The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a genetic relationship.
Robert Malcolm Ward "Bob" Dixon 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 of The Language and Culture Research Centre at JCU. Doctor of Letters, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa by JCU in 2018. Fellow of British Academy; Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and Honorary member of the Linguistic Society of America, he is one of three living linguists to be specifically mentioned in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics by Peter Matthews (2014).
Stephen Adolphe Wurm was a Hungarian-born Australian linguist.
Terence Michael Crowley was a linguist specializing in Oceanic languages as well as Bislama, the English-lexified Creole recognized as a national language in Vanuatu. From 1991 he taught in New Zealand. Previously, he was with the Pacific Languages Unit of the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu (1983–90) and with the Department of Language and Literature at the University of Papua New Guinea (1979–83).
Bininj Kunwok is an Australian Aboriginal language which includes six dialects: Kunwinjku, Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi, Manyallaluk Mayali (Mayali), Kundedjnjenghmi, and two varieties of Kune. Kunwinjku is the dominant dialect, and also sometimes used to refer to the group. The spellings Bininj Gun-wok and Bininj Kun-Wok have also been used in the past, however Bininj Kunwok is the current standard orthography.
Andrew Kenneth Pawley, FRSNZ, FAHA, is Emeritus Professor at the School of Culture, History and Language of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.
Kayardild is a moribund Tangkic language spoken by the Kaiadilt on the South Wellesley Islands, north west Queensland, Australia. Other members of the family include Yangkaal, Lardil, and Yukulta (Ganggalidda).
Dalabon is a Gunwinyguan language of Arnhem Land, Australia. It is a severely endangered language, with perhaps as few as three fluent speakers remaining as of 2018. Dalabon is also known as Dangbon, Ngalkbun, and Buwan.
The South Wellesley Islands is an island group and locality in the Gulf of Carpentaria within the Shire of Mornington, Queensland, Australia. The group is separate from the Wellesley Islands.
Nicholas Thieberger is an Australian linguist and an Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne.
Gunbarlang, or Kunbarlang, is an Australian Aboriginal language in northern Australia with multiple dialects. Other names are Gungalang and Warlang. Speakers are multilingual in Kunwinjku and Mawng. Most of the Gunbarlang people now speak Kunwinjku.
Kune is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kune are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land. Kune is spoken primarily in the south-east of the Bininj Kunwok speaking areas, particularly in the Cadell River district south of Maningrida. This includes outstations such as Korlobidahdah, Buluhkaduru and Bolkdjam. Grammatically Kune is closely related to other varieties of Bininj Kunwok, however there are many differences in vocabulary.
Kunwinjku is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kunwinjku are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land. As Kunwinjku is the most widely spoken dialect of Bininj Kunwok, 'Kunwinjku' is sometimes used to refer to Bininj Kunwok as a whole. Kunwinjku is spoken primarily in the west of the Bininj Kunwok speaking areas, including the town of Gunbalanya, as well as outstations such as Mamardawerre, Kumarrirnbang, Kudjekbinj and Manmoyi.
Jane Simpson is an Australian linguist and professor emerita at Australian National University.
The Kaiadilt are an Aboriginal Australian people of the South Wellesley group in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia. They are native to Bentinck Island, but also made nomadic fishing and hunting forays to both Sweers and Allen Islands. Most Kaiadilt people now live on Mornington Island.
I Wayan Arka is an Indonesian-Balinese linguist, lecturer, scholar and researcher at Udayana University (UNUD) in Bali, Indonesia and the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia.
Kuninjku is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kuninjku are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land. Kuninjku is spoken primarily in the east of the Bininj Kunwok speaking areas, particularly the outstations of Maningrida such as Mumeka, Marrkolidjban, Mankorlod, Barrihdjowkkeng, Kakodbebuldi, Kurrurldul and Yikarrakkal.
Mayali or Manyallaluk Mayali is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Mayali are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land. Mayali is spoken primarily in south-west Arnhem Land, particularly around Pine Creek, Katherine and Manyallaluk. Occasionally the term "Mayali" is used to refer to all Bininj Kunwok dialects collectively, however this is not generally accepted usage. Speakers of the Kundjeyhmi dialect of Bininj Kunwok often regard Mayali as similar to, or even the same as, Kundjeyhmi.
Kundjeyhmi is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kundjeyhmi are Bininj people, who live primarily in Kakadu National Park. Kundjeyhmi is considered an endangered dialect, with young speakers increasingly switching to English, Aboriginal English, Kunwinjku and Australian Kriol. Kundjeyhmi has a number of lexical and grammatical features that differ from the larger Kunwinjku and Kuninjku dialects.
Kundedjnjenghmi is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Kundedjnjenghmi dialect is native to the high 'stone country' of the Arnhem Plateau, including the communities of Kabulwarnamyo and Kamarrkawarn. Younger speakers in this area have largely switched to other varieties of Bininj Kunwok, although they retain a passive knowledge of Kundedjnjenghmi. A number of songs by the Nabarlek band use the Kundedjnjenghmi dialect, as do traditional 'Kunborrk' songs.
