Ayabadhu (''Ayapathu''), or Badhu, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

of the Paman family spoken on the

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

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by the Ayapathu people. The Ayabadhu language region includes the

Cook Shire The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an area ...

and the areas around Coen and Port Stewart. Verstraete and Rigsby (2015) determined that Ayabadhu and Yintyingka, spoken by the Yintyingka and Lamalama and previously known as coastal Ayapathu, are closely related and dialects of the same language. They also found these dialects to be "structurally different" to Western Ayapathu. The name ''Yintjinggu''/''Jintjingga'' has been used for both Ayabadhu and the neighboring Umbindhamu language.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

* Consonants may show gemination ːwhen in intervocalic position after a stressed initial-syllable with a short vowel. * Voicing among stops may be heard as , ɡ, d̪, ɟ, dwhen following nasal sounds, or within the onset of a third syllable in trisyllablic words. * /t/ may also have a trilled allophone ʳwithin the onset of a second syllable. * /w/ may also be heard as a fricative or an approximant within intervocalic positions.

Vocabulary

Some words from the Ayabadhu language, as spelt and written by Ayabadhu authors include: * '''Agu'': land * '''Eka'': head * ''Kaleny'': uncle * ''Kangka'': leaf * ''Ko'on'': magpie goose * ''Kuche'': two * ''Mayi'': food * ''Punga'': sun * ''Wanthi punga'': good day

References

Wik languages Extinct languages of Queensland {{ia-lang-stub