The Djinang are an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

people of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Name

The tribal

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

comes from an old form of the proximate

deictic In linguistics, deixis () is the use of words or phrases to refer to a particular time (e.g. ''then''), place (e.g. ''here''), or person (e.g. ''you'') relative to the context of the utterance. Deixis exists in all known natural languagesLyons, J ...

('this'), namely

Country

The Djinang territories are often described in a way that overlaps with those of the

Yan-nhaŋu The Yan-nhaŋu, also known as the Nango, are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an s ...

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

, for example, allocates to them the stretching over the

Crocodile Islands The Crocodile Islands are a group of islands belonging to the Yan-nhaŋu people of the Northern Territory of Australia. They are located off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Arafura Sea. As of 2023 the Crocodile Islands are protected as part of ...

and

Milingimbi Milingimbi Island, also Yurruwi, is the largest island of the Crocodile Islands group off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Location Milingimbi lies approximately east of Darwin and west of Nhulunbuy. History Aborig ...

south to the mainland around the middle reaches of the Blyth River. On the continent they are said to extend east as far as the Glyde Inlet and river, as far as the northern margins of the

Arafura Swamp The Arafura Swamp is a large inland freshwater wetland in Arnhem Land, in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is a near pristine floodplain with an area of that may expand to by the end of the wet season, making it the largest ...

. The modern authority on them, Bruce Waters, states that they are concentrated on the mainland, with only a few members on the islands.

Language

Djinang is classified as one of the

Yolŋu languages Yolŋu Matha (), meaning the 'Yolŋu tongue', is a linguistic family that includes the languages of the Yolngu (also known as the Yolŋu and Yuulngu languages), the Indigenous Australians, indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land in northern ...

, but is not mutually intelligible with them. It is most closely related to Djinba, with which it is about 60% cognate. In 1989 it was estimated that some 200 Djinang-speakers were living at Ramangiŋing, with small numbers also on

and at

Maningrida Maningrida ( Ndjébanna: ''Manayingkarírra'', Kuninjku: ''Manawukan'') is an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is east of Darwin, and north east of Jabiru. It is on ...

Social organization

The Djinang are composed of seven

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

* ''Manyarring'' * ''Marrangu'' * ''Murrungun'' * ''Balmbi'' * ''Djadiwitjibi'' * ''Mildjingi'' * ''Wu(r)laki'' Terms like 'clan' do not convey adequately the nature of the groups in such bands. ''Marrangu-Djinang'' for example, haa been described as 'a local territory with focal sites and affiliated set of people and sacra. Each term — Marrangu and Djinang — when employed separately has potential to denote a range of additional cultural references.'

History of contact

With the coming of mission stations to the area a large number of Djinang lived at Milingimbi, or ast Maningrida, down at least to the end of the 1960s. Though only a minority were converted to Christianity, the Djinang and the Djinba retain a strong sense of respect for the influence of the missions, which reduced the fear of sorcery, and revenge killings, that were a major concern to both tribes in their homelands.

Some words

* (mummy) * (dog) * (plains kangaroo) * (no) * (daddy)

Alternative names

* ''Balmawi'' * ''Balmbi'' * ''Barlmawi'' * ''Djinnang, Djinhang'' * ''Jandjinang, Jandjinung'' * ''Manjarngi,'' (clan name) ''Manyarrngi'' * ''Milingimbi, Millingimbi'' * ''Munnarngo, Manarrngu'' * ''Wulläkki, Wulaki, Ullaki, Wulagi'' * ''Yandjinung, Yandjinning, Yandjinang'' Source:

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{Authority control Yolngu