Kuyani is a member of the Thura-Yura L63 sub-group of Pama-Nyungan. Other members include Kaurna L3; Ngadjuri L5; Nukunu L4; Narangga L1; Barngala L6; Adnyamathana L10; Nauo L2 and Wirangu C1, which exhibits some differences with the Thura-Yura languages. One particular cultural-linguistic feature uniquely Thura-Yura is the use of ten birth-order names. Another are the regular pronoun forms unique to the sub-group (Simpson & Hercus 2004:179).
Simpson, J & L Hercus. 2004. Thura-Yura as a subgroup, in (Bowern & Koch eds) Australian Languages : classification and the comparative method. Amsterdam/Philadelphia : John Benjamins.
From Parachilna north to Marree on west side of Flinders Ranges; northeast to Murnpeowie; around north end of Lake Torrens; west to Turret Range and Andamooka, excluding Lake Torrens (Tindale 1974). The area immediately to the south of Coward Springs is Kuyani (Hercus in Sutton 1995:149).
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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).
