Aborigines, Indigenous Australians

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.