Kaurna Dictionary Launch
As reported by Gabriella Marchant on abc.net.au
“Aboriginal languages making comeback through new training program and dictionaries”
Kaurna woman Taylor Power-Smith holds a Kaurna dictionary, flanked by family members Tiyana and Katrina Power. (Image courtesy ABC News: Gabriella Marchant)
Colonial bans on speaking Aboriginal languages meant only a handful of Kaurna words — the Indigenous language of South Australia's Adelaide Plains — were still in common usage 50 years ago.
The Kaurna language and others are now being revived with the help of linguists and, for the first time, tailored training courses to help language learners pass their skills back to their communities.
Kaurna woman Taylor Power-Smith said learning words spoken by her ancestors, and being able to teach them to her community, had been a way to honour those who came before her.
"This is the greatest inheritance I'll ever receive and I feel so strongly that fluency will be ours, and our babies will eventually be able to speak in our mother's tongue," she said.
"Language learning is like a relay race and we've had the baton passed on to us, and we run as far as we can and then pass it on to the next generation."
Key points:
Kaurna and other Aboriginal languages are being revived in SA
Tailored training courses are helping language learners pass their skills back to their communities
New dictionaries have been devised