Umpithamu, also spelt Umbindhamu, is an

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

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

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. In July 2020, ''A Dictionary of Umpithamu'' was published, compiled by

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium ...

linguist Jean-Christophe Verstraete, with main language consultants Florrie Bassani and her niece Joan Liddy.

Classification

Though generally accepted as a branch of the

Paman languages The Paman languages are an Australian language family spoken on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. First noted by Kenneth Hale, Paman is noteworthy for the profound phonological changes which have affected some of its descendants. Classific ...

, Dixon believes it to be an

isolate Isolate may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Isolate'' (film), a 2013 Australian film * ''Isolate'' (Circus Maximus album), 2007 * ''Isolate'' (Gary Numan album), 1992 Language * Isolating language, with near-unity morpheme/word ...

. According to Rigsby (1997), Umpithamu shares some grammatical features with the other languages spoken by the Lamalama people, but it shares more lexicon with

Ayapathu The Ayapathu people, otherwise known as the ''Ayabadhu'' or ''Aiyaboto'', were an Indigenous Australian group, living on the western side of the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. Language Ayapathu appears to have been closely related t ...

and

Umpila The Umpila people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. The majority of the remnant of the Umpila now live in Lockhart. Language Umpila is classified as one of the North Cape York Paman ...

. In 2008, Verstraete wrote that there were four languages associated with the Lamalama people: Umpithamu, Morrobolam, Mba Rumbathama (Mbarrumbathama, Lamalama) and Rimanggudinhma language (Mbariman-Gudhinma). In 2020, he spoke of five languages associated with the Lamalama people, but the name of the fifth is not recorded in the article. He is quoted by

Austlang The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

from his 2018 work, ''The Genetic Status of Lamalamic'', that Lamalama, Rimanggudinhma and Morrobolam form a genetic subgroup of Paman known as Lamalamic, "defined by shared innovations in phonology and morphology". "Yintjinggu/Jintjingga" is a place name used for both Umpithamu and the neighbouring

Ayabadhu language Ayabadhu (''Ayapathu''), or Badhu, is an Language extinction, extinct Australian Aboriginal languages, Australian Aboriginal language of the Paman languages, Paman family spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of North Queensland, Australia by the A ...

References

{{Pama–Nyungan languages, Paman Paman languages Extinct languages of Queensland