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The 'Sydney Language', also referred to as 'Dharug' or 'Iyora', is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language that was spoken in the region of Sydney, New South Wales.
Its last speakers died in the late 19th or early 20th century, their population having been diminished due to the effects of colonisation.^[1] It is known today only from written records.

Contents

Name

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Notes

References

Name

The speakers' own name for their language is unknown. The coastal dialect has been referred to as 'Iyora' (also spelt 'Iora', 'Eora'), which simply means "people", while the inland dialect has been referred to as 'Dharug' (also spelt 'Darug', 'Dharuk', 'Dharruk'), a term of unknown origin or meaning. Both names are also used to refer to all dialects of the language collectively.^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

	Peripheral		Laminal		Apical
	Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex
Stop
Nasal
Lateral
Rhotic
Semivowel

Vowels

	Front	Back
High
Low

The language may have had a distinction of vowel length, but this is difficult to determine from the extant data.^[3]

Notes

1. Troy (1994): p. 5.
2. Troy (1994): p. 9.
3. Troy (1994): p. 24.

References

★ The Sydney Language, , Jakelin, Troy, Panther, 1994,