Kaurna language


Kaurna 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

classifies Kaurna as a dialect of the Kadli language, along with Nantuwara, Ngadjuri, Narangka, and Nukunu. Luise Hercus classifies Kaurna, along with Narungga, Nukunu and Ngadjuri, in the Meru subgroup of the larger group of Thura-Yura languages

History of the name

The name "Kaurna" was not widely used until popularised by South Australian Museum Ethnographer Norman B. Tindale in the 1920s. The term "Kaurna" was first recorded by Missionary Surgeon Dr William Wyatt 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 . Mullawirraburka, also known to the colonists as "King John", was one of Christian Teichelmann and Schürmann's main sources. Encounter Bay Bob, as his name suggests, came from Encounter Bay 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.

Name variants

gives the following variant names : Adelaide; Coorna; Gauna; Gaurna; Gawurna; Kaura; Kawurna.
The Endangered Languages Project names the following alternatives: Kaura, Coorna, Koornawarra, Nganawara, Kurumidlanta, Milipitingara, Widninga, Winnaynie, Meyu, Winaini, Winnay-nie, Wakanuwan, Adelaide tribe, Warra, Warrah, Karnuwarra, Jaitjawar:a, Padnaindi, Padnayndie, Medaindi, Medain-die, Merildekald, Merelde, Gaurna, Nantuwara, Nantuwaru, Meljurna, Midlanta.

History of the language

The former range of the language was mapped by Norman Tindale and Dr Robert Amery and is managed by the Kaurna people. In the 19th century, there was a Kaurna-based pidgin used as a contact language in the area.

Language revival

Kaurna is currently not spoken as a native language, but it is being revived with the aid of a dictionary compiled by two German missionaries in the 1840s. The Kaurna Dictionary Project at the University of Adelaide funded by a federal government grant, is under way to revise the spellings. It is intended that the final version will be released in print and in electronic form, including a phone app.
Efforts to revive the Kaurna language began in 1990 with the writing of several Kaurna songs originally written in the Ngarrindjeri, Narungga 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 linguistics courses have been taught at the University of Adelaide, whose Linguistics department is headed by Rob Amery, who has devoted much of his life and career to Indigenous languages, in particular Kaurna.
The Kaurna Learners' Guide was published in 2013, and Kaurna radio shows have been broadcast since 2012. Kaurna is frequently used to give speeches of Welcome to Kaurna Country.
According to Amery : "After more than 25 years of painstaking effort, there are now several Kaurna people who can conduct a conversation in Kaurna without resorting to English too quickly, and we are seeing the first semi-native speakers of Kaurna emerging."

Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi

Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi 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. KWP run language classes through both the Kaurna Plains School and the University.
KWP has created a uniform dialect of the language, making new words such as mukarntu, 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. The Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi Aboriginal Corporation was registered in 2013 to support the reclamation and promotion of the Language of the Kaurna Nation including training and teaching.

Renaming and dual naming

Efforts to reintroduce Kaurna names, beginning in 1980 with the naming of Warriappendi School, have been made within the public domain. Since the Adelaide City Council drew up a Reconciliation Vision Statement in 1997, they committed to a dual naming project, working with Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi, to cover the city centre and North Adelaide, including the five public squares and Adelaide park lands. Victoria Square, in the centre of Adelaide city, is now also known as Tarntanyangga, all 29 Parks around the city have been assigned a Kaurna name, and the River Torrens is now also named Karrawirra Parri. The renaming of 39 sites was finalised and endorsed by the council in 2012. The full list of square and park names, along with meanings and pronunciations, is available on the Council website.
Public artworks, beginning in 1995 with the Yerrakartarta installation outside the Intercontinental Hotel on North Terrace, Adelaide, have also incorporated words, phrases and text drawn from the Kaurna language, and the universities and other organisations have also taken on Kaurna names. The Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute uses the original name for Adelaide.
The annual Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art takes its name from the Kaurna word meaning "to rise, come forth, spring up or appear".

Place names

Many prominent South Australian place names are drawn from the Kaurna language:
English-Kaurna hybridised placenames include:
Several place names, have been reinstated or reused:
Some other names, are known from historical sources, but are yet to be fully reinstated, such as:
Possible Kaurna placenames include:

Vowels

Kaurna has three different vowels with contrastive long and short lengths, and three diphthongs. 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. 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⟩. Pre-stopped consonants are preceded by ⟨d⟩. Below are the consonants of Kaurna.

Phonotactics

Kaurna places primary stress on the first syllable.

Grammar

Kaurna has relatively free word order.

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.
Suffix
Ergatve, Instrumental, Temporal-rlu, -dlu
Absolutive-Ø
Dative-ni
Genitive-ku, -rna
Purposive-itya
Aversive-tuwayi
Locative-ngka for bisyllabic roots, -ila for trisyllabic roots
Comitative-ityangka, -lityangka
Allative -ana, -kana
Allative -itya, -litya
Ablative -unangku, -anangku, -nangku
Ablative -ityanungku
Perlative-arra, -tarra
Semblative-rli
Possessed-tidi
Privative-tina

Number

Kaurna has 3 numbers: singular, dual and plural.

General references