| Yir-Yoront | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Australia | |||
| Region | Cape York Peninsula, Queensland | |||
| Ethnicity | Yir-Yoront | |||
| Native speakers | 15 (1991) | |||
| Language family | ||||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | yiy | |||
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Yir-Yoront is a Paman language spoken in two settlements, Kowanyama and Pormpuraaw on the southwestern part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia, by the Yir-Yoront people. As of 1991 only 15 speakers remain,[1] with the rest of the Yir-Yoront people speaking English or even Kuuk Thaayorre as many speakers of Yir-Yoront apparently are using Kuuk Thaayorre in daily conversation.[2] Together with Yirrk-Thangalkl it forms the group of Yir languages.
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Yir-Yoront is written hyphenated as a way of indicating that the syllable following the hyphen is stressed. In the standard orthography, it is correctly spelled Yirr-Yorront, with "rr" representing the consonant /r/. There is a valid alternative pronunciation with stress on the first syllable; this can be written YirrqYorront. Other spellings encountered include Yir Yoront and Jir Joront.
Other names for the language include:
Yir-Yoront has 6 vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Open | a |
Yir-Yoront has 20 consonants:
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p /p/ | th /t̪/ | t /t/ | rt /ʈ/ | k /k/ | q /ʔ/ | ||
| Nasal | m /m/ | nh /n̪/ | n /n/ | rn /ɳ/ | ny /ɲ/ | ng /ŋ/ | ||
| Affricate | ch /t͡ʃ/ | |||||||
| Trill | rr /r/ | |||||||
| Tap | r /ɾ/ | |||||||
| Approximant | lh /l̪/ | l /l/ | rl /ɭ/ | y /j/ | w /w/ |
The Yir Yoront had a developed sign form of their language.[3]