The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi language is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in south-eastern Australia. It is the traditional language of the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi), an Aboriginal Australian people. It has been noted as endangered, but the number of speakers grew from 87 in the 2011 Australian Census to 105 in the 2016 Australian Census. Thousands of Australians identify as Gamilaraay, and the language is taught in some schools.

Wirray Wirray, Guyinbaraay, Yuwaalayaay, Waalaraay and Gawambaraay are dialects; Yuwaalaraay/Euahlayi is a closely related language.

The name Gamilaraay means 'gamil-having', with gamil being the word for 'no'. Other dialects and languages are similarly named after their respective words for 'no'. (Compare the division between langues d'oïl and langues d'oc in France, distinguished by their respective words for 'yes'.)

Spellings of the name, pronounced [ɡ̊aˌmilaˈɻaːj] in the language itself, include Goomeroi; Kamilaroi; Gamilaraay and Gamilaroi.

While AUSTLANG cites Euahlayi, Ualarai, Euhahlayi, and Juwalarai as synonyms for Gamilaraay in earlier sources,^[3] it has updated its codes to reflect more recent sources suggest different distinctions. AIATSIS groups the Yuwaalaraay/Euahlayi/Yuwaaliyaay language and people in its resource collection,^[6][7] and gives it a separate code (D23).^[8] AUSTLANG assigns separate codes to the following dialects, all related and part of the Gamilaraay group:^[8]

• Yuwaalaraay (Yuwaaliyaay, Euahlayi) (D27), spoken by the Yuwaalaraay people;^{[Note 2]}
• Wirray Wirray (Wiriwiri) (D28);^{[9][Note 3]}
• Guyinbaraay (Gunjbaraay) (D15);^[11]
• Yuwaalayaay (D54);^{[12][Note 4]}
• Waalaraay (Walaraay) (D55);^[13]
• Gawambaraay (Kawambarai) (D39), spoken by the Gawambaraay people.^[14]

According to Robert Fuller of the Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University and his colleagues, the Gamilaraay and Euahlayi peoples are a cultural grouping of north and northwest New South Wales (NSW), and the Gamilaraay dialect groups are known as Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay, while the Euahlayi (Euayelai^[15]) have a similar but distinct language.^[16]

Southern Aboriginal guides led the surveyor John Howe to the upper Hunter River above present-day Singleton in 1819. They told him that the country there was "Coomery Roy [=Gamilaraay] and more further a great way", meaning to the north-west, over the Liverpool Ranges.^[17] This is probably the first record of the name.

A basic wordlist collected by Thomas Mitchell in February, 1832, is the earliest written record of Gamilaraay.

Presbyterian missionary William Ridley studied the language from 1852 to 1856.

In 2013 Gamilaraay was noted as endangered by Ethnologue, with only 35 speakers left in 2006 (AUSTLANG says 37 at that date), all mixing Gamilaraay and English.^[1] At the 2011 Census there were 87 speakers recorded and in 2016, 105.^[3] There are no known fluent speakers of the language.

Several loanwords have entered Australian English from Gamilaraay, including:

More information Common nouns, Anglicised form ...

Common nouns
Anglicised form	Gamilaraay	Meaning
bindi-eye, bindii, bindies	bindayaa	The burrs of several plant species (Emex australis, Tribulus terrestris, and Soliva sessilis) that stick in one's feet
brolga	burralga	A bird species, Grus rubicunda
possibly budgerigar	gidjirrigaa	A bird species, Melopsittacus undulatus
galah	gilaa	A bird species, Eolophus roseicapilla
yarran	yarraan	A species of acacia tree, Acacia homalophylla[19]
Proper nouns
Anglicised form	Gamilaraay	Meaning
Kamilaroi	gamilaraay	The Gamilaraay people or language
Place names
Anglicised form	Gamilaraay	Meaning
Boggabri	bagaaybaraay	having creeks
Boggabilla	bagaaybila	full of creeks
Collarenebri	galariinbaraay	having acacia blossoms
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

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