Yolngu Matha Language: An Overview of Yolngu Matha Language Characteristics

The only detailed examination of Yolngu Matha morphology was made by Frances Morphy, and published in "The Handbook of Australian Languages" in 1983. To do this, Morphy looked at Djapu, one of the Yolngu Matha dialects, as a representative example.

Djapu has 19 consonants and, like most Australian languages, three vowels. Words must begin with a consonant but can end with either a vowel or a consonant, and stress is primarily on the first syllable.

Djapu utilizes verbs, adverbs, demonstratives, personal and interrogative pronouns, and nominals. Nominals are divided into humans and higher animates, and lower animates or inanimates. There are singular, dual and plural number personal pronouns in the first and third person, but in the second person there are only singular and non-singular. Interrogative pronouns and determiners inflect to convey ergative or absolutive case, while personal pronouns are nominative or accusative.

Here are some sentences in Djapu:

dhuwal guya luka-nha-mirr
this fish eat is able
this fish is edible

guya-puy dhuwal dhäwu
fish-is about this story
this story is about fish

dhuwal miditjin wapiti-wuy
this medicine stingray-is for
this medicine is for [curing] stingray [wounds]

Djadaw’marama is a word that literally means to make the sun come up, but its actual meaning is to staying up all night.

Yolngu Matha has an SOV word order. It lacks front rounded vowels, glottalized and uvular consonants, and fricatives. Yolngu languages are suffixing and are isolated from other Pama-Nyungan languages by the Aboriginal peoples of the surrounding areas that speak prefixing languages of other Australian genera.

Yolngu Matha exhibits reduplication - the morphological phenomenon of repeating the full or partial root of a word in order to convey grammatical information, like plurality, or to create new words. When this phenomenon occurs frequently throughout the language, linguists call this "productive" usage.

Yolngu Matha has dependent-marking in clauses and possessive noun phrases. Grammatically, dependent marking is the mark that shows how different parts of a phrase will be put on the modifiers as opposed to the heads. The head of a phrase is the main noun. The dependents are the adjectives, articles, and possessives.

Here is an audio file of a story being told in Yolngu Matha:

http://www.ards.com.au/aud_story_turtles.htm

Bepuka's Story

This is a partial transcript of Dorothy Bepuka Garawirrtja talking about the concept of Yalu'

Speaker: Dorothy Bepuka Garawirrtja
Transcribed by: Joanne Wirrinywirriny and Emma Kowal
21st October 2002
Galiwin'ku, Australia

7. Yurr napurrdja \unhi wiripuny mala \a`apa`mirr ga mar\gin nh^ \ayi \unhi yalu' mayali'.

So some of we older people know what this Yalu’ means.

8. Wa\ganydja \ayi yalu' mayali' nhawi warrakangu yalu'.

One thing which Yalu’ means is the nest belonging to an animal.

9. Ga bukmak nh^munha' warrakan ga dji`awurrwu yalu' ga wa]'kurraw yalu' balanya malany.

And however many animals like scrub fowl and bandicoots have their nests.

10. Warrakangu yalu', ga buluny napurr ga nh^ma yalu' nhakun limurru\galdja rom\ur yol\uwaldja \ayi ga \orra dhuwaliyi yalu' ga yindi y^ku yalu'.

That’s the nests belonging to Animals, but also we can see that there is a Yalu’ in our Yolngu law. There is a Yalu’ at work there with important significance.

11. Yalu' mayali' \unhi dhu ga be\ur be\ur marrtji yol\u, ga \unhiwiliw dhu ga \al'yun limurru\gal, \unhi wanhawal yalu'lil dhu ga \al'yun w^\alil, nhakun balanya nhakun warraw' dhuthunu\u dharpa, dhuthunu\u dharpa.

The Yalu’ means for a Yolngu who comes from any place or another, they are identified with thus, through whichever Yalu’ belongs to their place, like the shade in the very centre of the tree.

12. Ga \ayi ba]djan mala nhumany dhu balanya nhakun dhuthunu\u dharpa ga ba]dja mala.

And the branches, you will be like the branches coming out of the trunk of the tree.

13. Limurrdja wiripuny mala nhakun ba]djan mala dhuwandja limurrdja gandarrpuynha.

We people are like all the different branches, we are out in the middle.

14. Ga \ayi worru\uny mala marrtjin limurru\ linygun murrmurryurra (die) yol\u walal dhi\ga\alnha mayali'mirrdja mala dju\unymirrdja (way of life) mala \unhi walal gan nhaltjarr `akara\al dh^wu yalu', yurr napurr walalany \^kul ga m^rra\al \unhi dh^wu.

Now our oldest people have all gone on and passed away before us and they died bearing the meaning and bearing the law, and whatever they have been telling us about the Yalu’, we heard and accepted those stories.

15. Ga wiripuydja mala miyalkurruwurryu ga \a`apa`mirriy, yawirriny'thu ga [irramuwurruy, b^y\u walal gan m^rra\al.

But also there are some old women and old people, and young men and older men that haven’t received this story.

16. Napurrdja mar\gi nh^ \ayi yalu', napurr \uli \^nha \unhi walalany balanyapuy y^n mari\ur wu \ula nh^\ur: ‘'Way dhuwandja nhe yaka nhe dhu napurru\ ga matha y^tjkurr wa\a, wu buku-ro\anmaram nhe dhu ga napurru\.”

We know what this Yalu’ is, we have heard those old people saying when there was trouble, when there was trouble or something, “Hey, don’t come speaking to us like that or retaliating.

17. Ga \unhi nhe ga walala\ wiripu-gu`kuw \unhi nhe yaka be\ur yarra=a'\ur, ga dhuwandja nhe dhipu\ur napurru\gal yalu'\ur.

“You don’t belong to the group of all those other people from their ancestral lines. You are actually here from our own Yalu’.

18. Nhe dhu ga yaka napurru\ balanya buku-ro\anmaram ga \arrtjun napurruny.

“You shouldn’t be speaking back to us like that and speaking roughly.

19. Ga mu`kuru `akaram napurruny. Dhuwalin nhe gan \unhi dhu\any \uthar nhe ga napurrunhany \unhi yalu'nany ga moman.

“And calling us strangers. You grew up not understanding and you can’t recognise the Yalu’ which belongs to us.”

20. Bala nhe ga bitjandhiyin napurru\guny wa\a yaluw'tja ‘'|e, ga nh^n \ayi \unhi yaluny?”

And so you have answered back, and said what is this Yalu’ thing?

21. Nhawin limurru\ raki', raki', balanya nhakun dharpa, ga ba]djan mala.

It is like a string, a string, like a tree with all its branches.

22. Ga wanha\ur limurr gan \unhi marrtji, ya balanya.

From wherever we came like that.

23. Limurr dhu, nhakun napurr dhu guya\a ro\iyirr napurr dhu birrka'yun \unhi wanha\ur napurr, wanha napurru\ family, napurru\guny nhakun family wiripuny mala.

We will, we have to remember and think about where we come from, where our family belongs, and also the family that we produce.