In Yanyuwa, certain words have synonyms used to replace the everyday term in certain cultural situations.
Avoidance speech Avoidance speech is speech style used when talking to or near certain relatives: one's siblings and cousins of the opposite sex, one's brother-in-law, sister-in-law, father-in-law and mother-in-law, and one's nieces and nephews if their father (for male speakers) or their mother (for female speakers) has died. Occasionally, avoidance speech takes the form of different affixes to usual speech, but generally, it is simply a change in vocabulary. For example, a
digging stick is usually referred to as , but when talking to one of the above relatives, the word used is . An example of avoidance speech is given below:
Ritual speech Another set of vocabulary is used during ceremonies and other ritual occasions. Many of the words used in ritual speech are sacred and kept secret. For example, a
dingo is usually referred to as , but during ritual occasions, the word used is . That is one ritual term which is known to the general public, as are some other terms for flora and fauna.
Island speech When on the
Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands, which is part of Yanyuwa territory, another set of vocabulary may be used to replace the terms used when on the mainland. There is more variance about the usage of island speech than the other speech styles. For example, on the mainland, fishing is referred to as , but on the islands, the word used is . ==Phonology==