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Gamilaraay language
Australian Aboriginal language From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi language (Gamilaraay pronunciation: [ɡ̊aˌmilaˈɻaːj]) is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in south-eastern Australia. It is the traditional language of the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi), an Aboriginal Australian people. It has been noted as endangered, but the number of speakers grew from 87 in the 2011 Australian Census to 105 in the 2016 Australian Census. Thousands of Australians identify as Gamilaraay, and the language is taught in some schools.
Wirray Wirray, Guyinbaraay, Yuwaalayaay, Waalaraay and Gawambaraay are dialects; Yuwaalaraay/Euahlayi is a closely related language.
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Name
The name Gamilaraay means 'gamil-having', with gamil being the word for 'no'. Other dialects and languages are similarly named after their respective words for 'no'. (Compare the division between langues d'oïl and langues d'oc in France, distinguished by their respective words for 'yes'.)
Spellings of the name, pronounced [ɡ̊aˌmilaˈɻaːj] in the language itself, include Goomeroi; Kamilaroi; Gamilaraay and Gamilaroi.
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Dialects
Summarize
Perspective

While AUSTLANG cites Euahlayi, Ualarai, Euhahlayi, and Juwalarai as synonyms for Gamilaraay in earlier sources,[2] it has updated its codes to reflect more recent sources suggest different distinctions. AIATSIS groups the Yuwaalaraay/Euahlayi/Yuwaaliyaay language and people in its resource collection,[6][7] and gives it a separate code (D23).[8] AUSTLANG assigns separate codes to the following dialects, all related and part of the Gamilaraay group:[8]
- Yuwaalaraay (Yuwaaliyaay, Euahlayi) (D27), spoken by the Yuwaalaraay people;[Note 2]
- Wirray Wirray (Wiriwiri) (D28);[9][Note 3]
- Guyinbaraay (Gunjbaraay) (D15);[11]
- Yuwaalayaay (D54);[12][Note 4]
- Waalaraay (Walaraay) (D55);[13]
- Gawambaraay (Kawambarai) (D39), spoken by the Gawambaraay people.[14]
According to Robert Fuller of the Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University and his colleagues, the Gamilaraay and Euahlayi peoples are a cultural grouping of north and northwest New South Wales (NSW), and the Gamilaraay dialect groups are known as Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay, while the Euahlayi (Euayelai[15]) have a similar but distinct language.[16]
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History
Southern Aboriginal guides led the surveyor John Howe to the upper Hunter River above present-day Singleton in 1819. They told him that the country there was "Coomery Roy [=Gamilaraay] and more further a great way", meaning to the north-west, over the Liverpool Ranges.[17] This is probably the first record of the name.
A basic wordlist collected by Thomas Mitchell in 1832 is the earliest written record of Gamilaraay.
Presbyterian missionary William Ridley studied the language from 1852 to 1856.
Status
In 2013 Gamilaraay was noted as endangered by Ethnologue, with only 35 speakers left in 2006 (AUSTLANG says 37 at that date), all mixing Gamilaraay and English.[3] At the 2011 census there were 87 speakers recorded and in 2016, 105.[2] There are no known fluent speakers of the language.
Phonology
Vowels
/wa/ is realised as [wo].
Consonants
Stress
All long vowels in a word get equal stress. If no long vowels are present, stress falls on the first syllable. Secondary stress falls on short vowels, which are two syllables to the right or to the left of a stressed syllable.
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Grammar
Pronouns
Gawambaraay Dialect
Influence in English
Several loanwords have entered Australian English from Gamilaraay, including:
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Footnotes
- This map is indicative only.
- For more information on the Euahlayi dialect and tribe, see Parker, K. Langloh (Katie Langloh); Lang, Andrew, 1844–1912 (1905), The Euahlayi tribe : a study of Aboriginal life in Australia, Archibald Constable, retrieved 14 September 2020 – via The Gutenberg Bible
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link). - Closely related to Yuwaalaaray, but different.
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References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
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