Guugu Yimidhirr

The Guugu Yimidhirr are an Aboriginal tribe of Australia who speak the language of the same name. There are several hundred speakers, most of whom live in Hopevale , Cooktown and Wujal Wujal on the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland . The name of the tribe is derived from their language and means "language ( guugu ), which has yimi (for 'thing') "

For example, the word “ kangaroo ” goes back to the Guugu Yimidhirr , which means “gangurru” (/ ɡaŋʊrʊ /) in their language.

In addition to their language, they are best known for their special understanding of space, which u. a. by Stephen C. Levinson (e.g. in his article Relativity in spatial conception and description ). There is no vocabulary relative to the user ( left and right ) for directional information , only cardinal points (corresponding to north , south , east , west ).

literature

• Guy Deutscher : Im Spiegel der Sprache , Munich: Beck 2010, pp. 181–213 (with references to English-language primary literature)

See also

• Aboriginal peoples
• Australian languages

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hart, Roger, and Haviland, John B .: Return to the ancestors, The story of the Aborigines from Barrow Point , Munich: Frederking & Thaler, 1999, p. 10.
2. ↑ Guy Deutscher, Does Your Language Shape How You Think? , The New York Times, August 26, 2010.