Australian Aboriginal language of the Brisbane area
This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Lack of clarity on overlap and differences between Turrbal and Yagara. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2024)
Alternate spellings include Turubul, Turrubal, Turrabul, Toorbal, and Tarabul.[2][3]
Classification
The four dialects listed in Dixon (2002)[4] are sometimes seen as separate
Durubalic languages, especially
Jandai and
Nunukul; Yagara, Yugarabul, and Turrbul proper are more likely to be considered dialects.[1][5][6] Turrbal (
E86) has been variously classified as a language, group of languages or as a dialect of another language.[1] F. J. Watson classifies Turrbal (
E86) as a sub group of Yugarabul
E66 , which is most likely the language Yagara
E23.[7] Norman Tindale uses the term Turrbal (
E86) to refers to speakers of the language of Yagara
E23.[8] John Steele classifies Turrbal (
E86) as a language within the Yagara language group.[9] 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.[10] Bowern considers Turrbal to be one of five languages of the "Turubulic" language group, the others being Nunukul, Yaraga, Janday and Guwar.[11]
The
Australian English word yakka, an informal term referring to any work, especially of strenuous kind, comes from the Yagara word yaga, the verb for 'work'.[14][15]
The literary journal Meanjin takes its name from the Turrbal name for the land centred at
Gardens Point on which Brisbane was founded.[16] This name is sometimes used for the greater Brisbane area.[17][18]
Vocabulary
Some words from the Turrbal / Yagara language include:[19][20][21][22]
^The Turrbal Association (an incorporated Turrbal association that offers cultural services) uses the spelling "Turrbal" in preference to other spellings.
^Tindale, Norman (1974). Aboriginal tribes of Australia : their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits, and proper names. University of California Press.
ISBN0520020057.
^Steele, John (1984). Aboriginal pathways : in southeast Queensland and the Richmond River. University of Queensland Press.
ISBN0702219436.
^Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian languages their nature and development. Cambridge University Press. pp. xxiv, xxxiv.
ISBN0521473780.
^Bowern, Claire, ed. (2013). The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages. Oxford. pp. lxxxiv.
ISBN9780198824978.
^Charlton, Kerry (2019). An introduction to the languages of Moreton Bay : Yagarabul and Its Djandewal dialect, and Moreton Islands Gowar.
^Jefferies, Tony (2011). Guwar, the language of Moreton Island, and its relationship to the Bandjalang and Yagara subgroups: a case for phylogenetic migratory expansion?. University of Queensland.
^"The Old Brisbane Blacks". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LVIII, no. 13, 623. Queensland, Australia. 10 September 1901. p. 7.
Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.