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Welcome to Yolngu.net
This website was made to give a short introduction to the Yolngu language, as well as a few aspects of the rich Yolngu culture.
Yolngu Matha
Yolngu matha, or Yolngu language is a language variety spoken by the Yolngu in a large part of Australia's Northern Territory, including much of Arnhem land. It is a member of the Pama-Nyungan family of languages, and as such, shares many features with other languages found in Australia. The word 'yolŋu' itself means 'man' or 'person' but may also refer in particular to the Yolngu people. Yolngu is divided into several mutually intelligible language varieties.
Links:
Charles Darwin University's Yolngu Language and Culture website
http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/yolngustudies/
Open Universities Australia (they provide access to Yolngu courses via CDU, which may be used as credit for a range of undergraduate degrees)
https://www.open.edu.au/wps/portal
Wikipedia article on Yolngu language varieties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolngu_Matha
Music sung in Yolngu language by Gurrumul Yunupingu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bawDFY8G-o4
Links to additional Yolngu language resources
http://www.ards.com.au/langresources.htm
Yolngu Grammar
Yolngu Phonemes Yolngu has a limited range of consonant phonemes in comparison to many European languages, but on the other hand has 6 vowel phonemes, which is more than languages such as Spanish or Italian, although these languages also have diphthongs - combinations of vowels - that are not present in Yolngu. Yolngu also has 6 nasal phonemes, which is more than the vast majority of languages in the world. The differences in phonemes may initially pose a difficulty for those studying Yolngu. Several of the phonemes are represented by diferent allophones depending on their position within words. For example, you will never find the consonants p, t, ṯ, th, and tj at the beginning of a word or after nasals (m, n, ṉ, ŋ, nh, ny), as in these positions they are represented by b, d, ḏ, dh and dj respectively. In light of this, you will find a word spelled bäpa (father) but never one spelled päba (or one spelled bäba or päpa for that matter) as words spelled in this manner would still be pronounced as bäpa, due to the limits Yolngu places on positioning of these allophones. English has similar limits on phonemes, and some cause difficulties in pronunciation of Yolngu. One of the most prominent differences betwen English and Yolngu allophones is the 'ng' sound as in the words 'ring', 'sing', 'think' etc. Yolngu allows this phoneme to be pronounced in the same manner regardless of position, whereas English limits it to post-vocal position. This makes it very difficult for English speakers to pronounce the word 'yolngu' (yolŋu) without changing it to 'yolnu'. Yolngu has a large number of words beginning with the phoneme ŋ, so this is an early difficulty that must be overcome before one can correctly pronounce many Yolngu words. Retroflex consonants ṯ, ḏ and ṉ are pronounced by putting the tip of the tongue roughly on the roof of the mouth. This is a feature Yolngu has in common with many South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan) languages.
Notes on Pronunciation a = cut, ä = father, e = met, i = miss, o = hot, u = foot y = yes, w = win m = mill, n = new, ṉ = retroflex n (touch tongue on roof of mouth), nh = like n (note that the h is not pronounced), ŋ = ring, ny = canyon l = love, ḻ = retroflex l (touch tongue on roof of mouth), r = retroflex r (touch tongue on roof of mouth), rr = rolled r (like in Italian or as actor Sean Connery) b = bend, d = done, ḏ = retroflex d (touch tongue on roof of mouth), dh = bathe, then, dj = judge, g = get (not like gell) p = pick, t = tonne, ṯ = retroflex t (touch tongue on roof of mouth), th = bath, thin, tj = catch, k = keep Note that Yolngu phonetics are very similar to many other indigenous Australian languages. One distinctive feature of many Australian languages is the absence of the s and h sounds. Many languages such as French and Spanish lack the h sound as well, but it is unusual for languages outside of Australia to lack the s sound. The closest sound in Yolngu to s is Yolngu's tj sound, which is like the name Katja but could also be used for the ch as in cheese or a 't + sh' sound e.g. 'foot shape'.
Yolngu Verb Patterns
*Note the suffixes highlighted are identical despite representing different tenses
Pronouns
Key: incl. = inclusive, exc. = exclusive, ind.obj. = indirect object, dir.obj. = direct object, nom. = nominative, acc. = accusative, dat. = dative, loc. = locative Notes The use of the terms nominative, accusative, dative and locative to explain the functions of Yolngu words isn't necessary, but may help for those who have studied Indo-European or Afro-Asiatic languages. Even though the suffixes aren't used in the same sense they work in a very similar manner, so would serve to give a basic understanding of their use. If you haven't come across the terminology before, here is a brief description: Nominative = the subject of a sentence e.g. 'the man ate the apple'. Accusative (also known as a 'direct object') = the object of a sentence, e.g. 'the man ate the apple'. Dative = to ... (an object), e.g. 'the boy gave an apple to the dog'. Locative = at/in/on ... (a place), e.g. 'the mouse slept on the bed', or 'the girl played at home'. An indirect object is typically just a generic term for a noun in a sentence that isn't the subject or the direct object. The indirect object is often preceded by a preposition, such as the above examples 'the boy gave an apple to the dog', 'the mouse slept on the bed'.
Prepositions and Conjunctions In Yolngu, suffixes take the place of the prepositions and conjunctions so common to many other languages. They vary both the type of object (whether or not it is a person), and by the ending of the word in question, which determines whether the suffix is one beginning with a voiced consonant (b, dh, dj, g) which comes after nasals (n, ṉ, ŋ, ny) and the letters l, ḻ, r and rr, a sufix beginning with a non-voiced consonant (p, th, tj, k) which comes after unvoiced consonants (p, t, ṯ, th, k) and the ' symbol, or a suffix beginning with the letter 'n' or semi-vowel (w, y), which comes after a word ending in a vowel, or vowel followed by the ' symbol.
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Yolngu History
Yolngu History Yolngu language varieities are part of the greater Pama-Nyungan language family, which covers most of Australia, with the exception of most of the Northern Central region of Australia (britannica.com, 2010). In the picture below, the Pama-Nyungan language varieties are shown in Yellow. Yolngu language varieties are isolated from the majority of Pama-Nyungan language varieties by several of the northern language families.
A map showing the traditional land of the Yolngu in red.
The Yolngu traded with the Macassans over a large part of modern history. The Macassans are a people from the southern part of the island of Sulawesi in modern-day Indonesia. Some Yolngu are said to have moved to Macassar (also spelled Makassar), and a number of their descendents have met with Yolngu in recent times (Humphris, 2009). One of the main trade commodities between the Yolngu and the Macassans was the trepang, or 'sea cucumber', which the Macassans are said to have sold in China as a delicacy. In exchange for assistance with and permission to harvest the sea cucumbers, the Macassans are said to have supplied Yolngu with cloth, knives, rice and other goods. Today Yolngu language varieties have a number of loanwords of Macassan origin that bear a great deal of similarities to their cognates in standard Indonesian, for example, 'balanda' meaning White person or European (compare 'belanda' in standard Indonesian, meaning the Netherlands, or Dutch), 'rrupiya' meaning money (compare with the Indonesian currency the Rupiah)
The Sea Cucumber or Trepang
References 'Pama-Nyungan languages' 2009, Encyclopædia Britannica, viewed 25 May 2010, <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440376/Pama-Nyungan-languages> Humphris, K 2009, 'Macassan History in Arnhem Land', 105.7 ABC Darwin, viewed 25 May 2010, <http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/07/21/2632428.htm>
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Yolngu Vocabulary
Yolngu Vocabulary Here are some games made to help you build your Yolngu vocabulary and/or have fun. You can also download a free pdf Yolngu dictionary here from ARDS. Word search (right-click and select the option 'Save Link As'. Note that you must also download the word lists and store both in the same folder)
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Contact Details
Contact Details For enquiries and feedback, please send an email to admin@yolngu.net |
Old Version
Older Versions of the Website For the flash version of the website, click here. for the old html version, click here. |
Other Languages
Other Languages I've listed other languages here because I have an interest in general in quite a few languages. Most of the links are just flash cards for the alphabets/writing systems of varying languages. Amharic (an Ethiopian language) Bengali consonants (an Indo-European Indian language) Hindi consonants (an Indo-European Indian language) Japanese Hiragana Japanese Katakana Japanese Kanji level 1 (nonstandard definitions) Japanese Kanji level 2 (nonstandard definitions) Japanese Kanji level 3 (nonstandard definitions) Kannada consonants (a Dravidian South Indian language) Malayalam consonants (a Dravidian South Indian language) Sinhala consonants (an Indo-European Sri Lankan language) Tamil consonants (a Dravidian South Indian language) Telugu consonants (a Dravidian South Indian language)
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