A Phonetic English to Arawak Dictionary

The absolute MOST IMPORTANT FACT you need to know is that there is no 'right' way to write the Lokono-Arawak language, remember it was NEVER a written language, in fact, I am the first person in the world to write my Tribal language PHONETICALLY - as people who speak English as their first language SHOULD pronounce it.

I say this because even though there is no 'right' way to write it - there IS a right way to PRONOUNCE it (in each regional dialect)! However, even this is not a universal absolute...because in Lokono-Arawak we have regional dialects & sub-dialects of our language, just as there are regional/national & sub-dialects of the English language.

So likewise, be cognizant of the fact that the Lokono in Venezuela, and the Lokono in Suriname, and the Lokono in French Guiana, and the Lokono in Guyana - all speak regional dialects (and sub-dialects) - and they ALL have added foreign words to our language, which I have omitted from MY work here, so the reader gets only a PURE and ORIGINAL traditional Lokono language to learn.

Damon, like his 3 older siblings, was born on the Caribbean island of Barbados. His mother Audrey named Damon after the American author Damon Runyon, and from a very young age Damon exhibited a passion and love for writing; however, like most aspiring authors Damon found it impossible to share his manuscripts with a broader audience (until he discovered draft2digital), so for over 3 decades his many works in many genres gathered dust on his bookshelf of unfulfilled dreams.

Damon is a 4th generation descendant of the last traditional Hereditary Shaman Chief Amorothe Haubariria (Flying Harpy Eagle) of the Bariria Korobahado Lokono (Eagle Clan Arawaks) of Guyana, South America, Moreover, the grave of Damon's great grandmother is the only known burial site of a member of Lokono-Arawak nobility in the entire Caribbean - and with a tombstone written in both the English and Lokono-Arawak language, it has become a tourist attraction in the Westbury Cemetery in the capital city of Bridgetown Barbados.

Damon has the gift of premonition dreams and being able to see and communicate with deceased loved ones, and since he married back into the tribe at the age of 19 in 1992, Damon has become the most radical indigenous activists the Caribbean has produced in living memory, and his real-life escapades and supernatural experiences feature in his writings.

Damon was a member of the Caribbean Caucus on the Indigenous Peoples working group of the Organization of American States (OAS) from 2000 to 2016, and helped create the Declaration of The Americas on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and he has been a registered participant of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) since 2007 (where he also co-mentors international students and writes for the Tribal Link Foundation), as well as being an autodidact journalist with news articles published in 4 continents, and a writer for the Last Real Indians indigenous media website.

Damon (46) and his wife Shirling (44) have 4 living children, sons Hatuey Francis (26) and Tecumseh Shawandase (23), and daughters Sabantho Aderi (20) and Laliwa Hadali, and all live in Barbados.

Damon can be followed in Instagram @eagleclanarawaks