Yanyuwa language
Yanyuwa (IPA: [jaṉuwa]) is the language of the Yanyuwa people of the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria outside Borroloola (Yanyuwa: Burrulula) in the Northern Territory, Australia.
| Yanyuwa | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Australia |
| Region | Northern Territory |
| Ethnicity | Yanyuwa, Wadiri |
Native speakers | 47 (2021 census) |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jao |
| Glottolog | yany1243 |
| AIATSIS | N153 |
| ELP | Yanyuwa |
Yanyuwa is the patch of yellow on the northern coast, between the orange and the green. | |
Yanyuwa, like many other Australian Aboriginal languages, is a highly agglutinative language with ergative-absolutive alignment, whose grammar is pervaded by a set of 16 noun classes whose agreements are complicated and numerous.
Yanyuwa is a critically endangered language. The anthropologist John Bradley has worked with the Yanyuwa people for three decades and is also a speaker of Yanyuwa. He has produced a large dictionary and grammar of the language, along with a cultural atlas in collaboration with a core group of senior men and women.