Ngawun 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 ...

Mayi language once 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, ...

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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, by the Wunumara and Ngawun peoples. The last speaker of the language was Cherry O'Keefe (or ''Tjapun'' in the language) who died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on 24 August 1977. The

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the name ''Ngawun'' is unknown. ''Wanamarra'' (also known as ''Maykulan'' and ''Wunumura)'' was spoken in

North West Queensland The Gulf Country or North West Queensland is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also ca ...

. The language region includes areas within the

Shire of McKinlay The Shire of McKinlay is a local government area in outback north-western Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1891. The shire economy is based on beef production and mining. BHP opera ...

Shire of Cloncurry The Shire of Cloncurry is a Local government in Australia, local government area in North West Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1884. The major town and administrative centre of the ...

and

Shire of Richmond The Shire of Richmond is a local government area in north western Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1916. It is part of the Gulf Country. In the , the Shire of Richmond had a popul ...

, including the

Flinders River The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia, at approximately . It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders. The catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The Flinders rises on the western slopes o ...

area, and the towns of

Kynuna Kynuna is an outback town in the Shire of McKinlay and a locality split between the Shire of McKinlay and the Shire of Winton in Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Kynuna had a population of 52 people. Geography Kynuna is on the b ...

and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Phonology

Consonants

*/t̪/ can be heard as fricatives �in intervocalic positions, and as �when in between a nasal and a vowel. */ɾ/ can be heard as a trill when in word-final position. */ɭ/ can be heard as an alveolo-palatal ̠ʲwhen before /t̠ʲ/.

Vowels

* /i/ can be heard as �when before /j/ or any other alveolo-palatal laminal sounds. * /u/ can also be heard as � and as when in word-final positions.

References

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