The Tangkic languages form a small

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hist ...

Australian Aboriginal languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken in northern Australia. The Tangkic languages are Lardil (Leerdil) and its special

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

Damin Damin ( in the practical orthography of Lardil) was a ceremonial language register used by the advanced initiated men of the aboriginal Lardil ( in the practical orthography) and Yangkaal peoples of northern Australia. Both inhabit island ...

, Kayardild, and

Yukulta The Yukulta people, also spelt Jokula, Jukula, and other variants, and also known as Ganggalidda or Gangalidda, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland. They may be the same as the Yanga group. Country Norman Tindale ( ...

(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 Mingginda or Minkin is an extinct language, extinct Australian Aboriginal languages, Australian Aboriginal language, perhaps a language isolate, of northern Australia. It was spoken by the Mingin people in the area around Burketown, Queensland, ...

may have been part of the Tangkic family.

Vocabulary

Capell Capell or Capel is a surname. Notable people with the name include: Capell * Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (1608–1649), English politician * Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex (1631–1683), English statesman * Arthur Capell (1902–1 ...

(1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:Capell, Arthur. 1941-1942, 1942-1943
Languages of Arnhem Land, North Australia
''Oceania'' 12: 364-392, 13: 24-51. :

References

{{language families Language families Non-Pama-Nyungan languages Indigenous Australian languages in Queensland Indigenous Australian languages in the Northern Territory