Kaurna language

Kaurna (/ˈɡɑːnə/ or /ˈɡaʊnə/) is a Pama-Nyungan language historically spoken by the Kaurna peoples of the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. The people of the Adelaide plains are known as the Kaurna people in contemporary times, but the Kaurna nation is made up of various tribal clan groups, each with their own parnkarra district of land, each having had their own dialectal form of language. These dialects were historically spoken in the area of the Adelaide Plains bounded by Crystal Brook and Clare in the north, Cape Jervis in the south, and just over the Mount Lofty ranges. It ceased to be spoken on an everyday basis in the 19th century, but, in a process that began in the 1990s, is being reclaimed and re-introduced.

Classification

R. M. W. Dixon classifies Kaurna as a dialect of the Kadli language, along with Nantuwara, Ngadjuri, Narangka, and Nukunu.^[5] Luise Hercus (1992) classifies Kaurna, along with Narungga, Nukunu and Ngadjuri, in the Meru subgroup of the larger group of Thura-Yura languages (which includes Yura Ngawarla or Adnyamathanha)

History of the name

The name "Kaurna" was not widely used until popularised by South Australian Museum Ethnographer Norman B. Tindale in the 1920s.^[6]

The term 'Kaurna' was first recorded by Missionary Surgeon Dr William Wyatt (1879: 24) for 'Encounter Bay Bob's Tribe'. At the same time he recorded 'Meeyurna' for 'Onkaparinga Jack's Tribe'. Kaurna most likely derives from kornar, the word for 'people' in the neighbouring Ramindjeri/Ngarrindjeri language [Berndt & Berndt (1993: 19) noted that kornarinyeri which became Point McLeay Mission, Rev George Taplin's Narrinyeri thus Narindjeri or Ngarindjeri hence contemporary Ngarrindjeri]. Mullawirraburka (Onkaparinga Jack), also known to the colonists as 'King John', was one of Teichelmann and Schurmann's main sources. Encounter Bay Bob, as his name suggests, came from Encounter Bay (Victor Harbor) and was most likely a fully initiated elder Ramindjeri man. Thus Meyunna is probably an endonym and would linguistically be preferable as the name for this language group as suggested in the mid 1990s. However, they are now universally known as the Kaurna people.

History of the language

Kaurna is currently not spoken as a native language (and thus classified as a dead language), but it is being revived with the aid of a dictionary compiled by two German missionaries in the 1840s.

Efforts to revive Kaurna began in 1990 with the writing of several Kaurna songs originally written in the Ngarrindjeri, Narrunga and Kaurna languages. A second songbook, Kaurna Paltinna was published in 1999. Following one-off workshops in 1990 and 1991, a Kaurna language program was introduced into Kaurna Plains School in 1992. Kaurna is now taught at all levels of education, including a Kaurna linguistics course taught at the University of Adelaide (first introduced in 1997).

The former range of the language was mapped by Norman Tindale and Dr Robert Amery and is managed by the Kaurna people.

Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi

Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (KWP) (creating Kaurna language) is a group developing and promoting the recovery of the Kaurna language. It was established in 2002 by two Kaurna elders (Dr Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien and Dr Alitya Wallara Rigney) and linguist Dr Robert Amery. The group now includes other Kaurna people, teachers, linguists and language enthusiasts. It was created from a series of workshops funded by a University of Adelaide grant in 2000, and is now hosted by the department of linguistics at the University of Adelaide.^[7]

KWP has created a uniform dialect of the language, making new words such as mukarntu (mukamuka brain + karntu lightning), meaning "computer", and other words for things such as modern appliances, transportation, cuisine, and other common features of life that have changed for the Kaurna people while the language was dormant.^[8]

The Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi Aboriginal Corporation (KWK) was registered in 2013 to support the reclamation and promotion of the Language of the Kaurna Nation including training and teaching.^[9]

Kaurna place names

Many prominent placenames are drawn from the Kaurna language. These include Ngangkiparringga (Onkaparinga) 'women's river place', Nurlongga (Noarlunga) 'corner/curvature place', Ngaltingga (Aldinga), Willangga (Willunga), Maitpangga (Myponga), Kanggarilla (Kangarilla) 'shepherding place', Yernkalyilla (Yankalilla) 'place of the fallen bits', Waitpingga (Waitpinga) 'wind place', Kauwandilla (Cowandilla) 'in the north', Yurridla (Uraidla) 'two ears' etc.^[10] Tarndanyungga - Victoria Square (2003) tarndanyungga was also used for the area around the Torrens River which was renamed karrawirraparri by KWP. Several placenames, such as Warriparringga (Warriparinga) 'windy river place' and Piltawodli 'brushtail possum home' have been reinstated. Some other names, such as Yertabulti (Port Adelaide), Patpangga (Rapid Bay) 'in the south' and Pattawilyangga (Glenelg) 'swamp gum foliage', are known from historical sources, but are yet to be fully reinstated. (See Amery & Williams, 2002)

Since efforts to reintroduce the Kaurna language, beginning in 1980 with the naming of Warriappendi Alternative School, it has gained a profile within the public domain. Many people, pets, organisations, clubs, sporting teams, programs, places, buildings, and other items have taken (or been given) Kaurna names. The Kaurna language is used frequently to give speeches of Welcome to Kaurna Country. Many public artworks, beginning in 1995 with the Yerrakartarta installation outside the Intercontinental Hotel on North Terrace, Adelaide, have incorporated words, phrases and text drawn from the Kaurna language. KWP run language classes through the Kaurna Plains School and the University.

Phonology

Vowels

Kaurna has three different vowels with contrastive long and short lengths (a, i, u, a:, i:, u:), and three diphthongs (ai, au, ui).^[11] The three main vowels are represented by ⟨a⟩, ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ respectively, with long vowels indicated by doubling the vowel. Historically, Kaurna has had ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ used varyingly in older versions of its orthography, but these are not reflected in the phonology of the language.

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Kaurna is similar to that of other Pama-Nyungan languages (compare with Adnyamathanha, in the same Thura-Yura grouping). In the orthography, dental consonants are followed by ⟨h⟩ and palatals by ⟨y⟩, and retroflex consonants are preceded by ⟨r⟩, with the exception of ⟨rd⟩ /ɾ/. Pre-stopped consonants are preceded by ⟨d⟩. Below are the consonants of Kaurna (Amery, R & Simpson, J 2013^[12]).

Phonotactics

• All words must begin with a peripheral or laminal consonant (see Consonants above), excluding the pre-stopped nasals.
• All words must end with a vowel.
• In addition to the pre-stopped consonants, consonant clusters of a nasal followed by a stop are allowed.^[13]

Prosody

Kaurna places primary stress on the first syllable.^[11]

Grammar

Kaurna has relatively free word order.^[14]

Nouns

Noun Cases and Suffixes

Kaurna uses a range of suffixed case markers to convey information including subjects, objects, spacio-temporal state and other such information. These sometimes have variations in pronunciation and spelling. Below is a table of some of these cases.^[15]

Number

Kaurna has 3 numbers: singular, dual (-rla, -dla) and plural (-rna).^[15]

See also

• Kaurna people
• Language death

References

Notes

General references

External links

• Kaurna Warra Pintyandi
• Kudnarto, an e-book by Bill Woerlee - Chapter 1: The Kaurna
• The Unaipon School at the University of South Australia
• Kaurna Place Names