian languages.

Grammar

Diyari has three different morphosyntactic alignments:

• Singular common nouns and male personal names follow an absolutive–ergative system.
• Plural first and second person pronouns follow a nominative–accusative system.
• Plural common nouns, female personal names and other pronouns follow a tripartite system.

Sign

The Diyari had a highly developed sign language.^[5]

References

1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Pirlatapa–Dieric". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
2. Diyari at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
3. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
4. Jeff Mielke, 2008. The emergence of distinctive features, p 135
5. Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Austin, Peter K. (1981). A grammar of Diyari, South Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22849-2.
• Austin, Peter K. (1988). "Trill-released stops and language change in Central Australian languages". Australian Journal of Linguistics 8 (2): 218–245. doi:10.1080/07268608808599398.
• Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47378-0.
• Trefry, David (1970). "The phonological word in Dieri". In Laycock, D. C. Linguistic trends in Australia. Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies. pp. 65–73.

External links

• Bibliographies of published, rare or special materials on Diyari language and people, at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies