Advanced: more about “this” and “that” and “these” and “those” in Diyari

In the previous blog posts here and here, we learned that in the Diyari language there many ways to say “this” and “that” depending on what you are talking about or who you are talking to. These are the words we looked at:

nhaniya	‘this one (female)’
nhawuya	‘this one (not female)’
nhaniwa	‘that one (female)’
nhawuwa	‘that one (not female)’
pulaya	‘these two’
pulawa	‘those two’
thanaya	‘these three or more’
thanawa	‘those three or more’

Listed above are the basic terms that we use in sentences like ‘… is me’ or ‘… is going’. In other contexts, different terms are used, built upon these basic terms. Here is the full set that is found in Diyari (see my Grammar of Diyari for more details — it is free to download here).

For “this” and “these”:

Function	this one female	this one not female	these two	these three or more
active subject	nhandruya	nhuluya	pulaliya	thanaliya
object	nhanhaya	nhinhaya	pulanhaya	thananhaya
possessor	nhangkarniya	nhungkarniya	pularniya	thanarniya
with, to	nhangkanguya	nhungkanguya	pulanguya	thananguya
from	nhangkangundruya	nhungkangundruya	pulangundruya	thanangundruya

For “that” and “those”:

Function	that one female	that one not female	those two	those three or more
active subject	nhandruwa	nhuluwa	pulaliwa	thanaliwa
object	nhanhawa	nhinhawa	pulanhawa	thananhawa
possessor	nhangkarniwa	nhungkarniwa	pularniwa	thanarniwa
with, to	nhangkanguwa	nhungkanguwa	pulanguwa	thananguwa
from	nhangkangundruwa	nhungkangundruwa	pulangundruwa	thanangundruwa

Here are some examples of these various terms:

nhandruya mankarrali pulanhawa kanku nhayirna warayi This girl saw those two boys

nhaniwa widlha yathayi thananguya pinarranhi That woman is talking to these three or more old men

pulaya kupa thanarniwa walypalaya mindrirna warayi nhungkangundruwa ngurandru These two children belonging to those three or more white people ran away from that camp

This system might look complicated when we list out all the different terms, but with some practice you will be able to understand and use them all in their correct context.