Waanyi, also spelt Wanyi, Wanji or Waanji, is an endangered

Australian Aboriginal language 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 ...

spoken by the

Waanyi The Waanyi people, also spelt Wanyi, Wanji, or Waanji, are an Aboriginal Australian people from south of the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Language The Waanyi language, although earlier thought to be extinct, wa ...

people of the lower gulf area of

Northern Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

, Australia. Although earlier thought to be

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 ...

, as of the

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incre ...

there were 16 speakers of the language. This was down from the recorded peak of 40 in the 2011 Australian census. The language region includes the western parts of

Lawn Hill Creek Boodjamulla National Park, formerly known as Lawn Hill National Park, is a national park in the Shire of Burke, Queensland, Australia. The Riversleigh World Heritage Area is a World Heritage Site within the park. The park lies on the traditional ...

and Nicholson River, from about the boundary between the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and Queensland, westwards towards Alexandria station, Doomadgee, and Nicholson River. It includes the local government area of the

Aboriginal Shire of Doomadgee The Aboriginal Shire of Doomadgee is a special local government area in North West Queensland, Queensland, Australia. It is managed under a Deed of Grant in Trust under the ''Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004''. Geography ...

. Words and phrases from this language are used by novelist

Alexis Wright Alexis Wright (born 25 November 1950) is a Waanyi (Aboriginal Australian) writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel '' Carpentaria'' and the 2018 Stella Prize for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" ...

in her 2013 novel, ''

The Swan Book ''The Swan Book'' is the third novel by the Indigenous Australian author Alexis Wright. It met with critical acclaim when it was published, and was short-listed for Australia's premier literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award. Plot Introduction ...

''.

Phonology

Phoneme inventoryBreen, Gavan (2003)."Wanyi and Garrwa comparative data" in Evans, N., ed. "The Non-Pama-Nyungan Languages of Northern Australia: comparative studies of the continent’s most linguistically complex region". ''Studies in Language Change'', 552. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pp.425-462 Phonemic long vowels are rare.

References

{{Australian Aboriginal languages Garawan languages