Damin facts for kids

Damin (called Demiin by its speakers) was a special, secret language used by certain men of the Aboriginal Lardil and Yangkaal tribes. These tribes live on islands in northern Australia, specifically in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Lardil people are from Mornington Island, and the Yangkaal people are from the Forsyth Islands.

Both tribes speak languages from the same family, called Tangkic languages. The Lardil word Demiin means being silent.

History of Damin

How Damin Began

No one is completely sure how Damin started. The Lardil and Yangkaal people believe it was created by a special figure in their ancient stories, known as Dreamtime.

Some experts think that Lardil elders made it up. They noticed Damin has features found in "language games" around the world. For example, it changes sounds like 'm' and 'n' into unique "clicks."

Other experts believe the Yangkaal elders created Damin first. They then taught it to the Lardil people.

Damin's Special Use

The Lardil people had two important ceremonies for men: luruku and warama. Damin was taught during the warama ceremony. Women also played a big part in these ceremonies.

Damin was not a language that was kept completely secret from everyone. However, it was taught to men when they were separated from others. This way, only those who were meant to learn it did.

Learning Damin was a big deal. The special words were often shouted to the new students in one go. Another speaker would then say the regular Lardil word for each Damin word.

It usually took several sessions for a student to learn Damin well. Once they learned it, they were called Demiinkurlda, meaning "Damin possessors."

These men used Damin in special ceremonies. But they also used it in their daily lives. They might speak it while looking for food or just chatting with friends.

Why Damin Declined

Over many years, the old traditions of the Lardil and Yangkaal people slowly faded. Their original languages are now almost gone.

The last warama ceremony happened in the 1950s. Because of this, Damin is no longer used by either tribe today.

However, there's good news! Recently, people have started to bring back some of these cultural traditions. The luruku ceremony has even been celebrated again. People hope that the warama ceremonies might also start up again in the future.

Unique Damin Sounds

Vowel Sounds

Damin words used three pairs of vowel sounds that are also in the Lardil language. These are like the 'a', 'i', and 'u' sounds.

Consonant Sounds

Damin was very special because it was the only language outside of Africa that used "click" sounds. These are sounds made by quickly sucking air into the mouth.

Damin also used other unique sounds. These included sounds made with air pushed out from the throat or sucked in from the mouth. Some sounds were even like a "spurt" from the lips!

Here are some examples of Damin words and what they mean:

• n!aa means 'me'
• n!uu means 'not me'
• kaa means 'now'
• kaawi means 'not now'
• l*i(i) means 'bony fish'
• thii means 'shark or ray'
• ngaajpu means 'human'
• wuujpu means 'animal'
• wiijpu means 'wood' (including trees)
• kuujpu means 'stone'
• m!ii means 'vegetable food'
• wii means 'meat or food'
• n!2u means 'liquid'
• thuu means 'sea mammal'
• thuuwu means 'land mammal'

How Damin Words Work

Damin had a smaller vocabulary than everyday language. It had only about 150 main words. This meant that each Damin word could stand for several words in Lardil or Yangkaal.

For example, Damin had only two words for pronouns ('me' and 'not me'). Lardil, on the other hand, had nineteen!

Damin also had a special prefix, kuri-, that could make a word mean its opposite.

• j2iwu means 'small', but kurrij2iwu means 'large'.
• thuuku means 'one', but kurrithuuku means 'many'.
• kurrijpi means 'short', but kurrikurrijpi means 'long'.

When people spoke Damin, they would replace the main words of regular Lardil with Damin words. But the grammar of the sentence stayed mostly the same.

Here is an example of a sentence in regular Lardil and then in Damin:

Sometimes, to talk about something very specific, Damin speakers had to describe it using a phrase. For example, a sandpiper bird was called a 'person-burning creature'. This was because of its role in a famous story called the Rainbow Serpent Story. A wooden axe was called 'wood that (negatively) affects honey'.

See also

In Spanish: Damin para niños