Dhurga language
Dhurga | |
---|---|
Region | New South Wales, Australia |
Ethnicity | Dhurga (Yuin), Wandandian, ?Walbunja |
Native speakers | Few surviving speakers |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | dhu |
Glottolog | dhur1239 |
AIATSIS[1] | S53 , S54 , S56 |
ELP | Dhurga |
The Dhurga language, also written Thurga, is an Australian Aboriginal language of New South Wales. It is a language of the Yuin people, specifically the Wandandian and Walbunja groups, but there have been no fluent speakers officially recorded for decades, so it has been functionally extinct for some time. Efforts have been made to revive the language since the 2010s.
Description[]
The language is tonal, and spoken in the Nowra-Jervis Bay area southwards to Narooma, and possibly as far south as Wallaga Lake. Dharumba and Walbanga/Walbjunja may have been dialects.[2]
Status and revival[]
No speakers of the language have been officially recorded since before 1975.[2]
In 2015 local Yuin people collaborated with the Tathra Public School in Tathra to create a new app as a teaching aid for both Dhurga and the Thaua language, using old audio recordings of elders as well as documentation created by early explorers and settlers in the region. One of the major contributors to the project, Graham Moore, has also written an Aboriginal language book.[3]
Bermagui Public School, a primary school in Bermagui, has taught local Aboriginal languages including Dhurga and the Djiringanj language, along with the associated cultures, since 2019.[4]
References[]
- ^ S53 Dhurga at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)
- ^ a b S53 Dhurga language at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- ^ Brown, Bill (16 October 2015). "Yuin elders develop 'message stick' app to teach almost-lost Aboriginal language". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ Milton, Vanessa (3 June 2021). "Bermagui students help reawaken Aboriginal languages". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- Tharawal languages
- Extinct languages of New South Wales
- Indigenous Australian language stubs