The Murring–Kuric languages are a family of mainly extinct

Australian Aboriginal languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

that existed in the south east of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. They belong in the Pama–Nyungan family.AIATSIS Language and Peoples Thesaurus
, accessed 23 Jan 2010. These languages are divided into the Yuin, Kuri, and Yora groups, although exact classifications vary between researchers. Yuin–Kuric languages were spoken by the original inhabitants of what are now the cities of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. Most are now

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. The

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womb ...

is named from the word ''gula'' for the animal in the

Dharug language The Dharug language, also spelt Darug, Dharuk, and other variants, and also known as the Sydney language, Gadigal language ( Sydney city area), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in th ...

, a Murring–Kuri language within the Yora group, and the same word occurs in other Yuin–Kuri languages, such as Gundungurra, within the Yuin group. , Yuin is listed as one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the

Department of Communications and the Arts The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs. In December 2019, prime minister Scott Morrison ...

. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".

Languages

The constituent languages are groups are arranged from southwest to northeast:

Yuin group

The

Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...

(southern) group includes: * The extinctChristopher Moseley, ''Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages'', Routledge, 2007, .

Tharawal languages Tharawal, also spelt Thurawal and Dharawal, is a small family of extinct Australian Aboriginal languages once spoken along the South Coast of New South Wales. Number of languages in the group According to Bob Dixon (2002), four Tharawal lan ...

spoken along the

South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

of New South Wales, including Thawa, Dyirringany, Thurga, Tharawal, and possibly Gweagal. * Nyamudy language spoken by people around Canberra *

Ngarigo The Ngarigo People (also spelt Garego, Ngarego, Ngarago, Ngaragu, Ngarigu, Ngarrugu or Ngarroogoo) are Aboriginal Australian people of southeast New South Wales, whose traditional lands also extend around the present border with Victoria. Langu ...

(Ngarigu) spoken by the

Ngarigo people The Ngarigo People (also spelt Garego, Ngarego, Ngarago, Ngaragu, Ngarigu, Ngarrugu or Ngarroogoo) are Aboriginal Australian people of southeast New South Wales, whose traditional lands also extend around the present border with Victoria. Langu ...

Ngunnawal The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Language Ngunnawal and Gundungurra are Australian Aboriginal languages from the Pama-Nyungan ...

, also known as Gundungurra (Gundungura, Gudungura, or Gandangara), spoken by the

Ngunnawal people The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Language Ngunnawal and Gundungurra are Australian Aboriginal languages from the Pama-Nyungan ...

and

Gandangara people The Gundungurra people, also spelt Gundungara, Gandangarra, Gandangara and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Their traditional lands include present day Goulburn, Wollondilly Shire ...

in inland south-eastern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in the now Yass region.

Yora group

The Yora or Iyora (central) group is accepted by Dixon. *

Dharug The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

, an extinct language which attempts are being made to revive. * Darkinjung, an extinct language. They were spoken in the region of

Kuri group

The Kuri (northern) group has been reduced to its southernmost languages: *

Worimi languages Worimi is a small family of two to five mostly extinct Australian Aboriginal languages of New South Wales. * Awabakal, spoken around Lake Macquarie in New South Wales. Awabakal was studied by Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld from 1825 until his death ...

Worimi The Worimi (also spelt Warrimay) people are Aboriginal Australians from the eastern Port Stephens and Great Lakes regions of coastal New South Wales, Australia. Before contact with settlers, their people extended from Port Stephens in the sout ...

(Worimi, Katthang, Birrpayi),

Awabakal The Awabakal people , are those Aboriginal Australians who identify with or are descended from the Awabakal tribe and its clans, Indigenous to the coastal area of what is now known as the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Their traditional te ...

Dunghutti language Dhanggati (Dunghutti, Thangatti), previously known as Dyangadi (Djangadi),''Daingatti'' has also been given as a name, but may be a different language. is the extinct Australian Aboriginal language once spoken by the Djangadi of the Macleay Val ...

Languages once classified as Kuric include Yugambal, Yuggarabul (Yuggera), and Nganyaywana (Anaiwan) further north.

Comparison

Jeremy Steele's partial reconstruction of the Sydney languageJeremy Steele's Master of Arts thesis, 2005
/ref> includes a comparison of pronouns in several Yuin–Kuric languages. The following partial and simplified version shows some of the similarities and differences across the family:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuin-Kuric languages Extinct languages of New South Wales