Garawan languages facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Garawan
Yanyi, Garrwan
Geographic distribution:	Northern Territory and Queensland
Linguistic classification:	Macro-Pama–Nyungan? Greater Pama–Nyungan? Garawan
Subdivisions:	Garawa Waanyi ?Gunindiri
Garawan and Tangkic (green). Garawan is the group inland.

The Garawan languages (also called Garrwan or Yanyi) are a small group of languages spoken by Australian Aboriginal people. These languages are found in northern Australia, mostly in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

What Are Garawan Languages?

The Garawan language family includes a few distinct languages. These are:

• Garawa (also known as Garrwa), spoken in the northern areas.
• Waanyi (also known as Wanji), spoken in the southern areas. This language is now extinct, meaning no one speaks it as their first language anymore.
• Gunindiri (also known as Kurnindirri), found in the southwest. Very little is known about this language. It is also extinct.

How Garawan Languages Are Related

Some experts think Garawan languages might be connected to the larger Pama–Nyungan languages group. This is a very big family of Aboriginal languages. However, not all experts agree on this connection. For example, a study by Bowern in 2011 did not accept this link.

Even so, the Garawa and Waanyi languages are quite similar. A linguist named Dixon said in 2002 that it should be easy to figure out their shared ancient language. This shared language would be called "proto-Garawa–Wanji."

Words in Garawan Languages

In 1940, a linguist named Arthur Capell wrote down some basic words from these languages. This helps us see how they are similar or different.

See also

In Spanish: Lenguas garawanas para niños