The Bidawal language was an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

, either a dialect of or closely related to the Kurnai language, formerly spoken by the Bidhawal. However, it had borrowed a number of words referring to mammals, birds and celestial bodies from

Ngarigo The Ngarigo people (also spelt Garego, Ngarego, Ngarago, Ngaragu, Ngarigu, Ngarrugu or Ngarroogoo) are Aboriginal Australian people of southeast New South Wales, whose traditional lands also extend around the present border with Victoria. They ...

, as well as a smaller number of words from Thawa and

Dhudhuroa The Dhudhuroa people (or Duduroa) are an Indigenous Australian people of North-eastern Victoria, in the state of Victoria, Australia. About 2,000 descendants exist in Australia in the early 21st century. Name The endonym Dhudhuroa has been analys ...

. The Bidawal called their own dialect (or ) ("good speech"), and that of the neighbouring Kurnai . The Kurnai, however, called ''their'' own dialect ''mŭk-dhang'', and that of the Bidawal ''kwai-thang'' ("rough speech"). According to

Alfred William Howitt Alfred William Howitt (17 April 1830 – 7 March 1908), also known by author abbreviation A. W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to est ...

, Bidhawal is a mixture of Kurnai,

and

Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...

Phonology

Grammar

Pronouns

Pronouns are

inflected In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...

for person, number, and case. There are no gendered pronouns. The pronouns for Kurnai (Gūnggaladhang) are vary similar to those for Bidhawal.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * Australian Aboriginal languages Gippsland languages {{Ia-lang-stub