Darkinjung language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Darkinjung
Hawkesbury–MacDonald River
Native to	Australia
Region	New South Wales
Ethnicity	Darkinjung, Darkinung
Era	attested 1903
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Yuin–Kuric Yora Darkinjung
Dialects	Darrkinyung Hawkesbury River–Broken Bay?
AIATSIS	S65
Traditional lands of Aboriginal Australian tribes around Sydney; Darkinjung in   brown

Darkinjung (also called Darrkinyung) is an Aboriginal language from Australia. It was the traditional language of the Darkinjung people. These people lived in a part of southeastern Australia, in what is now the New South Wales area.

Sadly, no recordings of the Darkinjung language exist today. However, researchers have collected lists of words and descriptions of its grammar. This helps us learn about the language. Darkinjung is now considered a language that is no longer fully spoken. Because of this, there are efforts to bring it back to life through a special program.

The Darkinjung language was spoken next to other Aboriginal languages like Dharuk, Wiradhuri, Gamilaraay, and Awabakal.

Different Names for Darkinjung

The Darkinjung language has many different spellings. This is because early researchers, like Mathews and W.J. Enright, wrote down the sounds they heard in different ways. These spellings were recorded in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Here are some of the ways the name has been spelled:

• Darkinjang
• Darkinjung
• Darkiñung
• Darrkinyung
• Darginjang
• Darginyung
• Darkinung
• Darkinoong
• Darknüng
• Darkinyung

Bringing the Language Back to Life

Since 2003, the Darkinyung language group has been working hard to revitalise their language. This means they are trying to bring it back into use. They started by studying old reports from Robert H. Mathews and W. J. Enright. These reports contained some words and grammar rules.

When there were missing words, they looked at similar languages nearby. This helped them fill in the gaps. All this hard work led to a book called Darkinyung grammar and dictionary: revitalising a language from historical sources. This book is a big step in helping new generations learn Darkinjung. You can get this book from the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative.

Sounds of Darkinjung

Most of what we know about the sounds in Darkinjung comes from papers written by R.H. Mathews in 1903. From these old writings, we can guess that the language had about 15 different consonant sounds and around 3 vowel sounds.

Consonant Sounds

In Darkinjung, some sounds like 'b', 'd', and 'g' could be swapped with 'p', 't', and 'k' without changing the meaning of a word. This is common in many Aboriginal languages.

Vowel Sounds

Darkinjung likely had three main vowel sounds, similar to the 'i' in "sit", the 'oo' in "book", and the 'a' in "about".

How Words Are Built

Darkinjung uses special endings, called "tags" or suffixes, added to words. These tags help show how words are related in a sentence.

Word Endings (Tags)

• Number Tags:

* The tag -bula means "two". * The tag -biyn means "several".

• Possessor Tag:

* The tag -gayi shows that something belongs to someone.

• Location Tags:

* Tags like -a, -da, -dja, -ga, and -wa mean "at", "on", or "in". * The tags -ga and -wa are usually used after words that end with a vowel sound.

Words that describe a location often have one of these tags:

• Doer Tags (Ergative Case):

* Tags like -a, -da, -ga, and -ya show who is doing the action in a sentence. * Words ending in the 'ŋ' sound (like the 'ng' in "sing") usually get the -ga tag.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma darkinjung para niños