The Wik languages are a subdivision of the
Paman languages
The Paman languages are an Australian language family spoken on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. First noted by Kenneth Hale, Paman is noteworthy for the profound phonological changes which have affected some of its descendants.
Classifica ...
consisting of sixteen
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s, all spoken on the
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupació ...
of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
,
Australia. This grouping was first proposed by
R. M. W. Dixon
Robert Malcolm Ward "Bob" Dixon (born 25 January 1939, in Gloucester, England) is a Professor of Linguistics in the College of Arts, Society, and Education and The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Queensland. He is also Deputy Director o ...
.
Each of the Kugu-Muminh dialects may have the
prefix ''Wik-'' instead of ''Kugu-''.
Wik Paach is not a Wik language despite its name.
The languages are as follows; often various dialects are considered separate languages:
*
Wik-Ngathan (incl.
Wik-Ngatharr dialect)
*
Wik-Me'nh
*
Wik-Mungkan
The Wik-Mungkan people were the largest branch of the Wik people, an Aboriginal Australian group of peoples, speaking several different languages, who traditionally ranged over an extensive area of the western Cape York Peninsula in northern Quee ...
*
Wik-Ompoma (Ambama) †
*
Kugu Nganhcara
The Kugu Nganhcara, also ''Wikngenchera, Wik-Ngandjara (Ngandjara)'' are an Australian group of peoples living in the middle western part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia. Today they are primarily concentrated at Aurukan an ...
(incl.
Gugu Uwanh dialect
Kugu-Muminh (Wik-Muminh), also known as Kugu- or Wik-Nganhcara (Wikngenchera), is a Paman language spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, by several of the Wik peoples
The Wik peoples are an Indigenous Australian group o ...
) †
*
Ayabadhu †
*
Pakanha †
The
Flinders Island language
Flinders Island is an extinct Australian aboriginal language spoken off the coast of Queensland, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continen ...
and
Barrow Point language
The Barrow Point or Mutumui language, called ''Eibole'', is a recently extinct Australian Aboriginal language. According to Wurm and Hattori (1981), there was one speaker left at the time.
Phonology
Unusually among Australian languages, Barrow ...
were apparently Wik.
See also
*
Wik peoples
The Wik peoples are an Indigenous Australian group of people from an extensive zone on western Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, speaking several different languages. They are from the coastal flood plains bounding the Gulf of Carpentar ...
*
Wik Peoples v Queensland
''Wik Peoples v The State of Queensland''. (commonly known as the Wik decision) is a decision of the High Court of Australia delivered on 23 December 1996 on whether statutory leases extinguish native title rights. The court found that the stat ...
References
North Cape York Paman languages
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