The Sydney language, also referred to as Darug or Iyora in English, is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in the region of Sydney, New South Wales. It is the traditional language of the Darug and Eora peoples. The Darug population was greatly diminished since the onset of colonisation. During the 1990s and the new millennium some descendants of the Darug clans in Western Sydney have been making considerable efforts to revive Dharug as a spoken language. Today some modern Dharug speakers have given speeches in the Dharug language and younger members of the community visit schools and give demonstrations of spoken Dharug. Bowern lists Dharuk and Iyora as separate languages.
Name
The speakers did not use a specific name for their language prior to settlement by the First Fleet. The coastal dialect has been referred to as Iyora, which simply means "people", while the inland dialect has been referred to as Dharug, a term of unknown origin or meaning. Both names are also used to refer to all dialects of the language collectively. The term Dharug, which can also be spelt Darug, Dharukk, Dharoog, Dharrag, and Dararrug, etc., came from the word for yam: midyini. Dharug is the root, or the midyini, of the languages of the Sydney basin.
The indigenous people identify themselves as Eora, literally meaning "the people", a word derived from Ee and ora. The language of the people is also called Eora. With a traditional heritage spanning thousands of years, approximately 70 per cent of the Eora people died out during the nineteenth century as a result of smallpox, other pathogens and viruses, and the destruction of their natural food sources.
Earliest habitation
suggests human activity occurred in and around Sydney for at least 30,000 years, in the Upper Paleolithic period. However, numerous Aboriginal stone tools found in Sydney's far western suburbs gravel sediments were dated to be from 45,000 to 50,000 years BP, which would mean that humans could have been in the region earlier than thought.
Darug people recognise Sir William Dawes of the First Fleet and flagship, the Sirius, as the first to record the original traditional tongue of the elder people of Sydney Darugule-wayaun. Dawes was returned to England in December 1791, after disagreements with Governor Phillip on, among other things, the punitive expedition launched following the wounding of the Government gamekeeper, allegedly by Pemulwuy, an Yora man.
Current state
The language has largely been lost, largely due to the historical effects of colonisaton on the Darug people. Some vocabulary is retained by some Darug people, but only very little grammar. A recreated version of the language is spoken at welcome ceremonies conducted by the Darug people.
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
The language may have had a distinction of vowel length, but this is difficult to determine from the extant data.
The tools boomerang, a word from the Turuwal sub-group, and woomera
The word gin, a now derogatory term for an indigenous woman, is believed to derive from Dharug diyin, "woman"
The word koradji, referring to an Aboriginal person with traditional skills in medicine, comes from Dharug.
Revival
Although Dharug is classified as extinct, there is a small number of descendants of the Darug nations who still speak it and efforts have been made to revive the language. As of 2005, some children at Chifley College's Dunheved campus in Sydney had started learning the reconstructed Dharug language, and parts of the language have been taught at the Sydney Festival.
