Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A member of an indigenous Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
  • noun The lects spoken by these people, when regarded as a single language or language group.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From a word meaning "person" in the Yolngu lects.

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Examples

  • I personally always associate "Yolngu" with the group of peoples in Arnhem Land famous for the band "Yothu Yindi".

    languagehat.com: ABORIGINES. 2005

  • It was declared an Aboriginal Reserve in 1931 and thankfully the people known as "Yolngu" (often pronounced simplistically as "Yol-Noo") have, for the most part, succeeded in retaining and maintaining their strong, local, Aboriginal traditions.

    BME: Tattoo, Piercing and Body Modification News Ferg 2008

  • Yolngu is used in Armhem Land both for Yolngu people ie speakers of Pama-Nyungan Yolngu languages and for Aboriginal people in general.

    languagehat.com: ABORIGINES. 2005

  • I'm in Sydney, also in Koori country and am familiar with that term and also with Murri and Yolngu and their particular regions.

    languagehat.com: ABORIGINES. 2005

  • I bet the Yolngu and Koori and Nyunga would think it was a hoot and the SMH readers would have a cow.

    languagehat.com: ABORIGINES. 2005

  • Maybe I should just go by my Yolngu name... but that's got a retroflex in it... barnmanarra, btw.

    languagehat.com: SYNTAX IN BARDI. 2004

  • Gopuru tells of a totemic fish chasing the northwest wind, of clouds forming and ocean currents swirling: metaphors for the complex kinship patterns that exist within a system where everything is shared, decisions are taken collectively and balanda non-Aboriginals who spend time with the Yolngu are incorporated into the family.

    The Guardian World News 2011

  • Family and community are everything to the Yolngu.

    The Guardian World News 2011

  • The two listen to the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land, one of the oldest civilisations on earth. to perform a song from his new album, Rrakala, on a popular breakfast show.

    The Guardian World News 2011

  • "He knows all the Yolngu songs and stories; he has a lot of stuff in his head that he doesn't let out," says Hohnen.

    The Guardian World News 2011

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