Garawan languages

The Garawan languages (Garrwan), or Yanyi, are a small language family of Australian Aboriginal languages currently spoken in northern Australia.

The languages are:

• Garawan
• Garawa (Garrwa, north)
• Waanyi (Wanji, south)
• Gunindiri (Kurnindirri, southwest)

Gunindiri is almost entirely unknown.

Garawan may be related to the Pama–Nyungan languages, though this is not accepted in Bowern 2011. The languages are close: Dixon (2002) says that it should be straightforward to reconstruct proto-Garawa–Wanji.

Vocabulary

Capell (1940) lists the following basic vocabulary items:

References