Biri, also known asBiria,Birri Gubba,Birigaba,Perembba and other variants, is anAustralian Aboriginal language in an area betweenMackay andTownsville ofQueensland spoken by theBirri Gubba people. A grammar of Biri proper was written before the language was silenced.[nb 1] As of January 2020[update] some of the dialects have been undergoing arevival for some years.[3]
At least eight languages had been previously regarded as dialects of Biri.[4] Recent research is finding that at least some of these languages, includingGangulu,Barada,Wirri andGaraynbal, have significant lexical, morphological and phonological differences to Biri, and as such should be considered distinct languages.[5] All are covered in this article.
Traditional lands of Aboriginal people around Mackay,Rockhampton andGladstone in Queensland
The following languages are regarded as closely related languages of Biri by theAUSTLANG database maintained byAIATSIS. Only one alternative name is given, for brevity; most have many more. Most, if not all, of these languages were silenced during the 19th and 20th centuries,[2] but many of them are now being reawakened by their respective communities.
E54: Yuwi (Juipera, Toolginburra, Yuipera, Juwibara, Yuibera, Yuwiburra, Yuwibarra, Yuwibara): Yuwibara is treated as a dialect of Biri byAngela Terrill, based on George Bridgeman andPierre-Marie Bucas' list inCurr (Vol.3, pp. 44–51), having over 80% in common with Biri. HoweverGavan Breen assigns it to Wiri (E57) – another dialect of Biri – on the basis of geography and other evidence. AIATSIS had not as of October 2020[update] assigned a status to it.[11]
Yuwi had no recorded speakers between 1975 and 2016 according to AUSTLANG,[11] but efforts are being made to revive the language. After a group of Yuwi descendants had worked hard to revive the language, by January 2020 elders were able to conduct "Welcome to Country" ceremonies in language. It was a long process, which included Elders consulting with theState Library of Queensland, working on building word lists and developing a dictionary. The organisationFirst Languages Australia (a language advocacy body established in 2013[17]) lends support.[18]
The language and people are usually referred to asYuwibara today,[19][20] with a 2020native title determination made in this name.[21]
Gabulbarra is name for a people of Central Queensland, but little is known about their language. TheGabulbarra People are closely connected withBarada People[22] and may have spoken a similar language to Barada.
^For an overview of the sociopolitical history of First Nations languages, see the Report of the Third National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS3).[2]
^Terrill, A. (1993). Biri. (Bachelor of Arts (Honours)). Australian National University, Canberra.
^Tudor-Smith, G., & Watson, T. (2024). Reanalysing and Recategorising Central Maric Languages Using Cultural Knowledge. Paper presented at the Australian Languages Workshop, Canberra.
Galvin, Eleanor (May 2011). "Selected bibliography of the Birria / Biria / Pirriya language and people held in the AIATSIS Library".CiteSeerX10.1.1.648.5911.
