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Pama-Nyungan

Dyirbal

Autonym candidate: Chirbal unverified — from alt-names· 23 name candidates recorded

Documentednearly extinct· AES 5LocatedIn the dated tree

Classification

Glottolog family tree

Country & location

Glottolog point

-17.4516, 145.5440

Provenance: glottolog

A point locates a language for reference; it never represents the full extent of a people’s Country.

Grammar profile

191 coded · 0 unknown

78 Grambank + 84 WALS 191 coded features in total across 78 Grambank, 84 WALS, 29 AUS extension.

Grambank’s 195 variables are a cross-linguistic baseline— a fixed questionnaire asked of every language — not “the grammar” of Dyirbal. Read each cell as an answer to a standard typological question. Compare languages in the grammar lens →

Showing 191 of 191 coded features.

Grambank

78 features
Clause and Syntax11
  • Order of numeral and noun in the noun phrase: 1=Numeral-Noun, 2=Noun-Numeral, 3=both orders occur.

    Grambank GB024

    N-Num
  • Unmarked order of S and V in intransitive clauses: 1=SV, 2=VS, 3=both.

    Grambank GB130

    SV
  • Whether the language has clause chaining (long strings of dependent clauses + one final finite verb).

    Grambank GB150

    present
  • Whether there is a morphological simultaneous-vs-sequential clause distinction.

    Grambank GB152

    present
  • Whether yes/no questions can be marked by intonation alone.

    Grambank GB257

    absent
  • Whether yes/no questions can be marked by a special word order.

    Grambank GB260

    absent
  • Whether a relative clause can follow its head noun.

    Grambank GB327

    absent
  • Whether a relative clause can precede its head noun.

    Grambank GB328

    absent
  • Whether there are internally-headed relative clauses.

    Grambank GB329

    present
  • Whether there are correlative relative clauses.

    Grambank GB330

    absent
  • Whether there are non-adjacent (extraposed) relative clauses.

    Grambank GB331

    absent
Demonstrative1
  • Whether demonstratives make three or more distance contrasts (e.g. near/mid/far).

    Grambank GB035

    absent
Nominal22
  • Whether indefinite nominals commonly take an indefinite article (like English 'a/an').

    Grambank GB021

    absent
  • Order of an adnominal demonstrative ('this/that') and noun: 1=Dem-Noun, 2=Noun-Dem, 3=both.

    Grambank GB025

    Dem-N
  • Whether independent 3rd-person pronouns mark a gender distinction (he vs she).

    Grambank GB030

    absent
  • Whether an action/state noun can be productively derived from a verb (e.g. 'run' -> 'running').

    Grambank GB047

    absent
  • Whether an agent noun can be productively derived from a verb (e.g. 'teach' -> 'teacher').

    Grambank GB048

    present
  • Whether an object/result noun can be productively derived from a verb.

    Grambank GB049

    present
  • Whether the gender/noun-class system uses shape as a class-assignment factor.

    Grambank GB052

    absent
  • Whether the language has numeral classifiers (a sortal element required when counting).

    Grambank GB057

    absent
  • Whether the language has possessive classifiers.

    Grambank GB058

    absent
  • Unmarked order of possessor noun and possessed noun: 1=Possessor-Possessed, 2=Possessed-Possessor, 3=both.

    Grambank GB065

    Possessor-Possessed
  • Whether nouns undergo reduplication.

    Grambank GB159

    present
  • Whether an adjective-like property word can agree with its noun in gender/noun class.

    Grambank GB170

    absent
  • Order of adjective-like property word and noun: 0=not used attributively, 1=Adj-N, 2=N-Adj, 3=both.

    Grambank GB193

    N - ANM
  • Whether there is a clause-initial yes/no question particle.

    Grambank GB262

    absent
  • Whether there is a clause-final yes/no question particle.

    Grambank GB263

    absent
  • Whether there is a yes/no question particle sitting neither clause-initially nor clause-finally.

    Grambank GB264

    absent
  • Whether standard negation can be marked by a non-inflecting negative particle.

    Grambank GB299

    present
  • Whether plural number is marked in the NP by a dedicated free (unbound) element.

    Grambank GB318

    absent
  • Whether adnominal possession can be marked by a prefix on the possessor.

    Grambank GB430

    absent
  • Whether adnominal possession can be marked by a prefix on the possessed noun.

    Grambank GB431

    absent
  • Whether adnominal possession can be marked by a suffix on the possessor.

    Grambank GB432

    absent
  • Whether adnominal possession can be marked by a suffix on the possessed noun.

    Grambank GB433

    absent
Numerals2
  • Whether the numeral system is decimal (base 10).

    Grambank GB333

    absent
  • Whether there is any synchronic evidence of a quinary (base 5) element.

    Grambank GB334

    absent
Other7
  • Whether noun-conjoining ('X and Y') and comitative ('X with Y') use different markers.

    Grambank GB027

    present
  • Whether there is productive overt singular marking on nouns.

    Grambank GB042

    absent
  • Whether the language has prepositions.

    Grambank GB074

    absent
  • Whether there is grammatical marking of direct (sensory) evidence.

    Grambank GB322

    absent
  • Whether there is grammatical marking of indirect evidence (hearsay, inference).

    Grambank GB323

    absent
  • Whether any part of the case/adposition (flagging) system shows ergative alignment.

    Grambank GB409

    present
  • Whether there is a politeness (T/V) distinction in 2nd-person forms.

    Grambank GB415

    absent
Pronoun2
  • Whether the pronoun system distinguishes inclusive ('we incl. you') from exclusive ('we excl. you').

    Grambank GB028

    present
  • Whether there is a phonologically independent reflexive pronoun.

    Grambank GB305

    absent
Verb and Valency33
  • Whether core adjectives behave like verbs when used as a predicate ('the dog is big' patterns like 'the dog runs').

    Grambank GB068

    absent
  • Whether present tense is overtly marked on the verb.

    Grambank GB082

    absent
  • Whether there is a dedicated overt past-tense marker on the verb.

    Grambank GB083

    absent
  • Whether there is a dedicated overt future-tense marker on the verb.

    Grambank GB084

    present
  • Whether the A (transitive subject) can be indexed by a suffix/enclitic on the verb.

    Grambank GB091

    absent
  • Whether the A (transitive subject) can be indexed by a prefix/proclitic on the verb.

    Grambank GB092

    absent
  • Whether the P (transitive object) can be indexed by a suffix/enclitic on the verb.

    Grambank GB093

    absent
  • Whether the P (transitive object) can be indexed by a prefix/proclitic on the verb.

    Grambank GB094

    absent
  • Whether there is a benefactive applicative marker on the verb ('do X for someone').

    Grambank GB103

    absent
  • Whether there is an instrumental applicative marker on the verb ('do X with an instrument').

    Grambank GB104

    absent
  • Whether verbs are suppletive for participant number (different root for singular vs plural participant).

    Grambank GB109

    absent
  • Whether verbs are suppletive for tense or aspect.

    Grambank GB110

    absent
  • Whether there is a bound (affixal) reflexive marker on the verb.

    Grambank GB114

    present
  • Whether there is a bound (affixal) reciprocal marker on the verb.

    Grambank GB115

    present
  • Whether there are serial verb constructions (two+ verbs in one clause without a linker).

    Grambank GB118

    absent
  • Whether mood can be marked by an inflecting auxiliary verb.

    Grambank GB119

    absent
  • Whether aspect can be marked by an inflecting auxiliary verb.

    Grambank GB120

    absent
  • Whether tense can be marked by an inflecting auxiliary verb.

    Grambank GB121

    absent
  • Whether verb compounding is a regular process.

    Grambank GB122

    absent
  • Whether there are verb-adjunct (light-verb / coverb) constructions.

    Grambank GB123

    absent
  • Whether noun incorporation into the verb is a productive intransitivizing process.

    Grambank GB124

    absent
  • Whether the unmarked transitive constituent order is verb-initial.

    Grambank GB131

    absent
  • Whether the unmarked transitive constituent order is verb-medial.

    Grambank GB132

    absent
  • Whether the unmarked transitive constituent order is verb-final.

    Grambank GB133

    present
  • Whether the order of core (S/A/P) constituents is fixed.

    Grambank GB136

    present
  • Whether prohibitive (negative imperative) negation differs from declarative negation.

    Grambank GB139

    present
  • Whether there is a morphological passive marked on the lexical verb.

    Grambank GB147

    present
  • Whether there is a morphological antipassive marked on the lexical verb.

    Grambank GB148

    present
  • Whether there is a switch-reference marker (signals same/different subject across clauses).

    Grambank GB151

    present
  • Whether causatives are formed by affixes/clitics on the verb.

    Grambank GB155

    present
  • Whether yes/no questions can be marked by verbal morphology alone.

    Grambank GB286

    absent
  • Whether standard negation can be marked by an inflecting negative auxiliary verb.

    Grambank GB298

    absent
  • Whether there are multiple past or future tenses distinguishing distance in time (e.g. recent vs remote past).

    Grambank GB309

    absent

WALS

84 features
Lexicon4
  • M-T Pronouns

    WALS 136A

    No M-T pronouns
  • M in First Person Singular

    WALS 136B

    No m in first person singular
  • N-M Pronouns

    WALS 137A

    No N-M pronouns
  • M in Second Person Singular

    WALS 137B

    No m in second person singular
Morphology6
  • Locus of Marking in the Clause

    WALS 23A

    Dependent marking
  • Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases

    WALS 24A

    Dependent marking
  • Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology

    WALS 25A

    Dependent-marking
  • Zero Marking of A and P Arguments

    WALS 25B

    Non-zero marking
  • Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology

    WALS 26A

    Strongly suffixing
  • Reduplication

    WALS 27A

    Productive full and partial reduplication
Nominal Categories14
  • Number of Genders

    WALS 30A

    Four
  • Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems

    WALS 31A

    Sex-based
  • Systems of Gender Assignment

    WALS 32A

    Semantic
  • Occurrence of Nominal Plurality

    WALS 34A

    All nouns, optional in inanimates
  • The Associative Plural

    WALS 36A

    Unique affixal associative plural
  • Inclusive/Exclusive Forms in Pama-Nyungan

    WALS 39B

    No inclusive/exclusive opposition
  • Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives

    WALS 41A

    Two-way contrast
  • Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives

    WALS 42A

    Identical
  • Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns

    WALS 45A

    No politeness distinction
  • Indefinite Pronouns

    WALS 46A

    Interrogative-based
  • Number of Cases

    WALS 49A

    6-7 cases
  • Asymmetrical Case-Marking

    WALS 50A

    Qualitatively asymmetrical
  • Position of Case Affixes

    WALS 51A

    Case suffixes
  • Numeral Classifiers

    WALS 55A

    Absent
Nominal Syntax5
  • Obligatory Possessive Inflection

    WALS 58A

    Absent
  • Number of Possessive Nouns

    WALS 58B

    None reported
  • Possessive Classification

    WALS 59A

    Two classes
  • Adjectives without Nouns

    WALS 61A

    Without marking
  • Noun Phrase Conjunction

    WALS 63A

    'And' different from 'with'
Phonology17
  • Front Rounded Vowels

    WALS 11A

    None
  • Syllable Structure

    WALS 12A

    Moderately complex
  • Tone

    WALS 13A

    No tones
  • Fixed Stress Locations

    WALS 14A

    Initial
  • Weight-Sensitive Stress

    WALS 15A

    Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)
  • Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems

    WALS 16A

    No weight
  • Rhythm Types

    WALS 17A

    Trochaic
  • Absence of Common Consonants

    WALS 18A

    No fricatives
  • Presence of Uncommon Consonants

    WALS 19A

    None
  • Consonant Inventories

    WALS 1A

    Small
  • Vowel Quality Inventories

    WALS 2A

    Small (2-4)
  • Consonant-Vowel Ratio

    WALS 3A

    Average
  • Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives

    WALS 4A

    No voicing contrast
  • Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems

    WALS 5A

    Other
  • Uvular Consonants

    WALS 6A

    None
  • Glottalized Consonants

    WALS 7A

    No glottalized consonants
  • Lateral Consonants

    WALS 8A

    /l/, no obstruent laterals
Simple Clauses11
  • Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'

    WALS 105A

    Mixed
  • Antipassive Constructions

    WALS 108A

    Oblique patient
  • Productivity of the Antipassive Construction

    WALS 108B

    productive
  • Applicative Constructions

    WALS 109A

    Non-benefactive object; both bases
  • Other Roles of Applied Objects

    WALS 109B

    Instrument
  • Negative Morphemes

    WALS 112A

    Negative particle
  • Polar Questions

    WALS 116A

    Question particle
  • Predicative Possession

    WALS 117A

    Conjunctional
  • Predicative Adjectives

    WALS 118A

    Nonverbal encoding
  • Nominal and Locational Predication

    WALS 119A

    Different
  • Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals

    WALS 120A

    Possible
Verbal Categories5
  • Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes

    WALS 69A

    Tense-aspect suffixes
  • The Morphological Imperative

    WALS 70A

    Second singular and second plural
  • The Prohibitive

    WALS 71A

    Special imperative + special negative
  • Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality

    WALS 77A

    No grammatical evidentials
  • Coding of Evidentiality

    WALS 78A

    No grammatical evidentials
Word order22
  • Order of Negative Morpheme and Verb

    WALS 143A

    NegV
  • Preverbal Negative Morphemes

    WALS 143E

    NegV
  • Postverbal Negative Morphemes

    WALS 143F

    None
  • Minor morphological means of signaling negation

    WALS 143G

    None
  • Position of Negative Word With Respect to Subject, Object, and Verb

    WALS 144A

    Other
  • Position of negative words relative to beginning and end of clause and with respect to adjacency to verb

    WALS 144B

    Immed preverbal
  • The Position of Negative Morphemes in SOV Languages

    WALS 144L

    SV&OV&ImmedPreverbal
  • Order of Subject, Object and Verb

    WALS 81A

    No dominant order
  • Order of Subject and Verb

    WALS 82A

    SV
  • Order of Object and Verb

    WALS 83A

    OV
  • Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb

    WALS 84A

    No dominant order
  • Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase

    WALS 85A

    No adpositions
  • Order of Genitive and Noun

    WALS 86A

    Genitive-Noun
  • Order of Adjective and Noun

    WALS 87A

    Noun-Adjective
  • Order of Demonstrative and Noun

    WALS 88A

    Demonstrative-Noun
  • Order of Numeral and Noun

    WALS 89A

    Noun-Numeral
  • Order of Relative Clause and Noun

    WALS 90A

    Noun-Relative clause
  • Postnominal relative clauses

    WALS 90C

    Noun-Relative clause (NRel) dominant
  • Position of Polar Question Particles

    WALS 92A

    Second position
  • Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions

    WALS 93A

    Not initial interrogative phrase
  • Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun

    WALS 96A

    OV and NRel
  • Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adjective and Noun

    WALS 97A

    OV and NAdj

AUS extension

29 features
Case2
  • Size of the morphological case inventory on nouns.

    AUS extension AUX006

    6-7
  • Where case marking sits: suffix, prefix, clitic, tone, stem change.

    AUS extension AUX007

    suffix
Clause1
  • How 'X has Y' is expressed: locational, genitive, topic, conjunctional, or a 'have' verb.

    AUS extension AUX045

    conjunctional
Demonstrative1
  • Number of distance contrasts (2, 3+ deictic terms).

    AUS extension AUX023

    two
Gender2
  • Count of gender / noun-class categories.

    AUS extension AUX021

    four
  • Whether the gender system is sex-based or non-sex-based (or absent).

    AUS extension AUX022

    sex-based
Negation2
  • How declarative clauses are negated: affix, particle, negative auxiliary, etc.

    AUS extension AUX036

    particle
  • Whether the prohibitive (negative imperative) uses a different construction from declarative negation.

    AUS extension AUX037

    yes
Numerals2
  • Base of the numeral system: decimal, quinary, vigesimal, body-part tally, or restricted (many Australian languages have very small numeral systems).

    AUS extension AUX043

    restricted/none
  • Whether counting requires a sortal numeral classifier.

    AUS extension AUX044

    absent
Pronoun2
  • Whether independent 3rd-person pronouns mark gender (he/she).

    AUS extension AUX024

    no
  • Whether interrogatives ('who/what') double as indefinites ('someone/something') — an 'ignorative' series. Partially derivable from WALS Indefinite Pronouns (interrogative-based).

    AUS extension AUX051

    yes
Pronoun-Marking2
  • Whether the transitive subject (A) is cross-referenced by a bound marker on the verb.

    AUS extension AUX012

    no
  • Whether the transitive object (P) is cross-referenced by a bound marker on the verb.

    AUS extension AUX013

    no
Syntax4
  • Dominant order of subject, object and verb (often 'no dominant order' in free-word-order Australian languages).

    AUS extension AUX038

    no-dominant-order
  • Prepositions vs postpositions vs no dominant adpositions.

    AUS extension AUX039

    no-adpositions
  • A verb marker signalling same/different subject across clauses.

    AUS extension AUX040

    yes
  • Chains of dependent (medial) clauses closed by one finite verb.

    AUS extension AUX041

    yes
Valency4
  • A phonologically bound reflexive marker on the verb (e.g. Kuku Yalanji -ji-).

    AUS extension AUX031

    yes
  • A phonologically bound reciprocal marker on the verb (e.g. Kuku Yalanji -wa-).

    AUS extension AUX032

    yes
  • A morphological antipassive on the lexical verb (demotes P; salient in ergative languages).

    AUS extension AUX034

    yes
  • Whether causatives are formed by an affix/clitic on the verb.

    AUS extension AUX035

    yes
Verb7
  • Where TAM inflection sits on the verb: prefix, suffix, tone, mixed, none.

    AUS extension AUX026

    suffix
  • Whether there are multiple past or future tenses distinguishing temporal distance (e.g. recent vs remote past) — common in Australian languages.

    AUS extension AUX027

    no
  • Whether a verb uses a different root for singular vs plural participant (e.g. 'go.sg' vs 'go.pl').

    AUS extension AUX029

    no
  • Whether reduplication is productive and of what kind (full/partial).

    AUS extension AUX030

    full-and-partial
  • Whether grammatical evidentiality is marked, and its scope (direct/indirect).

    AUS extension AUX047

    none
  • Whether predicates are built from an uninflecting coverb + a small closed class of inflecting light verbs (widespread in non-Pama-Nyungan Australia).

    AUS extension AUX052

    no
  • Whether noun incorporation into the verb is a productive intransitivizing process.

    AUS extension AUX053

    no

Dictionary & lexicon

Catalogue pointer only. A lexical resource is recorded but is rights-managed or not openly downloadable, so it is not browsable here. AIATSIS AUSTLANG catalogue entry (Y118, Y120, Y123, Y149, Y151)

Deep-time position

Bouckaert 2018 tree
Divergence from nearest relative
~1,733 yr BP
95% HPD 1,0452,460 BP

Dates the LANGUAGE lineage (Bouckaert 2018 BEAST tree), NOT a population arrival.

Trace this lineage in the deep-time spread

Codes & sources

Per-facet provenance

Classification
Glottolog 5.3 CLDF (CC-BY-4.0)
Coordinates
Glottolog 5.3 (CC-BY-4.0)
Endangerment
Glottolog AES (CC-BY-4.0)
Grammar
Grambank v1.0.3 / WALS 2020.4 (CC-BY-4.0)
Lexicon
catalogue pointer (rights-managed)
Deep-time
Bouckaert, Bowern & Atkinson 2018 (Phlorest CLDF, CC-BY-4.0)
Identifiers
Glottolog 5.3 + AIATSIS AUSTLANG

Data-completeness for this profile: name, any id, glottocode, iso639 3, austlang, classification chain, coordinates real, coordinates any, endangerment, grammar profile, deep time dated, autonym candidate. Autonyms are unverified candidates drawn from alt-name lists; coordinates carry a provenance flag; a spreading language lineage is not a moving population. Coverage tier: Documented.