The Gunaikurnai or Gunai/Kurnai ( ) language, also spelt Gunnai, Kurnai, Ganai, Gaanay, or Kurnay ) is an Australian Aboriginal dialect cluster of the Gunaikurnai people in Gippsland in south-east Victoria. Bidawal was either a divergent dialect or a closely related language.
means 'man'. The language had no traditional name, but each of its dialects was referred to separately.
In a 1996 report to the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, Clark refers to five Gunaikurnai dialects: Brabralung, Braiakalung, Brataualung, Krauatungalung and Tatungalung.
Gunaikurnai dialects have been confused with Muk-thang/Bidawal; there appear to be two distinct languages here, but it is not clear which variety belongs to which, as they both share the name .
Since the early 1990s, the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL) organisation, established the Yirruk-Tinnor Gunnai/KÃ Ârnai language program which focused on reviving and reclaiming the Gunnai language of Gippsland. Doris Paton, Coordinator of the Program and Lynnette Solomon-Dent, Language worker and consultant are involved in the program. They have been responsible for developing a number of resource materials to support and educate further knowledge of the Gunnai language and Culture. Lynnette Solomon-Dent co-wrote with Christina Eira the VACL Linguist, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) Aboriginal Languages, cultures and reclamation in Victorian schools: standards P-10 and protocols and were involved in the VCE Revival and Reclamation Study. These teaching documents and resources are collectively used to educate school aged children P-10, VCE, higher learning institutions and the Aboriginal community members, to further their knowledge and allow community members to continue to educate future generations.
Gunaikurnai was featured in a stage performance for the first known time in 2021, when Veronica Gorrie's play Nullung ("paternal grandmother") was presented as a play reading by the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Like other Victorian languages, Gunaikurnai allowed initial in its words. However, it also allowed initial , and well as the clusters () and (). This is quite unusual for an Australian language, and the same pattern was found in the Tasmanian languages across Bass Strait.
Hercus (1969), states that plosives are conditionally voiced. Fesl also excludes in her thesis but notes that its absence may be due to a lack of data.
and are said to occur less than , , and .
A number of placenames in Gunaikurnai country feature the ending , meaning "place".