The (also '''Yanyula''', '''Anyula''') language is spoken by the
Yanyuwa People around the settlement of
Borroloola (Yanyuwa ''burrulula'') in the
Northern Territory ,
Australia .
Yanyuwa, like many
Australian Aboriginal Languages , is a complex
Agglutinative language whose grammar is pervaded by a set of sixteen
Noun Class es, whose agreements are complicated and numerous. Yanyuwa is
Ergative .
Yanyuwa is critically
Endangered , with just four native speakers remaining. Despite this, the anthropologist
John Bradley , a caucasian member of the Yanyuwa (and who also fluently speaks the language), has produced an enormous dictionary and grammar of the language along with a cultural atlas in collaboration with the members of his adoptive tribe, so Yanyuwa's impending extinction may not be permanent.
Yanyuwa is extremely unusual in having 7
Places Of Articulation for
Stops , compared to 3 for English and 4–6 for most other Australian languages.
Yanyuwa has 16
Noun Class es, distinguished by prefixes. In some cases, different prefixes are used depending on whether the speaker is a male or a female.
Yanyuwa is unusual among languages of the world in that it has separate dialects for men and for women at the
Morphological level. The only time men use the women's dialect is when they are quoting someone of the opposite sex, and vice versa.
In Yanyuwa, certain words have synonyms which are used to replace the everyday term in certain cultural situations.
Avoidance Speech is speech style used when talking to or near certain relatives: one's siblings and cousins of the opposite sex, one's brother-, sister-, father- and mother-in-law, and one's nieces and nephews if their father (for male speakers) or mother (for female speakers) has died. Occasionally avoidance speech takes the form of different affixes to usual speech, but generally it is simply a change in vocabulary.
:Example: In usual speech a
Digging Stick is referred to as , but when talking to one of the above relatives, the word used is '''na-wulungkayangu'''.
Another set of vocabulary is used during ceremonies and other ritual occasions. Many of the words used in ritual speech are sacred and kept secret.
:Example: In usual speech a
Dingo is referred to as , but during ritual occasions, the word used is '''yarrarriwira'''. This is one ritual term which is known to the general public, as are some other terms for flora and fauna.
When on the
Sir Edward Pellew Group Of Islands , which is part of Yanyuwa territory, another set of vocabulary may be used to replace the terms used when on the mainland. There is more variance about the usage of island speech than the other speech styles.
:Example: When on the mainland,
Fishing is referred to as , but when on the islands, the word used is '''akarimantharra'''.
