Kayardild language
Australian Aboriginal language
title: "Kayardild language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["critically-endangered-languages", "endangered-languages-of-oceania", "north-west-queensland", "tangkic-languages"] description: "Australian Aboriginal language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayardild_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Australian Aboriginal language ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Kayardild |
| region | South Wellesley Islands, north west Queensland, Australia |
| ethnicity | Kaiadilt, Yanggal |
| speakers | 43 |
| date | 2021 census |
| ref | aiatsis |
| familycolor | Australian |
| fam1 | Macro-Pama–Nyungan? |
| fam2 | Tangkic |
| dia1 | Kayardild |
| dia2 | Yangkaal |
| lc1 | gyd |
| ld1 | Kayardild |
| lc2 | nny |
| ld2 | Yangkaal/Nyangga (two different languages) |
| glotto | kaya1318 |
| glottorefname | Kayardild–Yangkaal |
| aiatsis | G35 |
| aiatsisname | Kayardild |
| aiatsis2 | G37 |
| aiatsisname2 | Yangkaal |
| ELP2 | 4887 |
| ELPname2 | Yangkaal |
| map | File:Wellesley Islands locator map.jpg |
| mapcaption | Kayardild Traditional area |
| map2 | Lang Status 20-CR.svg |
| mapcaption2 | |
| altname | Kaiadilt |
| :: |
| name = Kayardild | region = South Wellesley Islands, north west Queensland, Australia | ethnicity = Kaiadilt, Yanggal | speakers = 43 | date = 2021 census | ref = aiatsis | familycolor = Australian | fam1 = Macro-Pama–Nyungan? | fam2 = Tangkic | dia1 = Kayardild | dia2 = Yangkaal | lc1 = gyd | ld1 = Kayardild | lc2 = nny | ld2 = Yangkaal/Nyangga (two different languages) | glotto = kaya1318 | glottorefname = Kayardild–Yangkaal | aiatsis = G35 | aiatsisname = Kayardild | aiatsis2 = G37 | aiatsisname2 = Yangkaal | ELP2 = 4887 | ELPname2 = Yangkaal | map = File:Wellesley Islands locator map.jpg | mapcaption = Kayardild Traditional area | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 = | altname = Kaiadilt
Kayardild is a moribund Tangkic language spoken by 43 of the Kaiadilt on the South Wellesley Islands, north west Queensland, Australia. Other members of the family include Yangkaal (spoken by the Yangkaal people), Lardil, and Yukulta (Ganggalidda).
Kayardild is a critically endangered language, considered near-extinct. In 1981, there were around fifty native speakers of Kayardild. The number of speakers of Kayardild significantly reduced since the 1940s as a result of the stolen generations. By 1981, there were fifty known native speakers. In the 2016 census, there were eight, and this number increased to 43 in 2021.
Phonology
::data[format=table title="Kayardild consonant phonemes{{Harvcoltxt|Evans|1995b|p=51}}"]
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Plosive | Nasal | Trill | Lateral | Approximant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
::data[format=table title="Kayardild vowel phonemes"]
| Front | Back | Close | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Grammar
Kayardild is known for its many unusual case phenomena, including case stacking of up to four levels, the use of clause-level case to signal interclausal relations and pragmatic factors, and another set of 'verbal case' endings which convert their hosts from nouns into verbs morphologically. It is also well-known for only allowing subordination one level deep. Kayardild is the only known spoken language where tense markers appear on both nouns and verbs.
Speakers tend to have a preference for subject–object–verb word order.
References
Bibliography
References
- Dixon, R. M. W.. (2002). "Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development". Cambridge University Press.
- "Kayardild".
- Wuethrich, Bernice. (2000). "Learning the World's Languages: Before They Vanish". Science.
- "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- {{Harvcoltxt. Evans. 1995b
- Dorian, Nancy C.. (2002). "Commentary: Broadening the Rhetorical and Descriptive Horizons in Endangered-Language Linguistics". Journal of Linguistic Anthropology.
- Evans, Nicholas. (1995). "A Grammar of Kayardild: With Historical-comparative Notes on Tangkic". Walter de Gruyter.
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