Language

The Diyari language is spoken by the Dieri people, whose traditional lands are located to the east of Lake Eyre in the far north of South Australia. Today there are a number of Elders who can speak the language fluently, and quite a lot who have some command of it. Most Dieri community members know words and expressions, and people of all ages are very keen to learn more about the language and to revive its use. There is a technical description of the language in Austin (1981, 2021) (see More information).

Lake Eyre region languages (from Bowern 2001)

The Dieri’s neighbours were the Thirrari and Arabana (to the west), the Kuyani and Adnyamathanha (south), the Yandruwandha and Yawarrawarka (east), and the Ngamini and Wangkangurru (north). The Diyari language is quite similar to Thirrari and Ngamini — speakers could understand one another easily. These languages also seem to be related to Yandruwandha and Yawarrawarka, with which they share much common vocabulary. The other languages to the west and south are quite different, however. Today no-one speaks these neighbouring languages, apart from Arabana and Wangkangurru.

Linguistic specialists have studied the language for over 50 years and we have recordings dating back to the work of Johannes and Kenneth Hale in 1959, and Alec Edwards and Luise Hercus in 1971. Peter Austin began learning Diyari as an undergraduate student in 1972, and worked extensively on it between 1974 and 1978 with a number of people who had learnt the language as children. One was Mr Ben Murray (traditional name parlku-nguyu-thangkayiwarna), who was born in 1893 and was also the very last speaker of the Thirrari language. He passed away in 1994. His life history, including a series of stories told by him in Diyari and Thirrari has been published in the journal Aboriginal History.

Unlike many Australian Aboriginal languages, Diyari has a long history of use as a written language (as described in this blog post). In 1869 German Lutheran pastors established a Christian mission among the Dieri at Lake Killalpaninna on Cooper Creek; the mission and associated sheep station flourished until its closure by the South Australian government in 1914. The missionaries studied the Diyari language and used it in their work and their daily lives, including preaching in Diyari and teaching it in the mission school. They prepared primers, schools books and dictionaries and grammars of Diyari, and translated a large number of Christian works into the language, including hymns and the Old and New Testaments. The Dieri were taught to read and write, and we know from written records that they used the language in their letters from the turn of the century until about 1960. Ben Murray regularly read his copy of the New Testament until his eyes became weak.

One of the most remarkable missionaries, the Rev. J.G. Reuther, not only translated the New Testament into Dieri, but also compiled a 14-volume manuscript on Dieri language, culture, mythology and history that includes a massive 4-volume dictionary. This manuscript was translated into English by Rev. P. Scherer in 1981 and stands as monument to Reuther’s dedication to the Dieri people. As mentioned above, more recent research on Diyari began in the 1970’s when tape recordings and notes were made by Luise Hercus, David Trefry and Peter Austin. Austin wrote his PhD thesis on Dieri and published a grammar of it in 1981; he is currently working on a dictionary and collection of stories told by the last fluent speakers.

Starting in 2009 Greg Wilson began work with the Dieri Aboriginal Corporation to prepare materials for teaching Diyari language in school. He developed some teaching materials, including a multimedia CD-ROM, and a textbook (which has not yet been published). Greg was centrally involved in the ILS-funded project that led to this website.