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How did new linguistic evidence change ideas about non-Pama-Nyungan languages?

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Distinctive features of Australia's Indigenous languages — Australian Aboriginal languages A discussion of the languages of Indigenous Australians.

Early classifications of Australian Aboriginal languages, published between 1950 and 1975, identified the Pama-Nyungan group as a distinct genetic subfamily while categorizing the remaining northern languages into 25 to 30 separate subfamilies, each thought to descend independently from Proto-Australian.1

However, as new linguistic data became available, this perspective shifted significantly. Scholars now observe that many—and potentially all—of these northern subfamilies share closer relationships with one another than they do with the Pama-Nyungan group. Consequently, researchers are increasingly entertaining the hypothesis that the non-Pama-Nyungan cluster constitutes a genuine genetic entity.1

This re-evaluation has been supported by the analysis of personal pronouns, which appear to differentiate the two divisions and have been instrumental in revising the eastern boundary of the non-Pama-Nyungan group. Additionally, the identification of shared monosyllabic verb stems and characteristic affixes—such as consonantal augments and specific case suffixes—provides further evidence linking these groups to a common origin.1