Yir-Yoront language
Australian Aboriginal language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yir-Yoront was a Paman language spoken in two settlements, Kowanyama and Pormpuraaw on the southwestern part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia, by the Yir-Yoront people. In 1991 only 15 speakers remained,[2] with the rest of the Yir-Yoront people speaking English or even Kuuk Thaayorre as many speakers of Yir-Yoront apparently are using Kuuk Thaayorre in daily conversation.[3] At present it is thought to be extinct.[4] There are two sister dialects, Yir-Yoront proper and Yirrk-Thangalkl, which are very close. The shared name Yir is sometimes used for both taken together.
| Yir-Yoront | |
|---|---|
| Yir | |
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Cape York Peninsula, Queensland |
| Ethnicity | Yir-Yoront |
| Extinct | by 2005[1] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Yir Yoront Sign Language | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:yyr – Yir Yorontyrm – Yirrk-Mel |
| Glottolog | yiry1247yiry1245 bookkeeping with bibliography |
| AIATSIS[1] | Y72 Yir Yoront, Y214 Yirrk-Thangalkl |
| ELP | Yir-Yoront |
Names
The first part of both of the name, Yir, is from the word yirrq meaning speech or language. Following is the ethnonym.[5]
Yir-Yoront is written hyphenated as a way of indicating that the syllable following the hyphen is stressed. In the standard orthography, it is correctly spelled Yirr-Yorront, with "rr" representing the consonant /r/. There is a valid alternative pronunciation with stress on the first syllable; this can be written YirrqYorront. Other spellings encountered include Yir Yoront and Jir Joront.
Other names for the language include:
- Yirr-Thuchm: Meaning "from the sandridges"
- Kok-Minychen: The name of the Yir-Yoront in the Koko-Bera language
- Koko-Minychena: Alternative spelling
- Kokomindjen: Alternative spelling
- Mandjoen: Alternative spelling
- Mind'jana: Alternative spelling
- Mundjun: Alternative spelling
- Myunduno: Alternative spelling
- Kuuk-Thaanhon: The name of the Yir-Yoront in the Kuuk Thaayorre language
- Gwandera: A name incorrectly applied to the Yir-Yoront people and their language
- Millera: No source available
Phonology
The following description is for Yir-Yoront proper. For another dialect, see Yirrk-Thangalkl dialect.
Vowels
Yir-Yoront has 6 vowels:
Consonants
Yir-Yoront has 20 consonants:
Sign language
The Yir Yoront have (or had) a well-developed signed form of their language.[6] It may have had some influence in the broader Far North Queensland Indigenous Sign Language, though it may have gone extinct too early for that.
External links
- Paradisec has language materials for Yir Yoront as part of the Arthur Capell collection (AC1) and the Barry Alpher collection (BA1)