Kuuk Thaayorre

Kuuk Thaayorre is a Pama-Nyungan language of the Paman branch, in its Southwestern Paman, Upper division, spoken by the Thaayorre people of Pormpuraaw on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, with 174 speakers recorded in the 2021 census out of an ethnic population that was about 350 in 2006. It remains in a comparatively robust position among Australian Aboriginal languages because children are still acquiring it and using it daily, though UNESCO still classifies it as definitely endangered. It is well known among linguists for using sixteen compass-based direction terms instead of relative terms like left or ahead, a feature linked to speakers' strong navigational skill and their habit of arranging time as running from east to west.