Kaytetye language

Kaytetye
Native toAustralia
Regioncentral Northern Territory
EthnicityKaytetye people
Native speakers
109 (2021 census)[1]
Akitiri Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3gbb
Glottologkayt1238
AIATSIS[2]C13
ELPKaytetye
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Kaytetye (also spelt Kaititj, Gaididj, Kaiditj, Kaytej) is an Australian Aboriginal language primarily spoken in the Northern Territory north of Alice Springs[3] by the Kaytetye people, who live around Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek. It belongs to the Arandic subgroup of the Pama-Nyungan languages and is related to Alyawarra, which is one of the Upper Arrernte dialects. It has an unusual phonology and there are no known dialects.[3]

The language is considered to be threatened; it is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users,[4] with only 109 speakers of the language in the 2021 census.[1]

The Kaytetye have (or had) a well-developed sign language known as Akitiri or Eltye eltyarrenke.[5]

Map showing languages
  1. ^ a b "SBS Australian Census Explorer". Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  2. ^ C13 Kaytetye at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. ^ a b "Kaytetye". Ethnologue. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Kaytetye in the Language Cloud".
  5. ^ Kendon, A. (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 60

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