Flinders Island language

Not to be confused with Flinders Island lingua franca.

The Flinders Island language is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Flinders Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. It is unconfirmed as a distinct language. The inhabitants of the island were the Aba Yalgayi.^[2] There were 3 speakers reported in 1981.^[3]

Flinders Island
Native to	Australia
Region	Flinders Island, Queensland
Ethnicity	Aba Yalgayi
Extinct	c. 2000
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Paman[1] North Cape York Wik Flinders Island
Language codes
ISO 639-3	fln
Glottolog	flin1247
AIATSIS[2]	Y67
ELP	Flinders Island

One of the last known speakers of the language was Johnny Flinders.^[4]

Names

The name Biyalgeyi have been used, but there is no evidence it refers to a language. Yalgawarra is a clan name.^[2]

Notes

Citations

1. Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, 23 December 2011 (corrected 6 February 2012)
2. Y67 Flinders Island at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
3. Tryon, Darrell (2007), "Australasia and the Pacific", in Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R. E. (eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (2nd ed.), London: Routledge, pp. 97–126, ISBN 978-0-415-31074-1, retrieved 27 December 2024
4. Langton 2012, p. 179.

Sources

• Langton, Marcia (2012). "The Diaspora and the Return: History and Memorty in Cape York Peninsula, Australia". In Hendry, Joy; Fitznor, Laara (eds.). Anthropologists, Indigenous Scholars and the Research Endeavour: Seeking Bridges Towards Mutual Respect. Routledge. pp. 171–184. ISBN 978-1-136-33115-2.