Kayardild language

Kayardild is a moribund Tangkic language spoken by the Kaiadilt on the South Wellesley Islands, north west Queensland, Australia, with fewer than ten fluent speakers remaining. Other members of the family include Yangkaal (spoken by the Yangkaal people), Lardil, and Yukulta (Ganggalidda). It is famous 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 were tense markers appear on both nouns and verbs.

Kayardild
RegionSouth Wellesley Islands, north west Queensland, Australia
EthnicityKaiadilt, Yanggal
Native speakers
8 (2016 census)
Dialects
  • Kayardild
  • Yangkaal
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
gyd  Kayardild
nny  Yangkaal/Nyangga (two different languages)
Glottologkaya1318
AIATSISG35 Kayardild, G37 Yangkaal
ELPKayardild
 Yangkaal
Kayardild Traditional area
Kayardild is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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