The Jarrakan (formerly Djeragan) languages are a small

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Australian Aboriginal languages 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 ...

spoken in northern Australia. The name is derived from the word , which means "language" in Kija. The three main Jarrakan languages are: * Kija (about 160 speakers) *Miriwoongic **

Miriwoong The Miriwoong people, also written Miriwung and Miriuwung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. Language Miriwoong language (AIATSIS "Miriwoong / Miriuwung") is one of the three surviving ...

(about 150 speakers) **

Gajirrawoong The Gajirrawoong people, also written Gadjerong, Gajerrong and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, most of whom now live in north-eastern Western Australia. Language Geoffrey O'Grady classified their ...

(three or four speakers) These are divided into two groups: Kijic, consisting of only Kija, and Miriwoongic, consisting of Miriwoong and Gajirrawoong; Dixon (2002) considers the latter to be a single language. Doolboong may also have been a Jarrakan language, but this uncertain as it is

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

and essentially unattested.

Vocabulary

Capell (1940) lists the following basic vocabulary items:Capell, Arthur. 1940
The Classification of Languages in North and North-West Australia
''Oceania'' 10(3): 241-272, 404-433. :

References

* {{language families Language families Non-Pama-Nyungan languages Indigenous Australian languages in Western Australia