Dhuwal language
Dhuwal is one of the Yolŋu languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory, Australia. Although all Yolŋu languages are mutually intelligible to some extent, Dhuwal represents a distinct dialect continuum of eight separate varieties.
Dialects
According to linguist Robert M. W. Dixon,- Dialects of the Yirritja moiety are Gupapuyngu and Gumatj;
- Dialects of the Dhuwa moiety are Djambarrpuyngu, Djapu, Liyagalawumirr, and Guyamirlili.
- In addition, it would appear that the Dhay'yi dialects, Dhalwangu and Djarrwark, are part of the same language.
- Dhuwal proper, Datiwuy, Dhuwaya, Liyagawumirr, Marrangu, and Djapu: 600 speakers
- Djampbarrpuyŋu, 2,760 speakers
- Gumatj, 240 speakers
- Gupapuyngu, 330 speakers
- Dhay'yi and Dhalwangu, 170 speakers
Sounds
Consonants
Vowels
Vowel length is contrastive in first syllable only.Orthography
Probably every Australian language with speakers remaining has had an orthography developed for it, in each case in the Latin script. Sounds not found in English are usually represented by digraphs, or more rarely by diacritics, such as underlines, or extra symbols, sometimes borrowed from the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some examples are shown in the following table.| Language | Example | Translation | Type |
| Pitjantjatjara dialect of the Western Desert language | paṉa | 'earth, dirt, ground; land' | diacritic indicates the retroflex nasal |
| Wajarri | nhanha | 'this, this one' | digraph indicating the dental nasal |
| Yolŋu languages | yolŋu | 'person, man' | 'ŋ' represents the velar nasal |