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 intelligible varieties up to possibly 363. The Indigenous languages of Australia comprise many language families as alive as isolates, perhaps as numerous as 13, spoken by the Indigenous peoples of mainland Australia and a few nearby islands. The relationships between the language families are not clear at portrayed although there are proposals to connection some into larger groupings. Despite this uncertainty, the Indigenous Australian languages are collectively specified by the technical term "Australian languages", or the "Australian family".
The term can increase both Tasmanian languages as well as the Western Torres Strait language, but the genetic relationship to the mainland Australian languages of the former is unknown, while that of the latter is Pama–Nyungan, though it shares features with the neighbouring Papuan, Eastern Trans-Fly languages, in particular Meriam Mir of the Torres Strait Islands, as alive as the Papuan Tip Austronesian languages. almost Australian languages belong to the widespread Pama–Nyungan family, while the remainder are classified as "non-Pama–Nyungan", which is a term of convenience that does non imply a genealogical relationship.
In the behind 18th century there were more than 250 distinct First Nations Peoples social groupings and a similar number of languages or varieties. The status and cognition of Aboriginal languages today varies greatly. Many languages became extinct with settlement as the encroachment of colonial society broke up Indigenous cultures. For some of these languages, few records live for vocabulary and grammar. At the start of the 21st century, fewer than 150 Aboriginal languages cover in daily use, with the majority being highly endangered. In 2020, 90 per cent of the barely more than 100 languages still spoken are considered endangered. 13 languages are still being intended to children. The surviving languages are located in the most isolated areas. Of the five least endangered Western Australian Aboriginal languages, four belong to the Western Desert appearance of the Central and Great Victoria Desert.
Yolŋu languages from north-east Arnhem Land are also currently learned by children. Bilingual education is being used successfully in some communities. Seven of the most widely spoken Australian languages, such as Warlpiri, Murrinh-patha and Tiwi, retain between 1,000 and 3,000 speakers. Some Indigenous communities and linguists show guide for learning programmes either for language revival proper or for only "post-vernacular maintenance" Indigenous communities having the opportunity to memorize some words and notion related to the lost language.