| Palawa Kani | |
|---|---|
| palawa kani | |
| Spoken in | Tasmania |
| Native speakers | native: none (date missing) |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xtz |
Palawa kani is a reconstructed language; an ongoing project which aims to create a generic language, resembling the extinct languages once spoken by the Tasmanian Aborigines (Palawa).
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The original Tasmanian languages became extinct in 1905 when the last native speaker died. As part of community efforts to retrieve as much of the original Tasmanian culture as possible, efforts are made to (re)construct a language for the indigenous community. Due to the scarcity of records, Palawa kani is being constructed as a composite of the estimated 6 to 12 original languages.
Theresa Sainty and Jenny Longey were the first two "language workers" to work on the project in 1999.
The project employs various sources such as:
Another source of material for the project is community knowledge where a surprising amount of words, phrases and snippets of lore have survived. The reconstruction project also uses linguistic data of related mainland native languages if necessary.
Developed in conjunction with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, community ownership of the language is maintained for the time being. The language project is entirely community based and the language is not taught in state schools but at various after school events, organised camps and trips. There is obvious enthusiasm for the language especially among younger people and an increasing number of people are able to use the language to some extent, some to great fluency. Lutana Spotswood famously gave a eulogy in palawa kani at the funeral of the Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon.
Palawa kani is also used on a number of signs in Tasmanian National Parks and Kunanyi has been accepted as an official name for Mount Wellington and the Asbestos Range National Park is now known formally as Narawntapu National Park.
Palawa kani is an isolating language with an SVO structure. It appears to have nouns, verbs and adjectives. Adjectives precede the noun and neither nouns nor adjectives are marked for number, e.g. nayri kati "good number(s)". Negations precede the verb, e.g. putiya makara "not stop".
No capital letters are used in native texts, but when used in English, place names such as Kunanyi are often capitalised.
The word mapali "many" doubles up as a plural suffix for some pronouns and possessives.
| mina | I, me |
| nina | you |
| he/she | |
| waranta | we |
| you | |
| nara-mapali | they |
Possessives can take directional affixes such as -tu "to(wards)", e.g. mana-mapali-tu "to our" or -ta "on" e.g. nika-ta "on their".
Possessives follow the noun, for example milaythina mana "our land".
| mana | my |
| nanya | your |
| his/her | |
| mana-mapali | our |
| your (pl.) | |
| nika | their |
The number system is decimal in nature and has no irregular forms. In composed numerals, stress falls onto the first numeral.
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This sample is a eulogy by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre Language Program first used at the 2004 anniversary of the Risdon Cove massacre of 1804.
| ya pulingina milaythina mana mapali tu | Greetings to all of you here on our land |
| mumirimina laykara milaythina mulaka tara | It was here that the Mumirima people hunted kangaroo all over their lands |
| raytji mulaka mumirimina | It was here that the white men hunted the Mumirimina |
| mumirimina mapali krakapaka laykara | Many Mumirimina died as they ran |
| krakapaka milaythina nika ta | Died here on their lands |
| waranta takara milaythina nara takara | We walk where they once walked |
| waranta putiya nayri | And their absence saddens us |
| nara laymi krakapaka waranta tu manta waranta tunapri nara. | But they will never be dead for us as long as we remember them. |
The second sample is from the interpretation boards in Kunanyi Park.
| milaythina nika milaythina-mana | This land is our country |
| pakana laykara milaythina nika mulaka | Aboriginal people ran over this land to hunt |
| pakana-mapali krakapaka milaythina nika | And many died here |
| tapilti larapuna, tapilti putalina | From Eddystone Point, to Oyster Cove |
| tapilti kunanyi, tapilti tayaritja | From Mount Wellington to the Bass Strait Islands |
| waranta takara milaythina nara takara | We walk where they walked |
| nara taymi krakapaka waranta-tu waranta tunapri nara | And they will never be dead for us as long |
| milaythina nika waranta pakana | As long as we remember them |
| waranta palawa, milaythina nika | This country is us, and we are this country |