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Monday, July 15, 2019

Australian Language Families

Introduction
These languages were created in Australia by a group of people commonly called Aborigines.  But, I call them Australians because they were the first people in Australia.  There are over 300 Australian languages in 28 different language families.  Tasmanians used to exist.  They had their own languages.  Torres Strait Islanders have their own language as well.   
Languages
I will list sum of the languages.  They are as followed: Luritja, Warlpiri, Tiwi, Pintupi, Maung, Burrara, Kija, Bardi, etc.  Luritja speakers are great artists!  Warlpiri has 6 vowels and all the words end in vowels.  A word in Tiwi can be a sentence in English and it has 11 verbal categories.  Pintupi is taught in schools and has 17 consonants.  Maung is also taught in school.  Burrara has several dialects.  Kija is spoken by 100 people.  Bardi as less than 10 speakers.  Australian languages are spoken by over 40,000 people.                 
Families
There are 35 language families of Australian languages.  I will list some:  Wardaman, Jarrakan, Greater Pam-Nyungan, Daly.  etc.  Wardaman language is unrelated to other Australian languages and 50 people speak it.  Jarakkan consists of Kija, Miriwoong, and Gajirrabeng.  Gajirrabeng only has 3 or 4 speakers.  Greater Pam-Nyungan is the biggest language family in Australia.  It has 300 languages.  Daly is a group of language families spoken by Daly River.     
Tasmanian Languages
These languages were spoken by Tasmanians.  They no longer exist, because they were wiped out by English.  There may have been 4 language families in Tasmania.  Tasmania a Island off the coast of Australia.   
Torrest Strait Island Languages
There are 2 languages and 6 dialects on this island.  One of the languages is named Meriam Mer.  It is similar to Melanesian languages.  This language has 2 dialects.  The other language spoken there is Kala Lagaw Ya; it has 4 dialects.  It is related to Australian languages.  The people of this island are Melanesian.  They have been influenced by Paupuan, Austronesian, and Australian peoples. 
Conclusion
Australian languages are amazing!!!  There are so many of them and quite a few language families.  Tasmanians were Australian people that lived in Tasmania.  They had their own languages, which had a lot of diversity.  Torrest Strait Island languages are spoken by Melanesian people that live on/near Australia.         
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_languages
http://theconversation.com/the-origins-of-pama-nyungan-australias-largest-family-of-aboriginal-languages-92997
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/why-australia-home-one-largest-language-families-world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_languages
https://www.tstlanguages.org/our-languages
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/28/c_137071282.htm

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