Dyirbal is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by about 29 speakers of the Dyirbal tribe. It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. It possesses many outstanding features that have made it well known among linguists.
The Australian Aboriginal languages consist of around 290–363 languages belonging to an estimated 28 language families and isolates, spoken by Aboriginal Australians of mainland Australia and a few nearby islands. The relationships between these languages are not clear at present. Despite this uncertainty, the Indigenous Australian languages are collectively covered by the technical term "Australian languages", or the "Australian family".
Guugu Yimithirr, also rendered Guugu Yimidhirr, Guguyimidjir, and many other spellings, is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Guugu Yimithirr people of Far North Queensland. It belongs to the Pama-Nyungan language family. Most of the speakers today live at the community of Hopevale, about 46 km from Cooktown. Guugu Yimithirr is one of the more famous Australian Aboriginal languages because it is the source language of the word "kangaroo."
Many Australian Aboriginal cultures have or traditionally had a manually coded language, a signed counterpart of their oral language. This appears to be connected with various speech taboos between certain kin or at particular times, such as during a mourning period for women or during initiation ceremonies for men, as was also the case with Caucasian Sign Language but not Plains Indian Sign Language, which did not involve speech taboo, or deaf sign languages, which are not encodings of oral language. There is some similarity between neighboring groups and some contact pidgin similar to Plains Indian Sign Language in the American Great Plains.
Although Australia has no official languages, English has been entrenched as the de facto national language since European settlement. Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon, and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. General Australian serves as the standard dialect.
Australian English is relatively homogeneous when compared with British and American English. The major varieties of Australian English are sociocultural rather than regional, being general, broad and cultivated Australian.
Yalarnnga is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan family, that may be related to the Kalkatungu language. It was formerly spoken in areas near the town of Dajarra, in far northwestern Queensland. The last native speaker died in 1980.
Kuku-Thaypan is an extinct Paman language spoken on the southwestern part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia, by the Kuku-Thaypan people. The language was sometimes called Alaya or Awu Alaya. Koko-Rarmul may have been a dialect, though Bowern (2012) lists Gugu-Rarmul and Kuku-Thaypan as separate languages. The last native speaker, Tommy George, died 29 July 2016 in Cooktown Hospital.
Meriam or the Eastern Torres Strait language is the language of the people of the small islands of Mer, Waier and Dauar, Erub, and Ugar in the eastern Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. In the Western Torres Strait language, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, it is called Mœyam or Mœyamau Ya. It is the only Papuan language in Australian territory.
Wambaya is a Non-Pama-Nyungan West Barkly Australian language of the Mirndi language group that is spoken in the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Territory, Australia. Wambaya and the other members of the West Barkly languages are somewhat unusual in that they are suffixing languages, unlike most Non-Pama-Nyungan languages which are prefixing.
There are three languages spoken in the Torres Strait Islands, two indigenous languages and an English-based creole. The indigenous language spoken mainly in the western and central islands is Kalaw Lagaw Ya: a language related to the Pama–Nyungan languages of the Australian mainland. The other indigenous language spoken mainly in the eastern islands is Meriam Mir: a member of the Trans-Fly languages spoken on the nearby south coast of New Guinea and the only Papuan language spoken on Australian territory. Both languages are agglutinative, however Kalaw Lagaw Ya appears to be undergoing a transition into a declensional language while Meriam Mìr is more clearly agglutinative. Yumplatok, the third language, is a non-typical Pacific English Creole and is the main language of communication on the islands.
Yorta Yorta (Yotayota) is a dialect cluster, or perhaps a group of closely related languages, spoken by the Yorta Yorta people, Indigenous Australians from the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day northeast Victoria. Dixon considers it an isolate.
Arabana or Arabuna is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan family, spoken by the Wongkanguru and Arabana people.
Bidjara is an Australian Aboriginal language. In 1980, it was spoken by twenty elders in Queensland between the towns of Tambo and Augathella, or the Warrego and Langlo rivers. The language is being revitalised and is being taught in local schools in the region.
Kuku Nyungkal is an Australian Aboriginal language and the language of the Kuku Nyungkal people of Far North Queensland. It's a variety of Kuku Yalanji still being spoken. Most of the speakers today live in the communities of Wujal Wujal and Mossman.
The Darling language, or Paakantyi (Baagandji), is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language spoken along the Darling River in New South Wales from present-day Bourke to Wentworth and including much of the back country around the Paroo River and Broken Hill. The people's and language name refers to the Paaka with the suffix -ntyi meaning 'belonging to',
Barunggam (Murrumningama) is an extinct Aboriginal language spoken by the Barunggam people of Queensland in Australia. The Barunggam language shared many words with the neighboring languages, including Jarowair to the east, Wakka Wakka to the north and Mandandanji to the west. Kite and Wurm describe Barunggam as a dialect of Wakka Wakka.
Guugu Yalandji (Kuku-Yalanji) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Queensland. It is the traditional language of the Kuku Yalanji people. Despite conflicts between the Kuku Yalanji people and British settlers in Queensland, the Kuku Yalanji language has a healthy number of speakers, and that number is increasing. Though the language is threatened, the language use is vigorous and children are learning it in schools. All generations of speakers have a positive languages attitudes. The Kuku Yalanji still practice their traditional religion, and they have rich oral traditions. Many people in the Kuku Yalanji community also use English, but use is discouraged. 100 Kuku Yalanji speakers can both read and write in Kuku Yalanji.
Biri is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of Queensland. A grammar of Biri proper was written before the language became extinct.
Dappil (Dapil) is an extinct language of Queensland in Australia that appears to have been closely related to Gureng Gureng.
