{{short description|Australian Aboriginal language}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}} {{Infobox language | 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 {{extinct}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |author-link=R. M. W. Dixon |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780|isbn=0521473780|page=xxxix}}</ref> | glotto = kaya1319 | glottorefname = Kayardild | aiatsis = G35 | aiatsisname = Kayardild | map = File:Wellesley Islands locator map.jpg | mapcaption = Kayardild Traditional area | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 = {{center|Kayardild is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger''.}} | altname = Kaiadilt | iso3 = gyd }}
'''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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kayardild |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/kaya1319 |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=Glottolog 5.0}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Wuethrich |first=Bernice |date=2000 |title=Learning the World's Languages: Before They Vanish |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3075227 |journal=Science |volume=288 |issue=5469 |pages=1156–1159 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> By 1981, there were fifty known native speakers.<ref name=":0" /> In the 2016 census, there were eight,<ref name="census">{{Cite web|url=http://stat.data.abs.gov.au/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ABS_C16_T09_SA|title=Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)|website=stat.data.abs.gov.au|language=en-au|publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics|access-date=2017-10-29|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226044803/http://stat.data.abs.gov.au/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ABS_C16_T09_SA|url-status=dead}}</ref> and this number increased to 43 in 2021.<ref name="AIATSIS" />
== Phonology == {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- |+Kayardild consonant phonemes<ref name="Evans1995">{{Harvcoltxt|Evans|1995b|p=51}}</ref> ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Peripheral ! colspan="2" | Laminal ! colspan="2" | Apical |- ! Bilabial ! Velar ! Palatal ! Dental ! Alveolar ! Retroflex |- ! Plosive | {{IPAlink|p}} | {{IPAlink|k}} | {{IPAlink|c}} | {{IPAlink|t̪}} | {{IPAlink|t}} | {{IPAlink|ʈ}} |- ! Nasal | {{IPAlink|m}} | {{IPAlink|ŋ}} | {{IPAlink|ɲ}} | {{IPAlink|n̪}} | {{IPAlink|n}} | {{IPAlink|ɳ}} |- ! Trill | colspan="2" | | | | {{IPAlink|r}} | |- ! Lateral | colspan="2" | | | | {{IPAlink|l}} | |- style="text-align: center;" ! Approximant | colspan="2" | {{IPAlink|w}} | {{IPAlink|j}} | | colspan="2" | {{IPAlink|ɻ}} |}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Kayardild vowel phonemes<ref name="Evans1995" /> ! ! Front ! Back |- ! Close | {{IPAlink|i}} {{IPAlink|iː}} | {{IPAlink|u}} {{IPAlink|uː}} |- ! Open | colspan="2" | {{IPAlink|a}} {{IPAlink|aː}} |}
==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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dorian |first=Nancy C. |title=Commentary: Broadening the Rhetorical and Descriptive Horizons in Endangered-Language Linguistics |journal=Journal of Linguistic Anthropology |volume=12 |issue=2 |year=2002 |pages=134–140 |doi=10.1525/jlin.2002.12.2.134 |jstor=43104008}}</ref>
Speakers tend to have a preference for subject–object–verb word order.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |title=A Grammar of Kayardild: With Historical-comparative Notes on Tangkic |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=1995 |isbn=978-3-11-012795-9 |location=Berlin}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Nick |title=The Handbook of Phonological Theory |publisher=Blackwell |year=1995a |editor-last=Goldsmith |editor-first=John A. |series=Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics |pages=723–761 |chapter=Current Issues in Australian languages |edition=1st}} * {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWEGD7BSabwC |title=A Grammar of Kayardild: With Historical-comparative Notes on Tangkic |date=1995b |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-012795-9 |location=Berlin |language=en}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |year=1988 |chapter=Odd topic marking in Kayardild |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Austin |title=Complex sentence constructions in Australian Languages |series=Typological Studies in Language |volume=15 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins |pages=219–266 |doi=10.1075/tsl.15.11eva|isbn=978-90-272-2887-1 }} * {{cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |year=1992 |title=Kayardild Dictionary and Thesaurus |publisher=University of Melbourne: Department of Linguistics and Language Studies}} * {{cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |year=1995c |chapter=The Kayardild language |editor-first=Julia |editor-last=Robinson |title=Voices of Queensland |location=Melbourne |publisher=Oxford University Press}} * {{cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |year=1995d |chapter=Multiple case in Kayardild: anti-iconicity and the diachronic filter |editor-first=F. |editor-last=Plank |title=Double case. Agreement by Suffixaufnahme |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=396–428 |isbn=9780195087758 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116404289971/page/396/mode/2up}} * {{cite journal |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |year=2001 |title=Typologies of agreement: some problems from Kayardild |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |volume=101 |issue=2 |pages=203–234|doi=10.1111/1467-968X.00118 |hdl=1885/33294 |hdl-access=free }} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |year=2006 |entry=Kayardild |editor-first=Keith |editor-last=Brown |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics |volume=6 |location=Oxford |publisher=Elsevier |pages=168–169}} * {{cite thesis |last=Round |first=Erich |year=2009 |url=https://uq.academia.edu/ErichRound/Papers/572301/Kayardild_morphology_phonology_and_morphosyntax |title=Kayardild Morphology, Phonology, and Morphosyntax |degree=PhD |publisher=Yale University}} * {{cite book |last=Round |first=Erich |year=2013 |title=Kayardild Morphology and Syntax |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-965487-1}} * {{cite journal |last1=Round |first1=Erich |last2=Corbett |first2=Greville G. |year=2016 |title=The theory of feature systems: one feature versus two for Kayardild tense-aspect-mood |journal=Morphology |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–55 |doi=10.1007/s11525-016-9294-3 |doi-access=free}}
{{Pama–Nyungan languages|Macro}} {{Australian Aboriginal languages}} {{Authority control}} Category:Critically endangered languages Category:Endangered languages of Oceania Category:North West Queensland Category:Tangkic languages