Lardil · deity · Lardil traditional religion; continuing · deity
Kaltharr is the Yellow Trevally (a marine jack fish) ancestor of Lardil tradition. Lardil accounts credit Kaltharr with the creation of Damin (Demiin), a distinctive ceremonial auxiliary language partly modelled on 'fish talk', which was formerly imparted to men at the second, or warama, degree of initiation. Damin became famous among linguists for its unique sound system, and while Lardil tradition attributes it to Kaltharr in the Dreaming, some scholars have argued it was consciously devised by Lardil elders.
Domains
ceremonial language
initiation ritual
Powers
to create the Damin ceremonial language
Sources
Hale, Kenneth L. & Nash, David. 'Damin and Lardil Phonotactics.' In Tryon, D. & Walsh, M. (eds.), Boundary Rider: Essays in Honour of Geoffrey O'Grady. Pacific Linguistics C-136, 1997, pp. 247-259.
Fleming, Luke. 'Artificial Language, Natural History: Speech, Sign, and Sound in the Emergence of Damin.' Language & Communication 56 (2017): 1-18.