The Yiman language (also spelt Yeeman, Yimun, Jimun, Yiiman, Jiman, Iman, and Emon) 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 ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Ethnically the speakers were Bidjara; that and geography suggests that it may have been 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 languages ...

, assuming it was a distinct language at all. It is attested in a word list collected by Meston and held in the

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

, but as of 2014 the data had not been verified by 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, ...

Language revival

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

Taribelang The Taribelang, also known as Taribelang Bunda, are an Aboriginal Australian people associated with the Bundaberg Region of central Queensland. Country The Taribelang are associated with an area of approximately 1,800 square miles (4,700 km²) ...

. There is a

language revival Language revitalization, also referred to as language revival or reversing language shift, is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one. Those involved can include linguists, cultural or community group ...

project under way to document and revive the language. "Yeeman" is listed as 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 Government department, department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs. In December 2019, prime mi ...

. 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".

References

Bidjara (Warrego River) Maric languages Extinct languages of Queensland {{ia-lang-stub