• Corpus ID: 160910449

4 Monitoring the use of Kaurna

@inproceedings{Amery20104MT,
  title={4 Monitoring the use of Kaurna},
  author={Rob Amery},
  year={2010}
}

• Rob Amery
• Published 12 November 2010
• Linguistics

Kaurna, the language of the Adelaide Plains in South Australia, was probably last spoken on an everyday basis in the 1860s. Fortunately, reasonable documentation has enabled its revival some 130 years later (see Amery 2000). The use of Kaurna in the public domain has now emerged as the dominant function of the language. Kaurna is used for a variety of naming purposes, the giving of speeches of Welcome to Country, acknowledgement of Kaurna land or for public performance. Requests for names, translations and information about the Kaurna language were initially dealt with on an ad hoc basis. The establishment of Kaurna Warra Pintyandi in 2002 allowed for these requests to be dealt with in a more orderly fashion. Currently six to ten requests are addressed in the regular monthly meetings. This article analyses how protocols and processes for dealing with the myriad of requests has evolved. A database has been established which is being mapped on Google Earth. This helps us to monitor and plan for the use of Kaurna in the public domain. There are lessons here for others starting out on the long journey of getting their language back. Kaurna was probably last spoken on an everyday basis in the 1860s, though the ‘last speaker’, Ivaritji, died in 1929.2 Fortunately the language was reasonably well documented by German missionaries, Clamor Schürmann and Christian Teichelmann, who arrived in Adelaide in October 1838. In total about 3000 to 3500 words were recorded together with hundreds of sentences and their English translations. A 24page sketch grammar was written (Teichelmann & Schürmann 1840) but very few texts exist. As no sound recordings of the original language remain, pronunciation has 1 School of Humanities, University of Adelaide, Kaurna Warra Pintyandi. 2 Whilst it seems likely that Ivaritji was a first language speaker of Kaurna as a child in the 1840s, the only material recorded from her later in life by Daisy Bates (1919) and John McConnell Black (1920) are short wordlists of 26 and 66 words respectively. Language in communities 57 been determined through detailed comparison of written records of the language with reference to closely related neighbouring languages, Nukunu and Adnyamathanha, for which sound recordings do exist. Efforts to revive Kaurna as a spoken language commenced in 1989. The language is now taught to relatively small numbers of students in programs offered at all levels of education from kindergarten to university. Less than 100 Kaurna people have participated in Kaurna courses or workshops over the last two decades, though some expressions have spread beyond this core group. The majority of students in most courses are non-Aboriginal. Aboriginal persons from other language groups are often also participants. We are still at a relatively early stage in the revival of Kaurna, even though it has been taught now for nearly 20 years. The language is spoken to a minimal extent in Kaurna households and in the community, principally a handful of speech formulas and some salient vocabulary. However there has been an explosion of naming activity and its use in public ceremony, and it has been incorporated into a number of public artworks. Kaurna in the public arena Following efforts to reclaim and re-introduce the Kaurna language, its use in the public arena has now emerged as the dominant function of the language. One of the main reasons for Kaurna people learning the language is to be able to give speeches of Welcome to Kaurna Country. The first speech was delivered by Kauwanu (Uncle) Lewis O’Brien in 1991 and speech-giving has since increased exponentially. I documented 104 speeches given in 1997, the final year of my PhD research. There are now several Kaurna individuals who give more than 100 speeches each per year. However, use of Kaurna for public speech-giving is not new. Upon his arrival in the new colony of South Australia Governor Gawler gave a speech to the assembled Indigenous inhabitants and had it translated into Kaurna by then Protector of Aborigines, William Wyatt, and early colonist James Cronk. Gawler also appealed to colonists to inform the colonial administration of Indigenous names so that they might be recognised and placed on the map. A number of Kaurna placenames, such as Yankalilla and Onkaparinga, appear on the earliest maps and remain in use today. Kaurna hymns were sung in public by the Kaurna children who attended the school run by the German missionaries at Piltawodli, the ‘Native Location’. Singing Kaurna songs in public is a practice that is continued by the Kaurna Plains School choir and Alberton Primary School choir today. A government schooner built at Port Adelaide in 1848 was named the Yatala. And there has been sporadic use of Kaurna words over the intervening years; for instance, the Adelaide Bushwalkers club named their newsletter Tarndanya with the first issue published in January 1948. Kaurna people themselves first turned to the archives in 1980 with the naming of Warriappendi Alternative School and have since named numerous organisations, programs and other entities, as well as themselves, their children and their pets. In recent years Kaurna naming activity, largely as a result of raised awareness of 58 Re-awakening languages Adelaide’s Aboriginal past, has greatly increased. This naming activity has very often been initiated by Kaurna people, or other Aboriginal people, working within community organisations, schools, universities, government departments and so forth. But, increasingly, many non-Indigenous people want to acknowledge Kaurna land through naming activity. Sometimes these are individual, private requests such as naming a property or a boat. On other occasions it might be through a business for a business name, product name, or name for a boardroom and so on. But on most occasions it is effected through a public institution. Since 1995 Kaurna language has been incorporated into a number of public artworks beginning with the Yerrakartarta installation by Daryl Milika Pfitzner and Muriel Van der Byll, outside the Hyatt Hotel on North Terrace in the heart of the city of Adelaide. In 2001–02, with the redevelopment of the Festival Theatre concourse, Kaurna text was also incorporated into the Kaurna Yerta Kaurna Meyunna Tampendi installation. Kaurna naming activity has increased so much, in fact, that it has been difficult to keep track of it. Dealing with Kaurna requests Through my involvement in Kaurna language programs and Kaurna language research since 1989, I have often been approached for information about Kaurna language, culture, history and placenames, as well as for advice regarding Kaurna naming, inclusion of text in works of art and for translations of various kinds. These requests have come from members of the Kaurna community; have been referred by the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) Aboriginal Education Unit, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, the South Australian Museum, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies; or have come directly from schools, government departments, businesses, artists or members of the public. During the 1990s I would give technical advice but would make it clear to the person making the request that, as a non-Kaurna person, I was not able to authorise or endorse its use and referred them to Kaurna people for approval. Often I copied the request and my response to Kauwanu Lewis O’Brien who had an email account at the University of South Australia. Most other Kaurna people were more difficult to contact. At the same time Kauwanu Lewis was dealing with many similar requests that he was receiving directly.3 Sometimes he sought my advice on spelling or points of grammar and assistance with translation. On other occasions he dealt with requests himself without reference to me. While I did give advice to members of the public I always felt somewhat uncomfortable about this as a non-Aboriginal person, and wondered whether these many requestors did actually follow my advice and seek approval from a Kaurna person. I hoped to establish some kind of forum whereby these requests could be discussed and approved by Kaurna people. At that time there was one representative Kaurna body, the Kaurna 3 The public also sought advice from other Kaurna people, though much of this activity was beyond my knowledge or awareness. Some has since come to my attention. Language in communities 59 Aboriginal Community and Heritage Association Inc (KACHA). Kaurna language was included in KACHA’s constitution but the organisation was always preoccupied with protection of heritage sites, internal politics and more pressing matters, so that Kaurna language matters were never discussed and I never received a reply to letters I wrote to the committee. However two matters were addressed by the Chair of KACHA, Fred Warrior, in 1996–97. These were the Ruins of the Future installation during the Festival of Adelaide in 1996 and the Adelaide City Council Kaurna naming initiative. A message in Kaurna language was recorded by Cherie Watkins and myself in the presence of Fred for the installation, whilst Kaurna park names were discussed and approved on a map spread out on Fred’s kitchen table. The formation of Kaurna Warra Pintyandi The Kaurna Warra Pintyandi (KWP)4 group formed without fanfare in 2002. At the conclusion of a series of workshops on Kaurna funeral protocols (see Amery and Rigney 2006) we decided to continue meeting on a monthly basis to work on projects and consider requests related to the Kaurna language. An agenda was set and comprehensive minutes recorded for each meeting. The need for a name for the group became apparent after some months of coming together to meet. The name, Kaurna Warra Pintyandi (creating/constructing Kaurna language) was adopted. It had been used previously for workshops associated with a project whereby new expressions were developed for us