Pakanha language
language
Pakanha (Bakanha), or Ayabakan, is a nearly extinct Paman language spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia. In 1981, there were 10 speakers of the language, originally spoken by the aboriginal Pakanha people in the central part of the Cape York Peninsula.
Phonology
Vowels
Pakanha has 5 vowel qualities:
Consonants
Pakanha has 15 consonants:
Vocabulary/Topical Index
The following is a sample of words from a comparative wordlist/topical index produced by Philip Hamilton. The Pakanha words are accompanied by corresponding words from the distantly related Uw Olkola and Uw Oykangand languages:
(P) = Pakanha, (Olk) = Uw Olkola, (Oyk) = Uw Oykangand.
The Body:
Body
nhangka (P)
idnhan (Olk, Oyk)
elpan (Olk)
Head
wele (P)
eka (Olk)
e.g. (Oyk)
Fontanel
wele ngangka (P)
ek ulpar (Olk)
e.g. ulbar (Oyk)
Skull
yenkan (P)
ek obher (Olk)
e.g. opher (Oyk)
In popular culture
The Pakanha word for the eastern grey kangaroo, kucha, was used as the name of a tribe on the second season of the American reality television series, Survivor in 2001.
The public source identifies “Pakanha language” as language. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pakanha and language.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q954916. The first chronological checks are 1981 and 2001.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pakanha language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.