Limilngan languages
Encyclopedia
The Limilngan languages are a small family
of Australian Aboriginal languages
spoken in northern Australia. There are only two languages in this group, Limilngan
and Wulna
, which as of 1981 had only three and one speakers, respectively, and which may now be extinct.
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
of Australian Aboriginal languages
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...
spoken in northern Australia. There are only two languages in this group, Limilngan
Limilngan language
Limilngan is an extinct indigenous language of Australia. It had three speakers left in 1981, but was gone by 2009....
and Wulna
Wulna language
Wulna is a presumably extinct indigenous language of Australia. It had one speaker left in 1981....
, which as of 1981 had only three and one speakers, respectively, and which may now be extinct.
See also
- AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- Aboriginal (Australian)