View source for Guugu Yimithirr language

{{Short description|Australian Aboriginal language}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Guugu Yimithirr
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|kky|ˈkuːku ˈjɪmɪt̪ɪr|}}
| region           = [[Hopevale, Queensland]]
| ethnicity        = [[Guugu Yimithirr people|Guugu Yimithirr]], [[Koko Njekodi]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|806|2}}
| date             = 2021 census
| ref              = <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021/|title=Cultural diversity: Census|author=Australian Bureau of Statistics|access-date=13 October 2022|date=2021}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Australian
| fam1             = [[Pama–Nyungan languages|Pama–Nyungan]]
| fam2             = [[Paman languages|Paman]]?
| fam3             = [[Yalanjic languages|Yalanjic]] or Yimidhirr–Yalanji–Yidinic
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]]
| iso3             = kky
| glotto           = gugu1255
| glottorefname    = Guugu Yimidhirr
| dia1             = Dhalundhirr
| dia2             = Waguurrga
| dia3             = Nyiguudyi
| notice           = IPA
| aiatsis          = Y82
| states           = [[Australia]]
| mapcaption       = 
| pushpin_map      = Australia
| pushpin_label    = 
| coordinates      = {{coord|15|17|46|S|145|06|43|E}}
| pushpin_map_caption = Map showing the location of Hope Vale, where most speakers of Guugu Yimithirr reside
| aiatsis2         = Y79
| aiatsisname2     = Guugu-Nyiguudyi
| aiatsisname      = Guugu Yimithirr
| altname          = Guugu Yimdhirr
}}

'''Guugu Yimithirr''', also rendered '''Guugu Yimidhirr''', '''Guguyimidjir''', and many other spellings, is an [[Australian Aboriginal languages|Australian Aboriginal language]], the traditional language of the [[Guugu Yimithirr people]] of [[Far North Queensland]]. It belongs to the [[Pama-Nyungan]] language family.<ref name="sorosoro">{{cite web|url=http://www.sorosoro.org/en/guugu-yimidhirr |title=Guugu Yimidhirr « Sorosoro |publisher=Sorosoro.org |access-date=2015-08-15}}</ref> Most of the speakers today live at the community of [[Hope Vale, Queensland|Hope Vale]], about {{convert|46|km}} from [[Cooktown]]. However, {{as of|lc=yes|June 2020}} 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 word ''[[kangaroo]]'' ({{Lang|kky|gangurru}}).<ref name=mounter>{{cite web | title=Hope Vale elders using modern platform as latest tool to preserve ancient Guugu Yimithirr language - ABC News | website=ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) | date=17 June 2020|first=Brendan |last=Mounter | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-17/hope-vale-elders-use-youtube-to-teach-language/12356556 | access-date=17 June 2020}}</ref>

==Name==
The word {{Transliteration|kky|guugu}} means 'speech, language', while {{Transliteration|kky|yimithirr}} (or {{Transliteration|kky|yumuthirr}}) means {{Transliteration|kky|yimi}} -having, {{Transliteration|kky|yimi}} being the word for 'this'. The use of the word {{Transliteration|kky|yi(mi)}}, rather than some other word for "this", was seen as a distinctive feature of Guugu Yimithirr. The element {{Transliteration|kky|guugu}} and the practice of naming based on some distinctive word is found in many other languages.

The name has many spelling variants, including '''Gogo-Yimidjir''', '''Gugu-Yimidhirr''', '''Gugu Yimithirr''', '''Guugu Yimidhirr''', '''Guguyimidjir''' (used by [[Ethnologue]]), '''Gugu Yimijir''', '''Kukuyimidir''', '''Koko Imudji''', '''Koko Yimidir''', '''Kuku Jimidir''', '''Kuku Yimithirr''', and '''Kuku Yimidhirr'''.

==Geographic distribution==
{| style="float:right;"
|-
||
{{Superimpose| base = Australia_Locator_Blank.svg
  | base_width = 250px
  | base_caption = Australia
  | float = Locator_Dot.svg
  | float_width = 5px
  | float_caption = 
  | x = 188
  | y = 28
}}
Location of the Guugu Yimithirr people
|}
The original territory of the [[Guugu Yimithirr tribe]] extended northwards to the mouth of the [[Jeannie River]], where it was bordered by speakers of [[Guugu Nyiguudji language|Guugu Nyiguudji]]; southwards to the [[Annan River]], where it was bordered by speakers of [[Guugu Yalandji language|Guugu Yalandji]]; to the west, it was bordered by speakers of a language called [[Guugu Warra language|Guugu Warra]] (literally 'bad talk') or [[Lama-Lama language|Lama-Lama]]. The modern town of [[Cooktown]] is located within Guugu Yimithirr territory.

As of the early 21st century, however, most Guugu Yimithirr speakers live at the [[mission (station)|mission]] at [[Hopevale, Queensland|Hopevale]].

===Dialects===
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, called {{Lang|kky|dhalundhirr}} 'with the sea', and the inland dialect, called {{Lang|kky|waguurrga}} 'of the outside'.<ref name="austlangY167">{{Cite web |title=Y167: Dhalundhirr |url=https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/Y167 |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=Australian Indigenous Languages Database |date=26 July 2019 |publisher=[[Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies]]}}</ref><ref name="austlangY168">{{Cite web |title=Y168: Waguurrga |url=https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/Y168 |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=Australian Indigenous Languages Database |date=26 July 2019 |publisher=[[Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies]]}}</ref> [[Missionary|Missionaries]] used the coastal dialect to translate [[hymn]]s and [[Bible story|Bible stories]], so some of its words now have religious associations that the inland equivalents lack. There was once also a ''Ngegudi'' or ''Gugu Nyiguudyi'' dialect, which is unattested.<ref name="austlangY79">{{Cite web |title=Y79: Guugu-Nyiguudyi |url=https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/Y79 |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=Australian Indigenous Languages Database |date=26 July 2019 |publisher=[[Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies]]}}</ref>

==History==
[[Image:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg|thumb|right|Captain James Cook]]
In 1770, Guugu Yimithirr became the first Australian Aboriginal language to be written down when [[Lieutenant]] (later [[Captain (naval)|Captain]]) [[James Cook]] and his crew recorded words while their ship, the [[HM Bark Endeavour|HM Bark ''Endeavour'']], was being repaired after having run aground on a shoal of the [[Great 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 {{not a typo|called}} harsh neither {{sic}}".

Among the words recorded were ''{{Not a typo|{{lang|kky|kangooroo}}}}'' or ''{{Not a typo|{{lang|kky|kanguru}}}}'' ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]: {{IPA|/ɡaŋuru/}}), meaning a large black or grey [[kangaroo]], which would become the general English term for all kangaroos, and {{Lang|kky|dhigul}} (transcribed by Banks as ''Je-Quoll''), the name of the [[quoll]].

[[Sydney Parkinson]], who accompanied Cook, gave a useful word list in his posthumously published journal, ''[[A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/parkinson/191.html|title=Parkinson's Journal, New Holland, page 191|publisher=Southseas.nla.gov.au|access-date=2015-08-15}}</ref>

==Phonology==

===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPA link|i|i iː}}
| {{IPA link|u|u uː}}
|-
! [[Low vowel|Low]]
|colspan="2"| {{IPA link|ä|a aː}}
|}
Short {{IPA|/u/}} may be realised  as unrounded {{IPAblink|ɯ}}, and unstressed {{IPA|/a/}} may be reduced to {{IPAblink|ə}}.

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"| [[Peripheral consonant|Peripheral]]
!colspan="2"| [[Laminal consonant|Laminal]]
!colspan="2"| [[Apical consonant|Apical]]
|-
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ɟ}}
| {{IPA link|d̪}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|ɖ}}
|-
! [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| {{IPA link|n̪}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɳ}}
|-
! [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
|
|-
! [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
| {{IPA link|ɻ}}
|-
! [[Semivowel]]
|colspan="2"| {{IPA link|w}}
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|
|}
The stops are usually voiceless and unaspirated initially and after short vowels, and voiced after consonants and long vowels.

The retroflexes {{IPA|[ɖ ɳ]}} may not be single phonemes, but clusters of {{IPA|/ɻd ɻn/}}. However, there is at least one word which, for older speakers, is pronounced with a word-initial retroflex: ''run'', which is {{IPA|[ɖudaː]}} or {{IPA|[ɖuɖaː]}}.

The rhotic {{IPA|/r/}} is normally a [[flap consonant|flap]] {{IPAblink|ɾ}}, but may be a [[trill consonant|trill]] in emphatic speech.

===Phonotactics===
All words, with the exception of a couple of [[interjection]]s, begin with one consonant. The consonant can be a stop, nasal, or semivowel (that is, {{IPA|/l r ɻ/}} do not occur initially).

Words can end in either a vowel or a consonant. The allowed word-final consonants are {{IPA|/l r ɻ j n n̪/}}.

Within words, any consonant can occur, as well as clusters of up to three consonants, which cannot occur initially or finally.

==Grammar==
Like many Australian languages, Guugu Yimithirr [[pronoun]]s have [[nominative–accusative language|accusative]] morphology while nouns have [[ergative–absolutive language|ergative]] morphology. That is, the [[subject (grammar)|subject]] of an [[intransitive verb]] has the same form as the subject of a [[transitive verb]] if the subject is a pronoun, but the same form as the [[object (grammar)|object]] of a transitive verb otherwise.

Regardless of whether nouns or pronouns are used, the usual sentence order is [[subject–object–verb]], although other word orders are possible.

The language is notable for its use of pure [[geographic direction]]s (north, south, east, west) rather than [[egocentric direction]]s (left, right, forward, backward),<ref>{{cite news |last=Deutscher |first=Guy |title=Does Your Language Shape How You Think? |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html |date=26 August 2010}}</ref> though such "purity" is disputed.<ref name=Haviland-1998>{{cite journal|last=Haviland|first=John B.|title=Guugu Yimithirr Cardinal Directions|journal=Ethos|date=March 1998|volume=26|issue=1|pages=25–47|url=https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jhaviland/Publications/ETHOSw.Diags.pdf|doi=10.1525/eth.1998.26.1.25}}</ref> Still, it has given its speakers a remarkable sense of direction.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

==Preservation==
{{as of|June 2020}}, only about half of the 1,400 Guugu Yimithirr people speak the language, with mostly only grandparents being fluent speakers. Hope Vale [[Aboriginal elder|elders]] are helping to create video tutorials on teaching Guugu Yimithirr, which are being uploaded to [[YouTube]], 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 the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Australia]], adults as well as younger siblings have been learning the language alongside the schoolchildren.<ref name=mounter/>

== Vocabulary ==
Some words from the Guugu Yimithirr language, as spelt and written by Guugu Yimithirr authors include:<ref name=":SLQ69">{{SLQ-CC-BY |url=https://maps.slq.qld.gov.au/iyil/view/69?embed=true |title=Guugu Yimithirr |publisher=[[State Library of Queensland]]|website=Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages map |url-status=live |accessdate=10 June 2022}}</ref>
* ''Balingga'': echidna
* ''Birri'': river
* ''Bubu'': land
* ''Buurraay'': water
* ''Gangurru'': kangaroo
* ''Gulaan'': possum
* ''Guuju'': fish
* ''Jijirr'': bird
* ''Munhu'': grass
* ''Nanggurr'': home/camp
* ''Ngalan'': sun
* ''Thaarba'': snake
* ''Wantharra nyundu?'' How are you?

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===General references===
*{{cite book |last=Banks |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Banks |year=1962 |editor=J. C. Beaglehole |editor-link=John Cawte Beaglehole |title=The Endeavour journal of Joseph Banks, 1768-1771}}
*{{cite journal |last=Breen |first=Gavan |author-link=Gavan Breen |year=1970 |title=A re-examination of Cook's Gogo-Yimidjir word list |journal=Oceania |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=28–38|doi=10.1002/j.1834-4461.1970.tb01113.x }}
*{{cite book |last=Cook |first=James |author-link=James Cook |year=1955 |title=The Journals of Captain James Cook |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-665-35756-7}}
*{{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |author-link=R. M. W. Dixon |year=2002 |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0-521-47378-0 |isbn=0-521-47378-0}}
*{{cite journal |last=Haviland |first=John B. |author-link=John B. Haviland |year=1974 |title=A last look at Cook's Guugu-Yimidhirr wordlist |journal=Oceania |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=216–232|doi=10.1002/j.1834-4461.1974.tb01803.x }}
*{{cite book|last=Haviland |first=John B. |author-link=John B. Haviland |year=1979 |chapter=Guugu Yimidhirr Sketch Grammar |editor=R. M. W. Dixon and B. Blake |title=Handbook of Australian Languages Vol I  |pages=26–180}}
*{{cite journal |last=Haviland |first=John B. |author-link=John B. Haviland |year=1985 |title=The life history of a speech community: Guugu Yimidhirr at Hopevale |journal=Aboriginal History |volume=8 |pages=170–204 |issue=7}}
*{{cite journal |author=Richard Phillips |author2=Sidney H. Ray  |year=1898 |title=Vocabulary of Australian Aborigines in the neighbourhood of Cooktown, North Queensland |journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=27 |pages=144–147 |doi=10.2307/2842861 |jstor=2842861 |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|author2-link=Sidney H. Ray |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449602 }}
*{{cite book |last=Roth |first=Walter E. |author-link=Walter E. Roth |year=1901 |title=The structure of the Koko-Yimidir language |location=Brisbane |publisher=Government Printer}}
*{{cite book |last=Schwarz |first=G. H. |author-link=George Heinrich Schwarz |year=1946 |title=Order of service and hymns |location=Brisbane |publisher=Watson, Ferguson}}
*{{cite book |last=de Zwaan |first=Jan Daniel |year=1969 |title=A preliminary analysis of Gogo-Yimidjir |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies}}
*{{cite journal |last=de Zwaan |first=Jan Daniel |year=1969 |title=Two studies in Gogo-Yimidjir |journal=Oceania |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=198–217|doi=10.1002/j.1834-4461.1969.tb01006.x }}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060828091648/https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/correspondence/bulletins/2005/february/sample/2005indvicsample.pdf Guugu Yimithirr exercises (page 2)].
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html Does Your Language Shape How You Think? (NYT)]
*[http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/guugu_yimidhirr_gugu_yimithirr_kuku_yimidhirr.pdf Bibliography of Guugu Yimidhirr people and language resources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417114145/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/guugu_yimidhirr_gugu_yimithirr_kuku_yimidhirr.pdf |date=17 April 2016 }}, at the [[Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies]]
*[https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/dls06p/alma99183695520202061 Guugu Yimidhirr (Cooktown) community language journey digital story], [[State Library of Queensland]]. Part of [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/bumb4u/alma99183673120702061 Spoken: Celebrating Queensland Languages Digital Stories Collection]
*[https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/bumb4u/alma99183850919802061 Guugu Yimidhirr (Hope Vale) community language journey digital story], State Library of Queensland. Part of Spoken: Celebrating Queensland Languages Digital Stories Collection

{{Pama–Nyungan languages|Paman}}

[[Category:Yalanjic languages]]