Turrbal is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

language of the Turrbal people of the Brisbane area of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Alternate spellings include Turubul, Turrubal, Turrabul, Toorbal, and Tarabul.

Classification

The four dialects listed in Dixon (2002) are sometimes seen as separate Durubalic languages, especially Jandai and

Nunukul The Nunukul, also spelt Noonuccal and known also as Moondjan are an Aboriginal Australian people, one of three Quandamooka peoples, who traditionally lived on Minjerribah, in Moreton Bay Area and in mainland Brisbane regions. Language The Nun ...

; Yagara, Yugarabul, and Turrbul proper are more likely to be considered dialects. Turrbal
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has been variously classified as a language, group of languages or as a dialect of another language. F. J. Watson classifies Turrbal
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as a sub group of Yugarabu
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which is most likely the language Yagar
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Norman Tindale uses the term Turrbal
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to refers to speakers of the language of Yagar
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John Steele classifies Turrbal
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as a language within the Yagara language group. R. M. W. Dixon classifies Turrbal as a dialect of the language of Yagera, in the technical linguistic sense where mutually intelligible dialects are deemed to belong to a single language. Bowern considers Turrbal to be one of five languages of the "Turubulic" language group, the others being Nunukul, Yaraga, Janday and Guwar.

Phonology

Consonants

* Stop sounds may also be heard as voiceless .

Vowels

* Vowel length is also distinctive. * A lax /a/ can also be heard as �

Vocabulary

Some words from the Turrbal / Yagara language include: * ''Bigi'': sun * ''Binung'': ear * ''Bugwal'': wallaby * ''Buneen'': echidna * ''Bangil'' / ''bungil'': grass * ''Buhn'': knee * ''Buyu'': shin * ''Deear'' : teeth * ''Dhagun'': land * ''Dhambur'' : mouth * ''Dharang'': leg * ''Dhiggeri'': belly / stomach * ''Dinna'': foot * ''Dyrrbin'': bone * ''Gahm'': head * ''Giga'': shoulder * ''Gurumba bigi'': good day * ''Gujah'' / ''guttah'': snake * ''Gagarr'' / ''guyurr'': fish * ''Juhrram'': rain * ''Juwahduwan'' / ''juwahnduwan'' / ''juwanbinl'': bird(s) * ''Killen'': finger * ''Kundul'': canoe * ''Marra'': hand * ''Dumbirrbi'' / ''marrambi'': koala * ''Mil'': eye / eyes * ''Guruman'' / ''murri'': kangaroo * ''Muru'': nose * ''Nammul'': children * ''Nggurrun'': neck * ''Ngumbi'': home / camp * ''Tahbil'': water (fresh) * ''Towan'': fish * ''Tullei'': tree * ''Waiyebba'': arm * ''Wunya'': welcome / greetings * ''Yilam'': forehead The literary journal ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...

'' takes its name from the Turrbal name for the land centred at Gardens Point on which Brisbane was founded. This name is sometimes used for the greater Brisbane area.

Loanword yakka

The

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...

word ''yakka'', an informal term referring to any work, especially of strenuous kind, comes from a Yagara word ''yaga'', the verb for 'work'.

References

External links

Yuggera djarra-na - Mission
{{Pama–Nyungan languages, East Durubalic languages Extinct languages of Queensland