Dieri

Dieri is a language historically spoken in the north east of the present state of South Australia, towards the east of Lake Eyre. Currently, Dieri speakers live in locations such as Marree, Port Augusta, Broken Hill, and Adelaide.

Many materials such as postcards were written in Dieri by native speakers as recently as 1910, and Lutheran missionaries at the Killapaninna mission wrote the language down. One such missionary was J. G. Reuther, whose extensive records and translations of Dieri from 1895-1906 are still available today. This makes Dieri a relatively ‘literate’ language with a history of written materials and a consistent ‘orthography’ or writing system. A grammar of Dieri was published in 1981 by Peter Austin. In 2009, the Dieri Aboriginal Corporation began working with Greg Wilson on resources for language learning, with a plan to teach Dieri in schools. One such publication is ‘Ngayana Dieri Yawarra Yathayilha!’ or ‘let’s talk Dieri language!’ More recently, in 2017, the MLT assisted the Dieri Aboriginal Corporation in completing a Dieri language learner’s guide.

AIATSIS id : L.17

VARIATIONS

Dayerrie, Deerie, Diari, Dickeri (misprint), Dieri (used by SIL), Dieyerie, Dieyrie, Dijari, Diyari (used by AIATSIS), Diyeri, Dthee-eri, Dyeri, Koonarie, Kujani, Kunari (name of Cooper Creek), Tiari (by southern Aranda), Ti:ari (of southern Aranda), Tirari, Urrominna (southern term for Dieri, Kujani, and Tirari-a general term), Wongkadieri (Arabana term), Wonkadieri.

DISCLAIMER:

The above map is based upon the Horton Indigenous Map of Australia © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, and Auslig/Sinclair, Knight, Merz, 1996. The full map is available on the AIATSIS website. The locations of the languages of SA, as stated on the this website are not intended for Land Claim use, and are an approximate guide only. Individual language project locations are based on information from publicly available MILR (ILS) documents.