View source for Darumbal language

{{short description|Extinct Australian Aboriginal language}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Cleanup lang|date=October 2024|iso=xgm}}{{Infobox language
| name             = Darumbal
| altname          = Guwinmal
| nativename       = 
| region           = [[Queensland]]
| ethnicity        = [[Darumbal]], [[Koinjmal]] (Guwinmal), [[Woppaburra]]
| extinct          = ?
| familycolor      = Australian
| fam1             = [[Pama–Nyungan languages|Pama–Nyungan]]
| fam2             = [[Maric languages|Maric]]
| fam3             = [[Kingkel languages|Kingkel]]?
| dia1             = Kuinmabara (Guwinmal)
| dia2             = Karunbara
| dia3             = Rakiwara
| dia4             = Wapabara
| iso3             = xgm
| aiatsis          = E46
| glotto           = dhar1248
| glottorefname    = Dharumbal
| revived          = revival efforts exist<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Darumbal Language - Darumbal Enterprises |url=https://darumbal.com.au/darumbal-culture/darumbal-language/ |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716155000/https://darumbal.com.au/darumbal-culture/darumbal-language/ |archive-date=2024-07-16 |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=Darumbal Enterprises}}</ref>
}}

'''Darumbal''', also spelt '''Dharambal''', is an [[Australian Aboriginal language]] of [[Queensland]] in Australia declared [[language extinction|extinct]]. It was spoken in the [[Rockhampton]] area of Queensland, as well as on the [[Capricorn Coast]], Southern [[Great Keppel Island]] and [[Yeppoon]] islands. Dialects were '''Guwinmal''', '''Karunbara''', '''Rakiwara''', and '''Wapabura'''. It is classified with [[Bayali language|Bayali]] as a [[Kingkel language]], but the two are not close, with a low 21% shared vocabulary.{{sfn|Dixon|2002|pp=xxxiv}}{{sfn|Terrill|2002|pp=15}} Indeed, Angela Terrill states that "there is no evidence on which to base a claim of a low-level genetic group including Dharumbal with any other language".{{sfn|Terrill|2002|pp=15}}

[[File:Tribes around Gladstone1.png|thumb|right|Traditional lands of Aboriginal people around Mackay, Rockhampton and [[Gladstone, Queensland]]]]

==Name==
===Spelling and pronunciation===
There is some variation in the naming of the language community. [[Walter Roth]] spells ''Ta-rum-bal'' and ''Taroombal'' while [[Norman Tindale]] records ''Dharumbal'' and cites the alternatives ''Tarumbul'', ''Tarambol'', ''Tarmbal'' and ''Charumbul''. [[Nils Holmer]], who undertook the first modern field study of the language{{sfn|Holmer|1983}} uses '''Darumbal''', as does the [https://www.atns.net.au/agreement.asp?EntityID=4821 Darumbal-Noolar Murree Aboriginal Corporation for Land and Culture]. However, Holmer also uses ⟨D⟩ to indicate an interdental stop (where others have used ⟨dh⟩), and indeed, he alphabetises ''Darumbal'' along with other words beginning with an interdental stop, making his ''Darumbal'' equivalent in pronunciation to ''Dharumbal''. From the available material then, Angela Terrill justifiably uses '''Dharumbal'''.{{sfn|Terrill|2002|pp=14}}

==Phonology==
===Consonants===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Darumbal consonants{{sfn|Terrill|2002|pp=17-28}}
|-
!colspan="2" rowspan="1"|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Laminal consonant|Laminal]]
! [[apical consonant|Apical]]
! [[Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]
|-
!rowspan="2"| [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
! [[Voiceless consonant|<small>voiceless</small>]]
| {{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t̪}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
|-
! [[Voiced consonant|<small>voiced</small>]]
| {{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d̪}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|g}}
|-
! colspan="2"| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n̪}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|-
! colspan="2"| [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
| 
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
|
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
! [[Voiceless consonant|<small>voiceless</small>]] [[Trill consonant|<small>trill</small>]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|r̥}}
|
|-
! [[Voiced consonant|<small>voiced</small>]] [[Trill consonant|<small>trill</small>]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|-
! [[Retroflex|<small>retroflex</small>]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|ɻ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2"| [[Semivowel]]
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|}

====Voicing distinction of stops====
Dharumbal possesses a rare distinction (among Pama-Nyungan languages) between voiced and voiceless stops, which seems to be maintained intervocalically, but not in other environments, where voicing seems to be in free variation. This observation, posited by Holmer and maintained by Terrill, is supported by the consistency to which older authors transcribed certain words; intervocalically, there is greater consistency in the use of a certain symbol, while in other environments (word-initially, after liquids), there is more variation.

Other Pama-Nyungan languages with a voicing distinction of stops include [[Dhanggati language|Thangatti]], [[Bidjara language|Marrgany-Gunya]], [[Wilson River language|Wangkumara]], and [[Diyari language|Diyari]].

====Laminals====
[[Laminal consonant]]s are often realised [[interdental consonant|interdentally]], but may also be realised [[palatal consonant|palatally]] in any position, except for the laminal nasal, which must be realised palatally in word-final position.

====Laterals====
Lateral consonants may not appear word-initially.

====Rhotics====
From the existing material, Terrill concludes that there were likely three phonemically distinct rhotic consonants: a retroflex continuant, and two trills, distinguished by voicing. The two trills only appear intervocalically and never word-initially. The (near) minimal pairs given by [[Stephen Wurm]] are:
*''wuru'' "son"
*''wurhu'' "nose"
*''gurru'' "fly"
Additional minimal pairs were observed by Holmer.

===Vowels===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- style="text-align: center;"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|  {{IPA link|i}}   || || {{IPA link|u}} 
|- style="text-align: center;"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| || {{IPA link|a}} ||
|}

Darumbal has three phonemic vowels. Terrill finds no evidence for contrastive vowel length. Roth used various diacritics in his transcriptions, but no explanation for their function was provided. 

==People==
The [[Koinmerburra people]] (Koinjmal, Guwinmal) spoke the Guwinmal dialect, while the [[Wapabara]] (Woppaburra) probably spoke their own dialect.
==Notes==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite web |last=Crump |first=Des |date=2020-09-14 |title=Language of the Week: Week Sixteen - Wapabara |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/language-week-week-sixteen-wapabara |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=State Library of Queensland}}
* {{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |authorlink=R. M. W. Dixon |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780}}
*{{cite book |chapter=Darumbal |last=Holmer |first=Nils |title=Linguistic survey of south-east Queensland |series=Pacific Linguistics |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |year=1983 |page=456-485}}
* {{cite book |last=Terrill |first=Angela |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160609368.pdf |title=Dharumbal: the language of Rockhampton, Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics 525 |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |year=2002 |page=108}}
* {{refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/darumbal.pdf Bibliography of Darumbal people and language resources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528110818/http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/collections/language_bibs/darumbal.pdf |date=28 May 2015 }}, at the [[Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies]]
{{Pama–Nyungan languages|East}}

[[Category:Kingkel languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Queensland]]


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