Bayali (also spelt Biyali, Baiali, Byelle, Byellee, and also known as Orambul or Urambal) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Queensland in Australia, formerly spoken in the Rockhampton and Gladstone areas. It is considered extinct, but a project is under way to revive the language.
Classification Bayali belongs to the Pama–Nyungan language family. It has been classified together with Darumbal as a Kingkel language, but the two are not close, and Bowern (2011)Bowern, Claire. 2011. "How Many Languages Were Spoken in Australia?", Anggarrgoon: Australian languages on the web, 23 December 2011 (corrected 6 February 2012) reclassified Darumbal as a Maric language.
Language revival Since 2017, the Central Queensland Language Centre has been working on helping to restore three languages from the region – Yiiman, Byelle and Taribelang (also known as Gureng Gureng). , Bayali (spelt Bayelle) is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".
Vocabulary Some words from the Bayali language, as spelt and written by Bayali authors include:
: fire Gula: koala Guruman: kangaroo Kobbera: head
References
External links Bibliography of Bayali language and people resources , at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies