Bayali (also spelt Biyali, Baiali, Byelle, Byellee, and also known as Orambul or Urambal) is an extinct

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 ...

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_ ...

in Australia, spoken in the

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of ...

and

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...

areas, but a project is under way to revive the language.

Classification

Bayali belongs to the Pama–Nyungan language family. It has been classified together with Darumbal as a

Kingkel language Kingkel is a putative small branch of the Pama–Nyungan family in Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , s ...

, but the two are not close, and Bowern (2011)Bowern, Claire. 2011.
How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?
, ''Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web'', December 23, 2011
corrected
February 6, 2012) reclassified Darumbal as a

Maric language Maran or Maric is an extinct branch of the Pama–Nyungan family of Australian languages formerly spoken throughout much of Queensland by many of the Murri peoples. The well attested Maric languages are clearly related; however, many language ...

Language revival

Since 2017, the Central Queensland Language Centre has been working on helping to restore three languages from the region – Yiiman, Byelle and

Taribelang The Taribelang are an Aboriginal Australian people of central Queensland. Country The Taribelang lived on of territory around Bundaberg, and inland to near Walla, and north as far as Baffle Creek The Baffle Creek is a creek in Central Q ...

(also known as Gureng Gureng). , Bayali (spelt Bayelle) is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the

Department of Communications and the Arts The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs. In December 2019, prime minister Scott Morriso ...

. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers". Some words from the Bayali language, as spelt and written by Bayali authors include: * ''Girra'': fire * ''Gula'': koala * ''Guruman'': kangaroo * ''Kobbera'': head

References

External links

Bibliography of Bayali language and people resources
at the

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies 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, ...

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