Aborigines, Indigenous Australians

The Indigenous languages mainland Australia and Tasmania have not been shown to be related to any languages outside Australia. There were more than 250 languages spoken by Indigenous Australians prior to the arrival Europeans. Most these are now either extinct or moribund, with only about fifteen languages still being spoken by all age groups.
Linguists classify mainland Australian languages into two distinct groups: the Pama-Nyungan languages and the non-Pama-Nyungan. The Pama-Nyungan languages comprise the majority, covering most Australia, and are a family related languages. In the north, stretching from the Western Kimberley to the Gulf Carpentaria, are found a number groups languages which have not been shown to be related to the Pama-Nyungan family or to each other; these are known as the non-Pama-Nyungan languages.
While it has sometimes proven difficult to work out familial relationships within the Pama-Nyungan language family, many Australian linguists feel there has been substantial success. Against this some linguists, such as R. M. W. Dixon, suggest that the Pama-Nyungan group – and indeed the entire Australian linguistic area – is rather a sprachbund, or group languages having very long and intimate contact, rather than a genetic linguistic phylum.
It has been suggested that, given their long presence in Australia, Aboriginal languages form one specific sub-grouping. The position Tasmanian languages is unknown, and it is also unknown whether they comprised one or more than one specific language family.