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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 597

Part of Session 166: Indigenous Minority Languages in Urban Areas (Other abstracts in this session)

Re-introduction of a Sleeping Language: Kaurna, the original language of Adelaide, capital of South Australia.

Authors: AMERY, Robert Maxwell
Submitted by: AMERY, Robert Maxwell (University of Adelaide, Australia)

Kaurna, the original language of Adelaide, a city of more than one million inhabitants, was last spoken on an everyday basis in the early 1860s. The Kaurna population plummeted as a result of introduced diseases and those remaining were sent to missions outside Kaurna country. A distinct Kaurna identity was extinguished, only to be re-established as people were once again allowed to return to Kaurna country since the mid-twentieth century. Today, Kaurna people are a small minority of several hundred people dispersed throughout a large city. All the while, a strong Aboriginal identity or Nunga[i] identity remained, strong to this day. Following the re-establishment of a Kaurna identity, the Kaurna language has been undergoing a remarkable revival over the last twenty years and more (Amery, 2000), based on somewhat limited written historical records compiled principally by German missionaries in the mid-19^th century. The reclamation of Kaurna is informed heavily by linguistics and knowledge of closely-related neighbouring languages.

 

The revival of Kaurna began in 1980 with naming activity, followed by the writing of songs in the 1990s, language workshops and the introduction of Kaurna into school programs. Kaurna is now taught to relatively small numbers of students at all levels of education from pre-school to tertiary and is beginning to be used increasingly within the Kaurna community, though its primary function is within the public domain. Kaurna serves as an auxiliary language for its speakers, all of whom are first language English speakers whose families have been speaking English for many generations. Even so, many Kaurna people regard English as a foreign language, the language of the invader, yet for many of these same people, their knowledge of their own Kaurna language is minimal. Whilst a relatively small number of Kaurna people have actively participated in revival efforts, all draw strong pride in the fact that their language is being revived.

 

What is the future of the Kaurna language and what is the nature of ‘revived’ Kaurna? It is still too early to answer these questions with any certainty, though early indications and recent trends will be discussed.

 

References:

Amery, Rob (2000) Warrabarna Kaurna! Reclaiming an Australian Language. Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, the Netherlands.

 

Keywords:

Kaurna, language reclamation, language revival, sleeping languages, Aboriginal languages

[i] Nunga refers to an Aboriginal person from southern South Australia. Most Nungas are bidialectal, speaking a distinctive Aboriginal English variety called ‘Nunga English’, as well as Standard Australian English. Some are also relearning their ancestral languages.