The data for this language are scarce; there is a word list in Curr for Byellee (E42) (1887: 114-115). Terrill indicates that there is no connection to the neighbouring Biri languages (1998:87). Bowern says that based on the Curr wordlist, Bayali is a sister to Gooreng-Gooreng, in the Waka-Kabi group (pers. comm. July 2021).
... south-east of Gangulu, east to the sea and on Curtis Island. ... one Curr word list for this language, no.160 [Byellee tribe] Keppel Bay, Calliope River and Curtis Island (anon 1886b) (Terrill 1998:87). [Baiali] At mouth of Fitzroy River; on Curtis Island; at Keppel Bay; south to Calliope River and Gladstone; inland to Mount Morgan (Tindale, 1974:164).
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Central Queensland Language Centre
Speaker numbers were measured differently across the censuses and various other sources listed in AUSTLANG. You are encouraged to refer to the sources.
Speaker numbers for ‘NILS 2004’ and ‘2005 estimate’ come from 'Table F.3: Numbers of speakers of Australian Indigenous languages (various surveys)' in 'Appendix F NILS endangerment and absolute number results' in McConvell, Marmion and McNicol 2005, pages 198-230 (PDF, 2.5MB).
