Pakanha (Bakanha), or Ayabakan, is a nearly extinct Paman language spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia. In 1981, there were 10 speakers of the language, originally spoken by the aboriginal Pakanha people in the central part of the Cape York Peninsula.[1]
Pakanha | |
---|---|
Ayabakan | |
Native to | Australia |
Region | Cape York Peninsula, Queensland |
Ethnicity | Ayabakan |
Extinct | uncertain, 10 reported 1981[1] not reported since[2] |
Language family | |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | pkn |
Glottolog | paka1251 |
AIATSIS[2] | Y64 Pakanh, Y181 Western Ayapathu |
ELP | Pakanh |
![]() Pakanha is an extinct language according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Coordinates: 14°30′S 142°25′E | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Pakanha has 5 vowel qualities:[3]
Short | Long | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Back | |
Close | i /i/ | u /u ~ ʊ/ | ii /iː/ | uu /uː/ | ||
Mid | e /e ~ e̞/ | o /o ~ ɔ/ | ee /ɛː/ | oo /oː/ | ||
Open | a /a ~ ə/ | aa /aː/ |
Pakanha has 15 consonants:[3]
Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | ||
Plosive | p /p/ | k /k/ | ch /c/ | th /t̪/ | t /t/ | ' /ʔ/ | |
Nasal | m /m/ | ng /ŋ/ | ny /ɲ/ | nh /n̪/ | n /n/ | ||
Trill | rr /r/ | ||||||
Approximant | w /w/ | y /j/ | l /l/ | r /ɻ / |
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2011) |
The following is a sample of words from a comparative wordlist/topical index produced by Philip Hamilton.[4] The Pakanha words are accompanied by corresponding words from the distantly related Uw Olkola and Uw Oykangand languages:
(P) = Pakanha, (Olk) = Uw Olkola, (Oyk) = Uw Oykangand.
The Body:
The Pakanha word for the eastern grey kangaroo, kucha, was used as the name of a tribe on the second season of the American reality television series, Survivor in 2001.[5]