Pama–Nyungan languagesThe Pama–Nyungan languages ( ) are the most widespread family of Australian Aboriginal languages, comprising 306 of the 400 Aboriginal languages of Australia. The name "Pama–Nyungan" is a merism: it is derived from the two end-points of the range, the Pama languages of northeast Australia (where the word for 'man' is pama) and the Nyungan languages of southwest Australia (where the word for 'man' is nyunga).
Tasmanian languagesThe Tasmanian languages were the languages indigenous to the island of Tasmania, used by Aboriginal Tasmanians. The languages were last used for daily communication in the 1830s, although the terminal speaker, Fanny Cochrane Smith, survived until 1905. SourcesTasmanian languages are attested by around three dozen word lists, the most extensive being those of Joseph Milligan and George Augustus Robinson.
Tiwi languageTiwi is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Tiwi people on the Tiwi Islands, within sight of the coast of northern Australia. It is one of about 10% of Australian languages still being frequently learned by children. Traditional Tiwi, spoken by people over the age of fifty by 2005, is a polysynthetic language. However, this grammatical complexity has been lost among younger generations.
Language isolateLanguage that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with other languagesLocations of a few examples of language isolatesA language isolate, sometimes called an isolated language, is a language that has no demonstrable genealogical relationship with any other language. That is, an isolate is a language family that only contains one member.
Language familyA language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term family is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics analogous to a family tree, or to phylogenetic trees of taxa used in evolutionary taxonomy. Linguists thus describe the daughter languages within a language family as being genetically related.
Meriam languageMeriam (Meriam Mir: Meriam Mìr; also Miriam, Meryam, Mer, Mir, Miriam-Mir, etc. and Eastern, Isten, Esten and Able Able) or the Eastern Torres Strait language is the language of the people of the small islands of Mer (Murray Island), Waier and Dauar, Erub (Darnley Island), and Ugar (Stephens Island) in the eastern Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. In the Western Torres Strait language, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, it is called Mœyam or Mœyamau Ya.
Proto-Australian languageProto-Australian (PA) is the proposed common ancestor of nearly all Australian Aboriginal languages. It is hypothesised to have been spoken sometime between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago. A comprehensive reconstruction was published in 2024. The Australian mainland is home to at least 250 distinct languages. Serious study of the Australian languages by trained linguists dates from the beginning of the twentieth century.
Australia (continent)One of Earth's seven main divisions of landThe continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts as Sahul (, ), Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia, is located within the Southern and Eastern hemispheres, near the Maritime Southeast Asia.
Torres Strait Island languagesThere are three languages spoken in the Torres Strait Islands: two indigenous languages and an English-based creole. Kalaw Lagaw Ya is spoken mainly in the western and central islands. It belongs to the Pama–Nyungan languages of the Australian mainland.
Aboriginal AustraliansOne of the two categories of Indigenous AustraliansEthnic groupAn Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass.Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Papuan languagesThe Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Eastern Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a genetic relationship. New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse region in the world.
Kalaw Lagaw YaAboriginal Australian language This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article should specify the language of its non-English content using {{lang}} or {{langx}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.