Dalabon language facts for kids

Dalabon is a language from Arnhem Land, Australia. It belongs to the Gunwinyguan languages family. Sadly, Dalabon is a very endangered language. As of 2018, only about three people could speak it fluently.

This language is also known by other names. The Kune or Mayali people call it Dangbon. The Jawoyn people know it as Ngalkbun. And the Rembarrnga people call it Buwan.

Understanding the Dalabon Language

Dalabon is part of the larger group of Australian Aboriginal languages. It is closely related to languages like Kunwinjku, Kune, and Mayali. These are often grouped together as Bininj Kunwok. Other close relatives include Kunbarlang and Rembarrnga.

Official Status of Dalabon

Dalabon does not have official status in Australia. Local schools have tried to teach the language. However, these programs have not received enough government help. This means the future of these teaching efforts is uncertain.

Different Ways of Speaking Dalabon

Because there are so few Dalabon speakers, it is hard to study if there are different dialects. Speakers remember two types of speech. One was called dalabon-djurrkdjurrk, meaning "fast" or "lively." The other was dalabon-murduk, meaning "clear" or "articulate." However, experts have not found big differences between these two ways of speaking.

Sounds and Writing in Dalabon

Dalabon has a set of sounds that make up its words. These sounds are called phonemes.

Consonant Sounds

Dalabon has about 22 or 23 different consonant sounds. Some of these sounds might be similar to English. Others might be unique to Dalabon.

Vowel Sounds

There are 6 vowel sounds in Dalabon. These are the sounds like 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u'. They help make up the different words in the language.

How Dalabon Sounds Are Put Together

In Dalabon, some sounds can only appear in certain places in a word. For example, a rolling 'r' sound and long 'stop' sounds (like 'k' or 'p') are only found inside words. Also, a glottal stop sound (like the break in "uh-oh") does not appear at the beginning of words.

Sometimes, Dalabon speakers shorten words. They might drop vowels or whole syllables that are not stressed. For example, the word for 'shoulder blade' might be pronounced shorter.

How Dalabon Grammar Works

While there isn't a full grammar book for Dalabon, we know some interesting things about it. Dalabon words can be very long. This is because they often combine many meanings into one word. This is called a polysynthetic language.

Word Building in Dalabon

Dalabon verbs can have many parts added to them. These parts can show who is doing the action or who the action is for. They can also show when the action happened.

There is a special small word part called =wurd. It comes from the word for "woman's child." When you add =wurd to a word, it can mean a few things:

• It can show that something is small.
• It can add feelings, like showing sympathy for someone.
• It can make what you say sound softer or more polite.

Here are some examples:

Sentence Structure in Dalabon

Dalabon is a head-marking language. This means that important grammar information is often found on the main word in a phrase.

Dalabon does not use many separate clauses like English. Instead, it often adds special prefixes to verbs. These prefixes show that a verb is part of a smaller, connected idea within a sentence.

Here are some examples:

Dalabon Words You Might Learn

Here are some words from the Dalabon language: