Jawi dialect

This article is about a language of Western Australia. For a language of the Patani region, see Kelantan-Pattani Malay. For an Arabic-based alphabet, see Jawi alphabet.

Jawi^[2] or Djawi^[1][3][4] or Djaui,^[2] is a nearly extinct dialect of the Bardi language of Western Australia, the traditional language of the Jawi people. There are no longer any known fluent speakers, but there may be some partial speakers.^[5]

Jawi
Djawi, Djaui
Region	Western Australia
Ethnicity	Jawi
Extinct	by 2003[1]
Language family	Nyulnyulan Nyulnyul Bardi Jawi
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	djw
Glottolog	djaw1238
AIATSIS[2]	K16 Jawi (Malay)
ELP	Jawi

The name has also been spelt Chowie, Djaoi, Djau, Dyao, and Dyawi.^[2]

Classification

Jawi is a Non-Pama–Nyungan language of the Nyulnyulan family, most closely related to Bardi.^[5] Bowern discusses how Jawi and Bardi may have converged within the last hundred years.^[6] Jawi people were hit hard by influenza^[7] in the early years of the 20th century. Their traditional lands are Sunday Island and the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago to the northeast.