Palawa Kani - State of The Language

State of The Language

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.

The possibility of recreating a truly generic Tasmanian language has been questioned, given that scholarly opinion has emphasised the lack of information on the original tongues. While the importance of those languages is acknowledged as a source of knowledge about the deep linguistic prehistory of the southern periphery of Australia, and hence of global linguistic prehistory, it has been argued that very little information was gathered on Tasmanian languages before they ceased to be spoken at the end of the 19th century. It has also been suggested that the creation of palawa kani by one particular group is linked to a political and cultural dispute between two Tasmanian groups (the Palawa and the Lia Pootah), both claiming Aboriginal descent.