Which Australian Aboriginal languages have some of the largest reported numbers of speakers?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

While many Australian Aboriginal languages have become extinct or are spoken by only a small number of people, a few remain more widely used. Among those with the largest reported numbers of speakers are:

  • Mabuiag: Spoken in the western Torres Strait Islands, this language has approximately 8,000 speakers.1
  • Western Desert language: This language, associated with the Great Sandy Desert region, has about 4,000 speakers.1

It is important to note that estimating speaker numbers for Australian Aboriginal languages is challenging due to the difficulty of distinguishing between distinct languages and dialects, as well as the fact that many varieties were lost before they could be systematically recorded. Currently, it is estimated that approximately 50,000 Aboriginal people possess some knowledge of an Australian language.231