Darkinjung language

Darkinjung
Hawkesbury–MacDonald River
Native toAustralia
RegionNew South Wales
EthnicityDarkinjung, Darkinung
Eraattested 1903
RevivalA small number of second-language users in revival program
Dialects
  • Darrkinyung
  • Hawkesbury River–Broken Bay?
Language codes
ISO 639-3xda
Glottologhawk1239
AIATSIS[1]S65
ELPDarkinyung

Darkinjung (Darrkinyung; many other spellings; see below) is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Darkinjung people. While no audio recordings of the language survive, several researchers have compiled wordlists and grammatical descriptions. It has been classified as a language no longer fully spoken[2] and it can be classified as needing a language renewal[3] program. It was spoken adjacent to Dharuk, Wiradhuri, Gamilaraay, and Awabakal. The Darkinjung tribe occupied a small part of southeastern Australia inside what is now the New South Wales area. They likely inhabited a considerable tract of land within Hunter, Northumberland, and Cook counties.[4]

  1. ^ S65 Darkinjung at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  2. ^ National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005
  3. ^ Australian Indigenous Languages Framework (Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia, 1996)
  4. ^ Mathews, R. H. (1 January 1903). "Languages of the Kamilaroi and Other Aboriginal Tribes of New South Wales". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 33: 259–283. doi:10.2307/2842812. JSTOR 2842812.