| Nyawaygi | |
| States: | Australia |
| Region: | Queensland |
| Ethnicity: | Nyawaygi |
| Extinct: | 2009, with the death of Willie Seaton |
| Ref: | [1] |
| Familycolor: | Australian |
| Fam1: | Pama–Nyungan |
| Fam2: | Dyirbalic |
| Fam3: | Nyawaygic |
| Iso3: | nyt |
| Glotto: | nyaw1247 |
| Glottorefname: | Nyawaygi |
| Aiatsis: | Y129 |
| Nativename: | Nywaigi, Geugagi, Njawigi, Nyawigi, Nawagi |
The Nyawaygi language, also spelt Nywaigi, Geugagi, Njawigi, Nyawigi or Nawagi, is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language that was spoken by the Nyawaygi people in North Queensland, on the east coast of Australia. The Nyawaygi language region includes the landscape within the Hinchinbrook Regional Council, Halifax Bay, and Rollingstone.[2]
Nyawaygi has the smallest number of consonants, 12, of any Australian language. It has 7 conjugations, 3 open and 4 closed, the latter including monosyllabic roots, and, in this regard, conserved a feature of proto-Pama–Nyungan lost from contiguous languages.[3]
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Velar | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |
Some words from the Nyawaygi language, as spelt and written by Nyawaygi authors include: