Diyari language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Diyari | ||
---|---|---|
Spoken in: | South Australia | |
Language extinction: | ? | |
Language family: | Pama-Nyungan Karnic Karna Diyari |
|
Writing system: | Latin alphabet | |
Language codes | ||
ISO 639-1: | none | |
ISO 639-2: | aus | |
ISO 639-3: | dif | |
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |
Diyari or Dieri is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of South Australia spoken by the Diyari tribe.
Contents |
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Vowels
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i | u |
Low | a |
[edit] 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 | n | ɳ | |
Lateral | ʎ | l̪ | l | ɭ | |||
Trill | [r] | ||||||
Flap | [ɾ] | ||||||
Approximant | w | j | ɻ |
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 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
- Austin, Peter K. (1981). A grammar of Diyari, South Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Austin, Peter K. (1988). "Trill-released stops and language change in Central Australian languages". Australian Journal of Linguistics 8: 218–245.
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Trefry, David (1970). "The phonological word in Dieri", in Laycock, D. C.: Linguistic trends in Australia. Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies, 65–73.