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There are many different groups speaking dialects of Dyirbal language. Researcher Robert Dixon estimates that Dyirbal had, at its peak, 10 dialects.

Dialects include:


 * Dyirbal (or Jirrbal ) spoken by the Dyirbalŋan
 * Mamu, spoken by the Waɽibara, Dulgubara, Bagiɽgabara, Dyiɽibara, and Mandubara (There are also different types of Mamu spoken by individual groups, such as Warribara Mamu, and Dulgubara Mamu )
 * Giramay (Or Girramay ), spoken by the Giramaygan
 * Gulŋay (or Gulngay ), spoken by the Malanbara
 * Dyiru (or Djirru ), spoken by the Dyirubagala
 * Ngadyan (or Ngadjan ), spoken by the Ngadyiandyi
 * Walmalbarra

The speakers of these dialects largely regard their dialects as different languages. They were classified as dialects by researcher Robert Dixon, who classified them as such based on linguistic criteria and their similarities, some dialects sharing as much as 90% of their vocabularies. Since the dialects were viewed by speakers as different languages, the language had no formal name, so Dixon assigned the language the name Dyibal, naming at after Jirrbal, which was the dialect with the largest number of speakers at the time he was studying it.

Languages neighbouring the many Dyirbal dialects include:


 * Ngaygungu
 * Mbabaram
 * Muluriji
 * Yidiny
 * Warungu
 * Warrgamay
 * Nyawaygi

Young Dyirbal
In the 1970s, speakers of Dyirbal and Giramay dialects purchased land in the Murray Upper, with the assistance of the Australian federal government and formed a community. Within this community shift in language began to occur, and with it came the emergence of  new form of Dyirbal, dubbed by researcher Annette Schmidt "Young Dyirbal" or "YD." This language stands in contrast to "Traditional Dyirbal" or "TD."

Young Dyirbal is grammatically distinct from Traditional Dyirbal, in some cases being more similar to English, such as the gradual loss of ergative inflection, as is found in Traditional Dyirbal, in favour of a style of inflection more similar to the one found in English.