Data collected by AUSTLANG

Data on Dhuwaya

Classification: Pama-Nyungan, Yuulngu group

Comment:

Dhuwaya is a common contemporary dialect of Yolngu which has arisen from language contact. Dhuwaya can be regarded as a variety of the Dhuwala/Dhuwal/Dhay’yi language. More specifically it shares features with the Eastern and Southern Dhuwala and Dhuwal varieties. According to Austlang, Dhuwaya is a very recent koine to which some of the younger yuulngu speakers tend to shift.

Area: Australia, Northern Territory.

Dhuwaya has no clan affiliations and no associated territory, although it is associated in a non-traditional way with the Yirrkala settlement.

Number of speakers: The 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report estimated approximately 1500 speakers of Dhuwaya, whereas the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census counted 326 speakers.

Language vitality & transmission:

No data available.

There’s no available literature so far, this koine has been poorly documented. It is used universally by the younger generation in all informal contexts, but regarded as a low status, stigmatized dialect.

Links

AUSTLANG website