Yorta Yorta language

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Yorta Yorta
Spoken in:	Victoria, Australia
Total speakers:
Language family:	Pama-Nyungan Yorta Yorta
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`aus`
ISO 639-3:	–
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Yorta Yorta language, is a group of closely related languages traditionally spoken by Yorta Yorta people, Indigenous Australians from the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day northeast Victoria.

Yorta Yorta Family Groups include the Bangerang, Kailtheban, Wollithiga, Moira, Penrith, Ulupna, Kwat Kwat, Yalaba Yalaba and Nguaria-iiliam-wurrung clans.^[1]

Although the language was moribund due to contact with Europeans, and forcible dislocation to missions, the Yorta Yorta had maintained many of their words. There have been strong moves of late to preserve and revive the language.

Two Yorta Yorta women, Lois Peeler and Sharon Atkinson, together with Dr Heather Bowe from Monash University, worked for several years to compile a comprehensive record of research material, entitled Yorta Yorta Language Heritage. This work provided a summary of existing written records, with reference to the spoken resources, and included introductory lessons in Yorta Yorta, together with English to Yorta Yorta and Yorta Yorta to English dictionaries.