The Yura or Thura-Yura languages are a group of Australian Aboriginal languages surrounding Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent in South Australia, that comprise a genetic language family of the Pama–Nyungan family.
Name
The name Yura comes from the word for "person" in the northern languages; this is a lenited form of the thura found in other languages, hence Thura-Yura. Similar words for "person" are found in languages outside the group, however (for example 'yura' - 'person' in the Sydney language).
Languages
The following classification is proposed by Bowern & Koch (2004):
A Nukunu speaker reported that the Nukunu could understand Barngarla and Kuyani, but not more distant varieties.
Peramangk may have been a southern Thura-Yura language, close to Kaurna.
Dixon (2002) lists a Nantuwara language, but there is no data for it.
Proto-language
Reconstructed Thura-Yura vocabulary by Simpson and Hercus (2004):
- Spelling conventions
- alveolar tap: r
- alveolar trill: rr
- retroflex glide: ṟ
- retroflex tap: rd
- indeterminate rhotic: R
References
- Simpson, Jane; Hercus, Luise (2004). "Thura-Yura as a subgroup". In Claire Bowern; Harold Koch (eds.). Australian Languages: Classification and the Comparative Method. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
