Tankic languages
Encyclopedia
The Tangkic languages form a small language family
of Australian Aboriginal languages
spoken in northern Australia.
The Tangkic languages are Lardil
(Leerdil) and its special register
Damin
, Kayardild
, and Yukulta
(also known as Ganggalida or Nyangga). Of these Lardil is quite divergent, while Yukulta and Kayardild are mutually intelligible.
The extinct and poorly attested Minkin language
may have been part of the Tangkic family.
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
of Australian Aboriginal languages
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...
spoken in northern Australia.
The Tangkic languages are Lardil
Lardil language
Lardil is a moribund language spoken on Mornington Island , in the Wellesley Islands of Queensland in northern Australia. Lardil is unusual among Australian languages in that it features a ceremonial register, called Damin...
(Leerdil) and its special register
Register (linguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
Damin
Damin
Damin was a ceremonial language register used by the advanced initiated men of the Lardil and the Yangkaal tribes in Aboriginal Australia. Both inhabit islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Lardil on Mornington Island, the largest island of the Wesley Group, and the Yangkaal and Forsyth Islands...
, Kayardild
Kayardild language
-Further reading:* Evans, Nicholas. 1988. Odd topic marking in Kayardild. In Peter Austin, ed., Complex sentence constructions in Australian Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 219–266....
, and Yukulta
Yukulta language
Yukulta , also known as Ganggalida , is an extinct Tangkic language spoken in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia.- Classification :...
(also known as Ganggalida or Nyangga). Of these Lardil is quite divergent, while Yukulta and Kayardild are mutually intelligible.
The extinct and poorly attested Minkin language
Minkin language
The Minkin language is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language, perhaps a language isolate, of northern Australia. It was spoken in the area around Burketown, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in an area that contains the headwaters of the Leichhardt River.The classification of...
may have been part of the Tangkic family.