| Dhuwal | |
| Also Known As: | Dhay'yi |
| States: | Australia |
| Region: | Northern Territory |
| Ethnicity: | Daii, Dhuwal, Dhuwala, Makarrwanhalmirr |
| Date: | 2021 census |
| Ref: | [1] |
| Familycolor: | Australian |
| Fam1: | Pama–Nyungan |
| Fam2: | Yolŋu languages |
| Fam3: | Southern (Dhuwal) |
| Dia1: | Gupapuyngu |
| Dia2: | Gumatj |
| Dia3: | Djambarrpuyngu |
| Dia4: | Djapu |
| Dia5: | Liyagalawumirr |
| Dia6: | Guyamirlili |
| Dia7: | Dhalwangu [Dhay'yi] |
| Dia8: | Djarrwark [Dhay'yi] |
| Stand1: | Dhuwaya |
| Sign: | Yolŋu Sign Language |
| Nation: | Northern Territory (as lingua franca for Aboriginal people)[2] |
| Lc1: | dwu |
| Ld1: | Dhuwal |
| Lc2: | djr |
| Ld2: | Djambarrpuyngu |
| Lc3: | gnn |
| Ld3: | Gumatj |
| Lc4: | guf |
| Ld4: | Gupapuyngu |
| Lc5: | dax |
| Ld5: | Dayi (Dhay'yi) |
| Lc6: | dwy |
| Ld6: | Dhuwaya |
| Glotto: | dhuw1248 |
| Glottoname: | Dhuwal-Dhuwala |
| Glotto2: | dayi1244 |
| Glottoname2: | Dayi |
| Aiatsis: | N198 |
| Aiatsisname: | Dhuwal |
| Aiatsis2: | N199 |
| Aiatsisname2: | Dhuwala |
| Aiatsis3: | N118 |
| Aiatsisname3: | Dhay'yi |
| Elp2: | 5562 |
| Elpname2: | Liyagalawumirr |
| Elp3: | 5549 |
| Elpname3: | Liyagawumirr |
| Elp4: | 4065 |
| Elpname4: | Dhay'yi |
Dhuwal (also Dual, Duala) is one of the Yolŋu languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory, Australia. Although all Yolŋu languages are mutually intelligible to some extent, Dhuwal represents a distinct dialect continuum of eight separate varieties. In 2019, Djambarrpuyŋu became the first indigenous language to be spoken in an Australian parliament, when Yolŋu man and member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Yingiya Guyula gave a speech in his native tongue.[3]
According to linguist Robert M. W. Dixon,
Ethnologue divides Dhuwal into four languages, plus Dayi and the contact variety Dhuwaya (numbers are from the 2006 census.):
Dhuwaya is a stigmatised contact variant used by the younger generation in informal contexts, and is the form taught in schools, having replaced Gumatj ca. 1990.
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Velar | Dental | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||||
| Plosive | Fortis | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Lenis | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Tap | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Glide | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| High | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
See main article: Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages. Probably every Australian language with speakers remaining has had an orthography developed for it, in each case in the Latin script. Sounds not found in English are usually represented by digraphs, or more rarely by diacritics, such as underlines, or extra symbols, sometimes borrowed from the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some examples are shown in the following table.
| Language | Example | Translation | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitjantjatjara dialect of the Western Desert language | 'earth, dirt, ground; land' | diacritic (underline) indicates the retroflex nasal ([ɳ]) | ||
| Wajarri | 'this, this one' | digraph indicating the dental nasal ([n̪]) | ||
| Yolŋu languages | 'person, man' | represents the velar nasal (borrowed from the International Phonetic Alphabet) |