Pakanha language

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.

Pakanha
Ayabakan
Native to	Australia
Region	Cape York Peninsula, Queensland
Ethnicity	Ayabakan
Extinct	1990s No known L1 speakers
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Paman North Cape York Wik Pakanha
Dialects	Western Ayapathu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pkn
Glottolog	paka1251
AIATSIS	Y64 Pakanh, Y181 Western Ayapathu
ELP	Pakanh
Coordinates: 14°30′S 142°25′E

Phonology

Vowels

Pakanha has 5 vowel qualities:

	Short			Long
	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩		u ~ ʊ ⟨u⟩	iː ⟨ii⟩		uː ⟨uu⟩
Mid	e ~ e̞ ⟨e⟩		o ~ ɔ ⟨o⟩	ɛː ⟨ee⟩		oː ⟨oo⟩
Open		a ~ ə ⟨a⟩			aː ⟨aa⟩

Consonants

Pakanha has 15 consonants:

	Peripheral		Laminal		Apical		Glottal
	Bilabial	Velar	Palatal	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex
Plosive	p ⟨p⟩	k ⟨k⟩	c ⟨ch⟩	t̪ ⟨th⟩	t ⟨t⟩		ʔ ⟨'⟩
Nasal	m ⟨m⟩	ŋ ⟨ng⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩	n̪ ⟨nh⟩	n ⟨n⟩
Trill					r ⟨rr⟩
Approximant	w ⟨w⟩		j ⟨y⟩		l ⟨l⟩	ɻ ⟨r⟩

Vocabulary/Topical Index

The following is a sample of words from a comparative wordlist/topical index produced by Philip Hamilton. 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:

• Body
  • nhangka (P)
  • idnhan (Olk, Oyk)
  • elpan (Olk)
• Head
  • wele (P)
  • eka (Olk)
  • e.g. (Oyk)
• Fontanel
  • wele ngangka (P)
  • ek ulpar (Olk)
  • e.g. ulbar (Oyk)
• Skull
  • yenkan (P)
  • ek obher (Olk)
  • e.g. opher (Oyk)

In popular culture

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.