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| Guugu Yimithirr | |
|---|---|
| Guugu Yimdhirr | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈkuːkuˈjɪmɪt̪ɪr] |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Hopevale, Queensland |
| Ethnicity | Guugu Yimithirr,Koko Njekodi |
Native speakers | 810 (2021 census)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kky |
| Glottolog | gugu1255 |
| AIATSIS[2] | Y82 Guugu Yimithirr,Y79 Guugu-Nyiguudyi |
| ELP | Guugu-Yimidhirr |
  Guugu Yimithirr Map showing the location of Hope Vale, where most speakers of Guugu Yimithirr reside | |
| Coordinates:15°17′46″S145°06′43″E / 15.29611°S 145.11194°E /-15.29611; 145.11194 | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Guugu Yimithirr, also renderedGuugu Yimidhirr,Guguyimidjir, and many other spellings, is anAustralian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of theGuugu Yimithirr people ofFar North Queensland. It belongs to thePama-Nyungan language family.[3] Most of the speakers today live at the community ofHope Vale, about 46 kilometres (29 mi) fromCooktown. However, as of June 2020[update] only about half of the Guugu Yimithirr nation speak the language. As such, efforts are being made to teach it to children. Guugu Yimithirr is the source language of the wordkangaroo (gangurru).[4]
The wordguugu means 'speech, language', whileyimithirr (oryumuthirr) meansyimi -having,yimi being the word for 'this'. The use of the wordyi(mi), rather than some other word for "this", was seen as a distinctive feature of Guugu Yimithirr. The elementguugu and the practice of naming based on some distinctive word is found in many other languages.
The name has many spelling variants, includingGogo-Yimidjir,Gugu-Yimidhirr,Gugu Yimithirr,Guugu Yimidhirr,Guguyimidjir (used byEthnologue),Gugu Yimijir,Kukuyimidir,Koko Imudji,Koko Yimidir,Kuku Jimidir,Kuku Yimithirr, andKuku Yimidhirr.
  Location of the Guugu Yimithirr people |
The original territory of theGuugu Yimithirr tribe extended northwards to the mouth of theJeannie River, where it was bordered by speakers ofGuugu Nyiguudji; southwards to theAnnan River, where it was bordered by speakers ofGuugu Yalandji; to the west, it was bordered by speakers of a language calledGuugu Warra (literally 'bad talk') orLama-Lama. The modern town ofCooktown is located within Guugu Yimithirr territory.
As of the early 21st century, however, most Guugu Yimithirr speakers live at themission atHopevale.
Guugu Yimithirr originally consisted of several dialects, although even the names of most have now been forgotten. Today, two main dialects are distinguished: the coastal dialect, calleddhalundhirr 'with the sea', and the inland dialect, calledwaguurrga 'of the outside'.[5][6]Missionaries used the coastal dialect to translatehymns andBible stories, so some of its words now have religious associations that the inland equivalents lack. There was once also aNgegudi orGugu Nyiguudyi dialect, which is unattested.[7]
In 1770, Guugu Yimithirr became the first Australian Aboriginal language to be written down whenLieutenant (laterCaptain)James Cook and his crew recorded words while their ship, theHM BarkEndeavour, was being repaired after having run aground on a shoal of theGreat Barrier Reef.Joseph Banks described the language as "totally different from that of the Islanders; it sounded more like English in its degree of harshness though it could not be called harsh neither [sic]".
Among the words recorded werekangooroo orkanguru (IPA:/ɡaŋuru/), meaning a large black or greykangaroo, which would become the general English term for all kangaroos, anddhigul (transcribed by Banks asJe-Quoll), the name of thequoll.
Sydney Parkinson, who accompanied Cook, gave a useful word list in his posthumously published journal,A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas.[8]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | u uː |
| Low | a aː | |
Short/u/ may be realised as unrounded[ɯ], and unstressed/a/ may be reduced to[ə].
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Stop | b | ɡ | ɟ | d̪ | d | ɖ |
| Nasal | m | ŋ | ɲ | n̪ | n | ɳ |
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Rhotic | r | ɻ | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j | ||||
The stops are usually voiceless and unaspirated initially and after short vowels, and voiced after consonants and long vowels.
The retroflexes[ɖɳ] may not be single phonemes, but clusters of/ɻdɻn/. However, there is at least one word which, for older speakers, is pronounced with a word-initial retroflex:run, which is[ɖudaː] or[ɖuɖaː].
The rhotic/r/ is normally aflap[ɾ], but may be atrill in emphatic speech.
All words, with the exception of a couple ofinterjections, begin with one consonant. The consonant can be a stop, nasal, or semivowel (that is,/lrɻ/ do not occur initially).
Words can end in either a vowel or a consonant. The allowed word-final consonants are/lrɻjnn̪/.
Within words, any consonant can occur, as well as clusters of up to three consonants, which cannot occur initially or finally.
Like many Australian languages, Guugu Yimithirrpronouns haveaccusative morphology while nouns haveergative morphology. That is, thesubject of anintransitive verb has the same form as the subject of atransitive verb if the subject is a pronoun, but the same form as theobject of a transitive verb otherwise.
Regardless of whether nouns or pronouns are used, the usual sentence order issubject–object–verb, although other word orders are possible.
The language is notable for its use of puregeographic directions (north, south, east, west) rather thanegocentric directions (left, right, forward, backward),[9] though such "purity" is disputed.[10] Still, it has given its speakers a remarkable sense of direction.[citation needed]
As of June 2020[update], only about half of the 1,400 Guugu Yimithirr people speak the language, with mostly only grandparents being fluent speakers. Hope Valeelders are helping to create video tutorials on teaching Guugu Yimithirr, which are being uploaded toYouTube, while the local school, Hope Vale Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy, has a language program in its curriculum. With the schools closed and learning being done in the home, using the online videos, during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Australia, adults as well as younger siblings have been learning the language alongside the schoolchildren.[4]
Some words from the Guugu Yimithirr language, as spelt and written by Guugu Yimithirr authors include:[11]
This Wikipedia article incorporates text fromGuugu Yimithirr published by theState Library of Queensland underCC BYlicence, accessed on 10 June 2022.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)